Speeches

Every American needs to see Angela Marsden’s tearful video as she pours out her frustrations as a small restaurant owner in Los Angeles. Forced to drastically curtail her business during California’s brutal shutdowns, she took out an $80,000 loan to meet all the expensive requirements to move her dining outside and salvage what was left of her life’s work. Instead, authorities arbitrarily changed the rules, and shut her down again – a death sentence for her ten-year-old restaurant. Yet the same authorities permitted a film production company to offer the very same outdoor dining across the very same parking lot the day she had to close her business.

Governor Newsom made a truly stunning discovery regarding Covid-19 last week. Apparently, it has learned to tell time. This is why, acting under the strictest of scientific standards, he has used his galactic powers to order Californians to run home before 10 pm, lock their doors and hide from this insidious virus until daybreak. Unfortunately, Covid doesn’t seem to be following the curfew, so Newsom is now threatening a “hard lockdown” of virtually the entire state throughout the Christmas season. Don we now our plague apparel. There’s just one nagging question the Governor hasn’t bothered to answer: if these lockdowns are so successful, why do we need to keep having them?

I rise this morning in defense of Governor Gavin Newsom who recently defied his own idiotic Covid edicts as he partied at one of the few restaurants that he has not yet forced out of business. I defend him because he was doing what we all once did in a free society: make our own decisions over what risks we are willing to run and what precautions we are willing to take according to our own circumstances to protect our own health.

The NATURE of democracy is that in every election there is always a winner and a loser. The SUCCESS of democracy depends on the loser believing the vote was fair and accepting the result. The VOTE is not the foundation of our democracy – the INTEGRITY of the vote is its foundation. That is just as important for the winner as it is for the loser. The winners depend on the integrity of the vote for their legitimacy. The losers depend on it for their acceptance. That is precisely the issue in the aftermath of this election.

There’s a curious thing about the oath taken by every member of our armed forces. Those who defend our country never swear to “support and defend” the United States Government. They never swear to “support and defend” the United States of America. The only oath they take is to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The same oath is taken by every member of the government, from school board to President.

I rise in strong support of this resolution, which condemns an extremist group known as QAnon.

Last week, President Trump came to California to be briefed on the horrific fires now raging in California. Instead, he got a lecture from Governor Newsom and his staff on climate change.