Tag Archives: #Kentucky

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Dictators gotta dictate! When state Governors get away with dictatorial actions once, they'll keep doing it until someone stops them

It is no surprise that those once drunk with power would again imbibe when there were no consequences for the previous drunken spells.

As we have previously noted, Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) has gotten away with unconstitutional restrictions on people’s freedoms because the sheeple allowed him to do so. And now, proclaiming that COVID-19 is rising too fast, he is doing it again. From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Gov. Andy Beshear unveils new coronavirus restrictions for Kentucky

By Grace Schneider and Emma Austin | November 18, 2020 | 4:19 PM EST | Updated: 4:42 PM EST

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced multiple new restrictions Wednesday as the state continues to see a surge in coronavirus cases, including:

  • All public and private K-12 schools will close to in-person instruction starting Monday through the end of the semester. The only exception is for elementary schools in counties outside the red zone, which may reopen on Dec. 7 if the school follows all guidelines.

Uhhh, since when does the state have authority over private schools?

Beginning on Friday and lasting until Dec. 13:

  • All restaurants and bars will close to indoor dining services. Outdoor dining is still allowed, with some limitations.
  • Gyms are limited to 33% capacity, and no group classes or indoor games are allowed. Masks are required.
  • Indoor gatherings should be limited to two families, not exceeding a total of eight people.
  • Attendance at wedding and funerals is limited to 25 people.

If the situation is so dire, I have to ask, why are gyms being allowed to open at all? After all, if dining inside a restaurant is too hazardous to be allowed, why isn’t working out inside a gymnasium?

Outdoor dining is still allowed, albeit with restrictions? The low for tonight in Lexington is forecast to drop to 36º F. While Friday, Saturday and Sunday have forecast highs in the low sixties, starting Monday it gets colder again, with daytime highs in the low fifties, and nightly lows in the thirties and, beginning Saturday the 28th, dropping below freezing. Might as well just close ’em down for everything other than take-out.

“Indoor gatherings should be limited to two families, not exceeding a total of eight people.” If the Governor is stating that gatherings should be limited, then he is simply exercising his freedom of speech to ask Kentuckians to do this. If there are some sort of executive orders mandating this, then they are in violation of our First Amendment rights of peaceable assembly.

And sorry, but weddings and funerals are (normally) religious events, and no Governor, no state, no President and no government at any level have the power to prohibit the free exercise of religion.

The General Assembly must, in its next session, this January, pass strict limits on the Governor’s emergency powers under KRS 39A. The Governor must never be allowed to attempt to restrict our constitutional rights, and in other emergency decrees must have his authority limited to only fourteen days without calling a special session of the state legislature to either pass laws to extend them, or revoke the orders.

The Governor, intoxicated with power as he is, had no intention of meeting with the legislature over his decrees:

Beshear was asked at Friday’s (July 10, 2020 — Editor) news conference on COVID-19 why he has not included the legislature in coming up with his orders. He said many state lawmakers refuse to wear masks and noted that 26 legislators in Mississippi have tested positive for the virus.

Translation: he did not believe the General Assembly would give him his way, so he was not going to allow them any say in the matter at all.[1]The state Constitution calls the legislature into session once a year, in January, for a limited time. The Governor may call a special session of the legislature at any time, but the legislature does … Continue reading

Fortunately, the 2020 elections expanded the already strong Republican control in the legislature; the GOP will have veto-proof margins in both houses of the General Assembly. But we really cannot simply wait for the legislature to act; Kentuckians need to protest now, to show the legislators that we are opposed to the Governor’s actions.
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Cross-posted on RedState.

References

References
↑1 The state Constitution calls the legislature into session once a year, in January, for a limited time. The Governor may call a special session of the legislature at any time, but the legislature does not have the authority to call itself into session.
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Karens gonna Karen Lexington-Fayette County Health Department gets over 670 complaints from Karens about people not wearing masks

As we, sadly, noted yesterday, the Kentucky state Supreme Court upheld Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) executive orders to fight COVID-19. Now the Lexington-Herald Leader is reporting that several businesses have been fined for not servings as the Staatspolizei in enforcing the Reich Governor’s decrees:

7 Lexington businesses fined over masks before top KY court upholds COVID-19 rules

By Jeremy Chisenhall | November 12, 2020 | 11:15 AM EST | Updated 11:22 AM EST

The Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Gov. Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions means businesses are still subject to penalties if they don’t enforce the statewide mask mandate.

