SACRAMENTO (KUSI) – The State of California’s Health and Human Services Agency has released mandatory guidance for Californians to follow at their private gatherings this Holiday season.

Some of the mandatory requirements seem extreme, but have been released by the state to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The California Department of Public Health website summarized the guidelines saying, “This guidance provides an updated plan for Californians to gather outside their household and replaces the prior gatherings guidance issued on September 12, 2020 and March 16, 2020. It applies to private gatherings, and all other gatherings not covered by existing sector guidance are prohibited. Gatherings are defined as social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place.  When people from different households mix, this increases the risk of transmission of COVID-19.”

The state says these “mandatory requirements for all gatherings” must be followed by anyone planning on hosting a private gathering. The state noted that local health jurisdictions can implement stricter guidance if needed.

A complete outline of the mandatory guidance from the California Department of Public Health website is below:

1.    Attendance

• Gatherings that include more than 3 households are prohibited. This includes everyone present, including hosts and guests.Remember, the smaller the number of people, the safer.
• Keep the households that you interact with stable over time. By spending time with the same people, risk of transmission is reduced. Participating in multiple gatherings with different households or groups is strongly discouraged.
• The host should collect names of all attendees and contact information in case contact tracing is needed later.

2.    Gather Outdoors

• Gatherings that occur outdoors are significantly safer than indoor gatherings. All gatherings must be held outside. Attendees may go inside to use restrooms as long as the restrooms are frequently sanitized.
• Gatherings may occur in outdoor spaces that are covered by umbrellas, canopies, awnings, roofs, and other shade structures provided that at least three sides of the space (or 75%) are open to the outdoors.
• A gathering of no more than three households is permitted in a public park or other outdoor space, even if unrelated gatherings of other groups up to three households are also occurring in the same park or other outdoor space.  If multiple such gatherings are occurring, mixing between group gatherings is not allowed.  Additionally, multiple gatherings of three households cannot be jointly organized or coordinated to occur in the same public park or other outdoor space at the same time – this would constitute a gathering exceeding the permitted size.

3.    Don’t Attend Gatherings If You Feel Sick or You Are in a High-Risk Group

• Anyone with any COVID-19-like symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, night sweats, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tiredness, muscle or body aches, headaches, confusion, or loss of sense of taste/smell), must stay home and not come into contact with anyone outside their household.
• Anyone who develops COVID-19 within 48 hours after attending a gathering should notify the other attendees as soon as possible regarding the potential exposure.
• People at higher risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 (such as older adults and people with chronic medical conditions) are strongly urged not to attend any gatherings.

4.    Practice Physical Distancing and Hand Hygiene at Gatherings

• For any gatherings permitted under this guidance, the space must be large enough so that everyone at a gathering can maintain at least a 6-foot physical distance from others (not including their own household) at all times.
• Seating must provide at least 6 feet of distance (in all directions—front-to-back and side-to-side) between different households.
• Everyone at a gathering should frequently wash their hands with soap and water, or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available. A place to wash hands or hand sanitizer must be available for participants to use.
• Shared items should not be used during a gathering. As much as possible, any food or beverages at outdoor gatherings must be in single-serve disposable containers. If providing single-serve containers is not possible, food and beverages must be served by a person who washes or sanitizes their hands frequently, and wears a face covering. Self-serve items from communal containers should not be used.

5.   Wear a Face Covering to Keep COVID-19 from Spreading

• People at gatherings may remove their face coverings briefly to eat or drink as long as they stay at least 6 feet away from everyone outside their own household, and put their face covering back on as soon as they are done with the activity.
• Face coverings can also be removed to meet urgent medical needs (for example, to use an asthma inhaler, take medication, or if feeling light-headed).

6.   Keep it short

• Gatherings should be two hours or less.  The longer the duration, the risk of transmission increases.

