There have been zero reported instances of people being forced to go to Tinhorn Flats Saloon & Grill against their will. But judging by the City of Burbank’s reactions to the longstanding business’s desire to stay open, one would think owner Lucas Lepejian had gone door-to-door with a shotgun in hand to drive the people of Burbank to his bar where they would catch Covid-19.
Of course, chances are strong any such person would recover quickly if they even showed symptoms at all. That’s the narrative that’s buried within the fearmongering from the authoritarians who are using Covid-19 as the excuse to solidify authoritarian control. This is all about Big Government keeping the piece of the freedom pie they stole when we started “15 Days to Slow the Spread” over a year ago.
Lepejian has been arrested for a third time. His legal defense fund is here. A fence has been erected around his establishment to prevent them from committing the “crime” of serving food and beverages to hungry and thirsty people, a people who could once consider themselves free. Today, they are not. They are beholden to the City of Burbank and the State of California. At least that’s what the city and state want residents to believe.
From NBC Los Angeles:
The fence was erected around the business at 2623 W. Magnolia Blvd. to prevent the owners of Tinhorn Flats Saloon & Grill from reopening with unsafe conditions due to a court-approved shutoff of electricity and a preliminary injunction granted Friday to prevent the restaurant from operating without a County Health Permit and City Conditional Use Permit, said Burbank police Lt. Derek Green.
The demonstrations have continued for several days, and crowds of dozens of demonstrators have strained police resources, especially during busy weekend nights, Green said.
Celebrity attorney Mark Geragos is representing the restaurant and there was some hope that tensions would have calmed down since indoor dining is opening up again in the county:
Hope fell like a rock when Burbank Police took steps to secure the premises. It’s like a scene from an old WWII movie. The Nazis are there, guns in hand, to pass down judgment in the most draconian fashion allowable right now.
Other restaurants are open now that the lockdown orders have finally been lifted. But Tinhorn Flats committed the unthinkable crime of standing up for their constitutional rights and opposing a counterproductive lockdown that has been demonstrated time and again to be ineffective. This is about retribution. They are making an example of a business that stood up to their self-declared authoritarian powers.
Let’s not forget California Governor Gavin Newsom was caught violating his own order, eating inside The French Laundry restaurant in Napa in November.
This should make you angry. Very angry. It doesn’t matter if you live in Burbank or anywhere in California. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or Democrat, conservative or progressive. Tinhorn Flats did absolutely nothing wrong other than run counter to a destructive agenda. If anything, they are the heroes in this whole ordeal. They are the ones who fulfilled our duty as Americans to stand up to unconstitutional overreach by government.
The people who are saying are saying they should have just complied would have been the people defending England during the Revolutionary War. Cowardice is the greatest tool used by authoritarians like the City Council of Burbank. They rely on the fears of the citizens who put them in office in order to maintain their control over our lives. This is why it’s so important to them to destroy Tinhorn Flats. Anything less than complete annihilation will not suffice in their grand plan to establish that THEY control our lives, not us.
An excellent write-up at Conservative Treehouse tells us the timeline of events:
Tinhorn Flats is the oldest bar in Burbank. In March of 2020 they shut down in compliance with state guidelines. They reopened in November 2020, and when the second lockdown was announced their defiance began.
Burbank authorities first cited and fined Tinhorn Flats. Lucas refused to pay and stayed open. Burbank authorities cut their utilities. Lucas brought in generators and stayed open. Burbank authorities Red tagged his restaurant and locked the doors. Lucas cut the locks and reopened. Burbank authorities boarded up the doors and ‘red tagged’ again as unsafe. Lucas sawed off the boards and reopened his business. Burbank police then arrested Lucas. Lucas made bail and was released.
Regular protests then began to support Lucas. Burbank authorities came back and replaced the boards (thicker w/ security nails). Lucas sawed off those boards and reopened business. Burbank police then arrested Lucas the second time. Lucas made bail and was released. Burbank authorities again replaced the boards on the doors and added sand bags; (police later announced that anyone moving a sandbag would be arrested). Lucas removed the sandbags. Lucas was arrested, made bail and was released.
Today the city of Burbank installed fences around the property…. the battle continues.
Tinhorn Flats is every business in America and Lucas Lepejian is every American. The City of Burbank is telling all of us that totalitarian control is our near-future fate. If we do nothing, that fate is sealed and ready to be delivered.
