Californians Are Revolting Against the Lockdown

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has imposed some of the most stringent COVID-19 restrictions in America, and some Golden State residents are starting to revolt.

Newsom’s “dictatorial attitude toward California residents while dining in luxury, traveling, and keeping his business open and his kids in private school is very telling about his attitude towards California residents, his feelings about the virus, and it is extremely hypocritical,” said Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in a December 4 video announcing that his department wouldn’t be enforcing the governor’s latest order.

Sheriffs in Los Angeles County, El Dorado County, Orange County, and even the governor’s home county of Sacramento, have also said they will not enforce aspects of the lockdown order.

Bianco says county sheriffs are acting within their legal authority.

“We’re constitutional officers. Some of the sheriffs believe that it’s a constitutional violation,” says Bianco. “As a law enforcement officer, we’re given very broad discretion on enforcement….We don’t have to arrest just because there is a law.”

On December 3, Newsom’s stay-at-home order barred in-person dining of any kind at restaurants where hospital ICU capacity has fallen below 15 percent, as it has in four out of five California regions. But there’s no evidence that the shutdown has stemmed the growth in cases, hospital admissions, or fatalities

Several restaurants in Riverside County are defying the ban, including Marla’s Cocina and Cantina in the city of Beaumont.

“I’ve been playing by the rules way too long….It’s getting to a point of ridiculousness,” says owner Diego Rose, who says he tried converting the restaurant to takeout-only in March and began losing money every day of operation.

“At that point, you have to make a decision. Do you shut your doors and lose all your inventory and let your staff go in hopes that somebody along the way knew what they were talking about?” says Rose.

California’s order to stop outdoor dining has generated outr