7.   Rules for Singing, Chanting, and Shouting at Outdoor Gatherings

• Singing, chanting, shouting, and physical exertion significantly increases the risk of COVID-19 transmission because these activities increase the release of respiratory droplets and fine aerosols into the air. Because of this, singing, chanting, and shouting are strongly discouraged, but if they occur, the following rules and recommendations apply:
  • All people who are singing or chanting should wear a face covering at all times while singing or chanting, including anyone who is leading a song or chant. Because these activities pose a very high risk of COVID-19 transmission, face coverings are essential to reduce the spread of respiratory droplets and fine aerosols;
  • People who are singing, shouting, chanting, or exercising are strongly encouraged to maintain physical distancing beyond 6 feet to further reduce risk.
  • People who are singing or chanting are strongly encouraged to do so quietly (at or below the volume of a normal speaking voice).
• Instrumental music is allowed as long as the musicians maintain at least 6-foot physical distancing. Musicians must be from one of the three households.  Playing of wind instruments (any instrument played by the mouth, such as a trumpet or clarinet) is strongly discouraged.

Donald Trump may have renounced his New York roots by claiming his Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago as his official address, but his state tax-dodging residency issues aside, he reveals his upbringing as a New Yorker through the pale imitation of a Borscht Belt comedian that he delivers during his campaign rally speeches.

Take the routine that the president — as amateur in his comedic delivery as he is in the execution of his president duties — attempted to pull off at his Allentown, Pennsylvania rally this morning.

Mark Twain once said that “the secret source of humor is not joy, but sorrow.” In Donald Trump’s case, one can add desperation to that adage.

With the country in its third wave of COVID-19 infections that has brought the nation to the highest number of daily cases since the pandemic began, Trump’s campaign is flailing as the disparity between his false promises of a disappearing virus and the reality of health statistics becomes increasingly apparent.

The uniformly dismal predictions for Trump in the latest polling in the presidential race have elicited a dark current of fatalistic humor peppered between the lies and denialism of the president’s improvisatory stump speech.

Take a look at the latest batch of clips from the Allentown rally, courtesy of Vox‘s Aaron Rupar’s diligent mining on the Fox News feed, to see for yourself.

Trump began by engaging in a bit of self-serving paranoia, insinuating that the only reason the media is even reporting about the COVID pandemic is to ensure his defeat.

Trump seems to believe that the use of wind energy means people wouldn’t be able to watch him on TV when the wind isn’t blowing pic.twitter.com/XS7oKbFQ33

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 26, 2020

Sign the petition to tell Mitch McConnell: No vote on a new Supreme Court Justice until after inauguration!

It’s difficult to determine which is more disturbing: the president’s mischaracterization of how renewable energy works (has this man never heard of a battery?) or the fact that the audience is giving him a laugh track-quality response to this lame material.

It’s even more disturbing to hear the audience cheer and laugh during a portion of his speech where Trump threatens to withhold aid to Pennsylvania in an extortionate move similar to the quid pro quo with Ukraine that resulted in his impeachment.

Trump tries to push back on polls showing him losing the election by bragging about his polling in places like Utah and West Virginia pic.twitter.com/0vY5NTA97C

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 26, 2020

Hearing the crowd reaction to Trump suggesting that Montana should cancel their election because he’s so far ahead in that red state is perhaps the most chilling display of a disconnect between an offhand joke and its underlying implications that the public has experienced in the campaign to date.

Still, it must be difficult for the president to campaign for re-election when even his friendly broadcast partners at Fox News feel compelled to interrupt their coverage of his rally to interject with a bulletin noting the stock market plummeting because of Trump’s inability to address the mounting coronavirus cases and cut a stimulus deal with Congress.

Trump mocks Kamala Harris’s laugh and they bashes Lesley Stahl pic.twitter.com/rvf55g75sq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 26, 2020

This is Trump in full insult comic mode. Raise your hand if you think Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog does this much better than the president and is better looking to boot.

It’s just incredibly sad to realize that there are people who find this funny and laugh along with it.

Trump continued with his routine of criticizing his opponents rather than explaining how he would govern during a second term, largely because the only plans he seems to have made focus exclusively on his political survival and staying out of prison.

“Real garbage. Not smart people” — Trump unloads on @ProjectLincoln pic.twitter.com/fWO9o9bIsD

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 26, 2020

“Nice trucks. You think I could hop into one of them and drive it away? I’d love to do it. Just drive the hell out of here. Just get the hell out of this. I had such a good life.” — Trump pic.twitter.com/0sZC13WH9O

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 26, 2020

It wasn’t until the end of his appearance that Trump revealed his true desperation and underlying panic at his current situation.