Seven Lexington businesses have been fined over the mask mandate since it first went into place in early July, with one business getting fined twice, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

The health department had received more than 670 complaints of COVID-19-related health violations as of Wednesday, according to health department spokesman Kevin Hall. At least 85 notices to correct have been issued, and eight citations have been given out to seven different Lexington businesses. Citations come with fines of $50, $75, or $100, depending on how many times the business has been cited, Hall said. . . .

The health department does have the authority to fine businesses for multiple violations, including restaurant tables not being 6 feet apart or employees not requiring that patrons practice social distancing. But all of the COVID-19-related complaints as of Wednesday had been about masks, Hall said.

The businesses listed by the Herald-Leader as having been fined:

  • Kroger, 4104 Tates Creek Center, two citations, for $50 and $75.
  • Walmart, 500 West New Circle Road, $50.
  • Speedway, 2900 Richmond Road, $50.
  • Speedway, 1401 Leestown Road, $50.
  • Wing Zone, 580A Eureka Springs, $50.
  • Thornton’s, 2291 Elkhorn Road, $50.
  • Steak N Shake, 1832 Alysheba Way, $50.

I urge anyone reading this who happens to be in Lexington to patronize these businesses!

Have I mentioned yet that I have exactly zero respect for the Karens who make these complaints?

But, let’s get real here: $50 to a huge Walmart store is nothing, and $125 to Kroger, a huge supermarket chain? Laughable. While the article does not tell us whether the violations were due to employees not wearing masks, or non-enforcement against customers, those fines are far less than the businesses would lose if they pissed off customers.

What this story points out is what I have mentioned previously, that the Governor’s orders are not being enforced by the police, but by local health departments, and they have little power. They can issue citations, and minimal fines, to businesses, but if a health department worker sees me walking down the street without a mask — which is exactly how he would see me, if he saw me at all — he couldn’t do [insert slang term for feces here] about it. He couldn’t issue me a citation, and he couldn’t stop me, and if he called the police on me, there’s nothing they could do.

That’s what Governor Beshear did with his pathetic orders. While the General Assembly has to limit his emergency rule by decree power, because we cannot be a dictatorship, the Governor made not the police but pathetic little county health departments as the ‘enforcement’ agencies for his orders. He hasn’t targeted civilians for his enforcement decrees, but businesses, which are dependent upon holding business licenses. He hasn’t told armed police officers of deputy sheriffs to enforce his mask mandate, but 19-year-old waitresses and 16-year-old kids working behind the counter at McDonald’s to confront customers.

Of the seven businesses listed, other than the managers, most have minimum wage employees working in the public contact positions, but the Governor expects them to get in the faces of 220 lb bikers? https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_wacko.gif What’s wrong with this picture?

That the state Supreme Court had let Mr Beshear get away with this stuff is unfortunate, and the incoming General Assembly, with the GOP holding veto-proof majorities in both chambers, needs to drastically curtail his ’emergency’ powers under KRS 39A. But, for a dictator, Mr Beshear is a pretty weak-willed one.

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The Kentucky Supreme Court doesn’t care about our civil rights Governor Andy Beshear gets to keep acting like a dictator

We have previously noted that the Kentucky Supreme Court took over all of the state court actions concerning Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) executive orders concerning COVID-19. I was hoping that the Court would uphold lower court actions against them, but to be honest, I was not particularly optimistic. From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Kentucky Supreme Court rules Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions are legal

By Jack Brammer | November 12, 2020 | 10:11 AM EST

In a major victory for Gov. Andy Beshear, the Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that the Democratic governor’s emergency regulations to slow the spread of COVID-19 are legal.

The state’s highest court ruled in a 103-page decision that Beshear properly declared a state of emergency in March and validly invoked powers granted to him under the state constitution.

“The governor’s orders were, and continue to be, necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health and safety of all Kentucky citizens,” the court said in a decision written by Justice Lisabeth T. Hughes. “This type of highly contagious etiological hazard is precisely the type of emergency that requires a statewide response and properly serves as a basis for the governor’s actions …”

The decision means dozens of emergency orders from the governor, ranging from a requirement for most Kentuckians to wear a mask in public to class sizes in child care centers, will remain in effect.

