On March 19, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom was first out of the gate to declare a state of emergency in California. Newsom signed an executive order demanding everyone stay home, save for those deemed “essential.” This definition shifted dependent upon who lined Newsom’s campaign (or anti-recall) coffers, and small businesses were completely flatlined. His executive order seizing emergency powers was an indefinite one. No, “two weeks to stop the spread,” was mentioned, and his Hairfulness decided that daily press conferences to see his coiffed visage were necessary, in order to keep the peasants informed in line.

In one of those conferences, just two weeks after his executive order, Newsom responded to a question from a Bloomberg reporter which totally revealed his hand:

From the California Globe:

A reporter with Bloomberg News asked Gov. Newsom: “Do you see the potential, as many others in the Party do, for a new progressive era and opportunity for additional progressive steps?” (video at 51:45)

The governor admittedly gave a long-winded answer which culminated in, “yes,” admitting there is political opportunity born out of the pandemic. “There is opportunity for reimagining a progressive era as it pertains to capitalism,” Gov. Newsom said. “So yes, absolutely we see this as an opportunity to reshape the way we do business and how we govern.”

Two weeks to stop the spread has turned into 700 days of trying to wrest our freedoms from the hands of this madman. There have been lawsuits, protests, a failed recall effort, and counties simply saying, “we’re just not that into you,” and people need to get on with their lives; especially since Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and countless other elected betters have certainly gotten on with theirs. If they don’t feel it’s important adhering to their own COVID rules, why should we?

Two years later, Newsom has apparently had a V-8 (older readers, help the younger). His mask hypocrisy at the NFC Championships and the 70,000 people flooding Los Angeles for the SuperBowl last Sunday, while the state is supposedly still under emergency, could not have been more tone deaf, nor could it be excused or tap danced away. Newsom was roundly criticized, skewered, and exposed for the tin pot dictator that he is. So now, he has decided to pivot…. sort of.

Hair Gel rolled out an endemic plan to bring California back to “normal.” Apparently, this plan has been two years in the works (yeah, right), and he made a big to-do about it at a press conference on Thursday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced the first shift by a state to an “endemic” approach to the coronavirus pandemic that emphasizes prevention and quick reactions to outbreaks over mandates, a milestone nearly two years in the making that harkens to a return to a more normal existence.

Newsom said the approach — which includes pushing back against false claims and other misinformation — means maintaining a wary watchfulness attuned to warning signs of the next deadly new surge or variant.

And if there’s not a deadly new surge, trust me, they’ll invent one.

Newsom’s administration came up with a shorthand acronym to capsulize key elements of its new approach: SMARTER. The letters stand for Shots, Masks, Awareness, Readiness, Testing, Education and Rx, a common abbreviation for prescriptions and a reference to improving treatments for COVID-19.

Living with COVID-19 under Newsom’s plan means boosting the state’s surveillance, including increased monitoring of virus remnants in wastewater to watch for the first signs of a surge. Masks won’t be required but will be encouraged in many settings.

Surveillance of wastewater? Sounds like an excuse for further surveillance all around, which would be so on-brand for this administration.

“This disease is not going away,” he told The Associated Press in advance of his formal announcement. “It’s not the end of the quote, unquote, war.”

Yet, in supposedly planning for the pandemic’s end, Newsom once again says the quiet part out loud. There will be no end, especially since His Hairfulness still plans to hang on to his emergency powers:

And there will be no immediate lifting of the dozens of remaining executive emergency orders that have helped run the state since Newsom imposed the nation’s first statewide stay-home order in March 2020.

“This pandemic won’t have a defined end. There’s no finish line,” he told the AP. With that in mind, he said his administration tried to craft “a plan that allows us to be prepared without being paranoid and more alert to what’s happening around us without being anxious.”

Newsflash, Hair Gel: the only person paranoid and anxious is you. Mainly because he’s up for re-election in November 2022 and his poll numbers are less than 50 percent. An endemic plan is not going to change his horrible record on combatting the state’s rampant crime or the ulcerous homelessness.

The truth of the matter is that most Californians reached endemic months, if not a year ago. They have already gotten on with their lives, and are fighting vociferously to get their lives, their livelihoods, and their children back to normal. While many have already done the California Adios, those of us who choose to remain continue to fight and challenge the delusion Newsom has that he can keep bypassing the will of the people. The California Assembly vote to remove the emergency powers was voted down by the super majority. But Republican Melissa Melendez (Lake Elsinore) has a pending measure in the Senate to do the same thing. Amazingly, SCR 5 has been granted a hearing on March 15.

The timing of Governor @GavinNewsom “Endemic” plans announcement is just a coincidence that @CASenateDems is allowing a hearing on Sen @senatormelendez’s SCR 5.
Sacramento Democrats are governing by polls, public pressure and perpetual mandates backlash. https://t.co/Du0OkPGcP6

— Allen J. Wilson (@AllenJWilson) February 18, 2022

Melendez spoke to Dan Ball on his Real America OANN show. Melendez’ Senate floor speech, and interview with Ball is about four minutes in, and encapsulates what we are up against not only from this governor, but from a feckless and corrupt legislature that simply wants to rearrange deck chairs while Captain Hair Gel rams California into an iceberg.