How many of us would love to see Trump achieve his dream and hop in a truck and drive away forever?

Perhaps if he could learn to focus on other people being able to have a good life, he wouldn’t be in the predicament that he now finds himself in.

Perhaps that’s why he’s trying to hone his comedy chops. He’s been a network TV star before, and now maybe he’s aiming at a Las Vegas residency for his new routines.

Who’s on first? We don’t know but we don’t want it to be Donald Trump.

Follow Vinnie Longobardo onTwitter.

Original reporting by Aaron Rupar at Vox.

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The post Trump performs offensive impression of Kamala and mimics her laugh at Pennsylvania rally appeared first on Occupy Democrats.

Appearing on an interview with Bloomberg while Americans are getting clobbered by higher gas prices, Biden administration Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm first laughed hysterically when asked what her plan was to increase oil production in America, then insisted that the oil market was controlled by OPEC. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), incensed at the supine attitude of the Biden administration, which had begged OPEC to increase oil production and was rebuffed, fired, “Our US Energy Secretary is a joke. And a liar.”

Granholm was prompted by an interviewer for Bloomberg, who asked, “In Sturgis, Michigan, (gas) is $2.89 a gallon. I guess that’s better than in California. What is the Granholm plan to increase oil production in America?”

Granholm burst into uncontrollable laughter, then responded patronizingly, “Would that I had the magic wand on this. As you know, of course, oil is a global market. It is controlled by a cartel. That cartel is called OPEC. And they made a decision yesterday that they were not going to increase beyond what they were already planning.”

Crenshaw tweeted, “Our US Energy Secretary is a joke. And a liar. … No, prices are not controlled by OPEC. They have influence, but then again SO DO WE. Our vast increase in production over the past decade drove prices down. All we have to do is get the government boot off the neck of US producers, and let them do their job.”

He added, “But instead, this incompetent administration has done the opposite. They’re (sic) cancelled land leases and cancelled pipelines. They’re threatening the energy sector with more regs and taxes, and you wonder why no one wants to invest in more production?”

Our US Energy Secretary is a joke. And a liar. https://t.co/W0y7Mx7Ije

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) November 5, 2021

But instead, this incompetent administration has done the opposite. They’re cancelled land leases and cancelled pipelines. They’re threatening the energy sector with more regs and taxes, and you wonder why no one wants to invest in more production?

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) November 5, 2021

On October 29, The Washington Post noted Biden’s desire to hit the oil and gas industry, noting, “The tax-and-spending bill the White House hopes to pass within a matter of days would provide unprecedented levels of funding to combat climate change. But it would force the oil and gas industry to share the cost by raising more than $100 billion from fossil fuel firms over the next decade.”

On the day he took office, President Joe Biden banned all new oil and gas leases on public land and waters for 60 days in an executive order; he also canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline project.

On June 1, Reuters noted, “U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday said it would suspend oil and gas leases that were handed out in an Alaska wildlife refuge during the final days of the Trump administration pending an environmental review.”

This week, Railroad Commission of Texas Chairman Wayne Christian fired off criticism of Biden for his policies, saying:

While Americans are paying $144 million more for gas per day than in the past, the Biden administration continues their efforts to tax and regulate the oil and gas industry out of existence. Texas is the number one oil and gas producer in the nation, and these continued anti-oil and gas policies will kill jobs, stifle economic growth, and make America more reliant of foreign nations to provide reliable energy.

It’s hypocritical to kill clean fossil fuel jobs here in America claiming it ensures a clean environment, and then beg our foreign adversaries to produce more using much less environment-friendly methods. The U.S. is a global leader in reducing emissions, not through regulation – but technological innovation. In fact, over the last fifty years, the six major pollutants regulated by the EPA have fallen by 77 percent while the U.S. economy grew 285 percent and its population by 60 percent. With a looming global energy supply crisis and inflation on the rise, we need more economic certainty not less; we need more oil and gas production, not more clean energy fantasies.

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