Rules for thee, and not for me. LA County supervisor visited restaurant after voting for outdoor dining ban: report Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl visited an eatery in Santa Monica, Calif., last week, just hours after she voted to ban outdoor dining at restaurants in the county due to COVID-19 safety concerns, according to a report. Kuehl was seen dining outside at Il Forno Trattoria, an Italian restaurant near her house, Fox 11 Los Angeles reported. She had referred to outside dining as “a most dangerous situation” during an L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting last Tuesday. “This is a serious health emergency and we must take it seriously,” Kuehl said. “The servers are not protected from us, and they’re not protected from their other tables that they’re serving at that particular time, plus all the hours in which they’re working.” GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM THREATENS 'DRASTIC' NEW LOCKDOWN ORDER Sheila Kuehl at LA Pride 2019 on June 07, 2019, in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage) Kuehl’s restaurant visit occurred before the outdoor dining ban took effect Wednesday evening, according to the station. Managers at the restaurant told Fox 11's Bill Melugin they “didn’t want to get involved," and a spokesperson for Kuehl provided the following statement. “She did dine al fresco at Il Forno on the very last day it was permissible. She loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue. She ate there, taking appropriate precautions, and sadly will not dine there again until our Public Health Orders permit," the statement said. Kuehl’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News' late-night request for comment
And in Europe... Lawmaker and Diplomats Flee Police Raid on COVID Lockdown Orgy Diplomats and a politician breached strict coronavirus lockdown rules in Brussels, Belgium—the home of the European Parliament—during an alleged group sex party. https://www.thedailybeast.com/bruss...european-lawmaker-and-diplomats-flee?ref=home Belgian police have broken up an illegal lockdown orgy involving 25 men, including at least one foreign politician and several diplomats, at a central Brussels bar, according to local reports. Officers burst into the ground floor of a bar on Rue des Pierres in the Belgian capital on Friday night to discover alcohol, drugs, and what has been described as “a party of legs in the air,” Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure (DH) reported, with a source telling the outlet: “We interrupted a gang bang!” One of the revelers, a foreign Member of the European Parliament (MEP) who reportedly remains unnamed after invoking his parliamentary right to immunity, tried to escape through a window but injured himself and was then confronted by police reinforcements who had just arrived. The reports conflict with European Parliament regulations, which state that members can be subject to “inquiry, detention, or legal proceedings” if they are “found in the act of committing an offense.” According to DH, all those present were fined for attending the gathering, which broke Belgian limitations on meet-ups under coronavirus safety laws. The Brussels public prosecutor’s office was informed of the incident, according to local reports, and decided to release the attendees without further charge. The mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, was also notified. The Daily Beast did not receive comment from Brussels police by time of publication.
Rules for thee, but not for me. 'Elite' Californians Are Making Major Hospital 'Donations' To Jump The Line For COVID Vaccinations BY TYLER DURDEN SUNDAY, DEC 20, 2020 - 22:00 Given that Pfizer's vaccine is in short supply and stringent temperature requirements for shipment and storage have limited vaccinations only to frontline hospital workers and long term elderly patients - there's a growing movement among wealthy Americans offering five-figure donations to hospitals to cut in line and receive an early dose of the vaccine. Wealthy Californians are calling their doctors, offering tens of thousands of dollars in donations for the chance to receive the COVID-19 vaccine early, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We get hundreds of calls every single day," said Ehsan Ali, who runs Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor. Ali, whose clients include Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, pay thousands of dollars per year for personalized care. "This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients," he said. Like the rest of the country, California has laid out health-care workers, nursing home residents, essential workers, people with chronic health conditions, in that order, will receive the vaccine. Everyone else will have to wait as vaccines are in short supply. Physician Jeff Toll, who has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, had one patient ask him: "If I donate $25,000 to Cedars, would that help me get in line?'" Toll said, of course, not. Ahead of vaccine distribution, we informed readers that scarcity could create a black market for the rich and famous. Once vaccines are available that don't require ultra-cold storage and local pharmacies and physician practices get allotments, that's precisely when the black market for the rich could start. Representatives for Pfizer and Moderna, whose vaccines are now available, said doctors could not buy doses. At the moment, the federal government is controlling the allocation of doses. Until the vaccine is available for purchase by nongovernmental buyers, concierge doctors will have to wait, but that hasn't stopped their clients from lining up: "People are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars" to jump in line, said Toll. A tiered system is certainly materializing, one where rich and famous will use their power and wealth to receive the vaccine first while the working-poor wait. ... maybe it's a good idea not to rush into receiving a vaccine considering the CDC has identified cases of anaphylaxis, or severe allergic reaction in some people. The best thing someone with money and power can do is escape the metro area to the countryside to wait out the pandemic storm.