There’s more at the original, but now our only hope remains the General Assembly, which will not be in session until January.

But, as was also pointed out:

Kentucky Republicans expanded their dominant 62-seat supermajority in the state House on Tuesday, flipping at least 10 seats occupied by Democrats and defending several targeted incumbents.

By Wednesday morning, Republicans had picked up at least 10 of these seats from Democrats and led in three more races in Democratic-held districts where most of the votes were counted.

This would give Republicans a 72 to 28 supermajority in the House chamber, with the possibility of expanding to 75 seats once the other races are called.

In the state Senate, in which the GOP previously had a veto-proof majority of 28-10, Republicans picked up two more seats, for a 30-8 majority.

Governor Beshear would not consult with the General Assembly on his COVID executive orders, because he knew that the legislators would not give him carte blanche. As we have previously noted, the Governor had no intention of doing so:

Beshear was asked at Friday’s (July 10, 2020 — Editor) news conference on COVID-19 why he has not included the legislature in coming up with his orders. He said many state lawmakers refuse to wear masks and noted that 26 legislators in Mississippi have tested positive for the virus.

So, it comes down to this: we will have to wait for the General Assembly to take action. Fortunately, Republicans now hold veto-proof margins in both chambers.

What will happen next? I really don’t know, but with COVID-19 making a resurgence, too many of the sheeple will welcome authoritarian action; the Justices on the state Supreme Court certainly did.

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Karens gotta Karen!

As we have previously noted, Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY), the Lexington city government and the University of Kentucky have been very, very worried about people getting together and partying. On July 20, 2020, Governor Beshear had Eric Friedlander, Secretary for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and Steven J Stack, Commissioner of Public Health, issue an Order restricting gatherings of people, including on their private property, to ten or fewer persons. Unlike the Governor’s mandatory face mask order, which Mr beshear keeps reissuing every thirty days, the order linked above has no expiration date, and I have been unable to find any source which states that it has been lifted.

The past weekend in the Bluegrass State has been sunny and warm, in the upper seventies to low eighties, as we are enjoying a brief Indian Indigenous American summer. That, I suppose, explains a lot of weekend parties, despite the fact that the sadly-not-very-good UK football team had an open date last Saturday.

Well, whenever people are having fun, there will always be some Karens around to try to stop it. From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Parties pushing the pandemic? Lexington police got 90 party complaints in 2 weekends

By Jeremy Chisenhall | November 9, 2020 | 2:27 PM EST | Updated: November 9, 2020 | 4:22 PM EST Parties in Lexington haven’t slowed down despite record-high COVID-19 case counts in the city the past two weeks. The Lexington Police Department said it received complaints about 60 large parties during Halloween weekend and another 30 over the just-completed weekend of the Breeders’ Cup. The parties were primarily in areas near the University of Kentucky campus, police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said. In comparison, there were 30 party complaints during the weekend of the Kentucky Derby, according to Lexington police. On average, there have been about 20 to 30 party complaints each weekend since classes resumed, Angel said. The city began a partnership in early October with UK police, and the deal was intended to increase patrols and tamp down on college game day parties. The partnership has continued as the university police department’s schedule has permitted, Angel said. The departments will partner to patrol the city for UK’s home football game against Vanderbilt University Saturday, Angel said.

Miss Angel had previously said that while an executive order signed by Governor Beshear on July 20 mandated that non-commercial gatherings must be limited to 10 people or fewer, police and local health department officials have said they can only do so much.

“There is nothing we can enforce regarding gatherings on private property,” Angel said.

The gatherings limit order delegated the enforcement authority not to the police but to the state and local health departments. The Lexington Police Department could try to break up or cite parties which were excessively loud or encroaching onto other people’s property, and the University Police, even though some of the officers have ridden along with the city police, have no authority off of campus property.

Daniel Cartier, a UK student, said he’d seen fellow students “party constantly and receive zero punishment.” “It just boggles my mind how UK (doesn’t) at the absolute minimum require bi-weekly testing and contact tracing for all their students,” he said.

Congratulations to Mr Cartier! Not many men males — and here I am assuming, from his first name, that he is male¹ — would publicly identify themselves as Karens.

A video shared to Reddit showed a large party in a Lexington backyard during the weekend. Commenters thought it was likely the partiers were students. “You really think college kids are gunna not party just because some old bureaucrats at the school say so? Maybe the administration at the school should have not allowed kids back to Lexington and just remove the possibility of kids in large gatherings with no masks or social distancing,” one commenter said.

The video, which appears to have been taken via cell phone, is only four seconds long and too distant to positively identify any of the participants.

This is what I have said all along: it’s amazing to think that college administrators would not have expected college students back on college campuses to have college parties. Perhaps some of our collegiate administrators and local officials are just not quite as smart as they would like people to believe.

State Treasurer Allison Ball (R-KY) noted that the Governor’s orders frequently violated our constitutional rights:

Ball said her report offered insight for lawmakers if they take up legislation to redefine the scope of the governor’s power to issue executive orders in times of crisis. She suggested that the law be amended to reinforce safeguards on religious, free speech and assembly rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. “It’s not fair to the people of Kentucky that they have to resort to federal courts to make sure that their constitutional rights are protected,” Ball said. “This could be dealt with pretty clearly if it’s included in legislation.” Senate President Robert Stivers later told reporters that lawmakers will review the subject of executive powers, saying: “I think we will clearly define what can be done.” “Are there needs for (executive) powers? Without a doubt,” he said. “But what type of limitations can you put on them so people have the ability to have … access to their church and access to the freedoms that are guaranteed by both the Kentucky and the United States constitution.” Republican lawmakers have complained for months that the Democratic governor, who was elected last year, hasn’t reached out to them to discuss his coronavirus-related actions. Republicans hold overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate.

That quote was from prior to the election; the 2020 elections have expanded the Republicans’ majorities further than even they had hoped.

Kentucky Republicans expanded their dominant 62-seat supermajority in the state House on Tuesday, flipping at least 10 seats occupied by Democrats and defending several targeted incumbents. By Wednesday morning, Republicans had picked up at least 10 of these seats from Democrats and led in three more races in Democratic-held districts where most of the votes were counted. This would give Republicans a 72 to 28 supermajority in the House chamber, with the possibility of expanding to 75 seats once the other races are called.

Translation: the GOP has a veto-proof majority in the state House of Representatives. In the state Senate, in which the GOP previously had a veto-proof majority of 28-10, Republicans picked up two more seats, for a 30-8 majority.

Governor Beshear would not consult with the General Assembly on his COVID executive orders, because he knew that the legislators would not give him carte blanche. As we have previously noted, the Governor had no intention of doing so:

Beshear was asked at Friday’s (July 10, 2020 — Editor) news conference on COVID-19 why he has not included the legislature in coming up with his orders. He said many state lawmakers refuse to wear masks and noted that 26 legislators in Mississippi have tested positive for the virus.

Now, if the General Assembly passes legislation to limit the Governor’s ’emergency powers’, and Mr Beshear vetoes it, as I would anticipate, Republicans have more than enough votes to override a veto.

But this still points out a problem: the Governor began issuing his executive orders to deal with COVID-19 last March. Various lawsuits resulted in injunctions against different parts of the orders, but, on July 17th, the state Supreme Court halted all state court efforts to block the orders. Then, three weeks later, the Court set September 17th to hear oral arguments on those cases, which meant that Mr Beshear’s executive orders would continue in force, without any recourse to the state courts to challenge them, for two more months before the state Supreme Court would even allow arguments against them.

As of this morning, two days shy of eight weeks after the oral arguments, the state Supreme Court has still not issued its ruling as to whether the Governor’s challenged orders are legal. 116 days have passed since the Kentucky Supreme Court halted all state court efforts by citizens to challenge the Governor’s orders, and we still have no ruling.

Rights delayed are rights denied. And with the news that a 90% effective COVID vaccine has been developed, it’s not difficult to see the state Supreme Court simply not ruling at all until next year, to see if the Governor suspends the challenged orders — the mandatory mask mandate is not part of the challenged orders — so the case can be dismissed as moot.

But even if the Court issues its ruling later today, and upholds the suspended injunctions against the Governor’s orders, Kentuckians’ rights will have been suspended for months. If we have to wait until the General Assembly takes action, we’re looking at almost a year in which our rights have been suspended and violated.

Cross-posted on RedState.

¹ – Perhaps an odd thing for a man named Dana to do, I suppose, but whatever!.