RAE'S CAFÉ GOFUNDME SHUT DOWN!!!

Crowdfunding in the age of COVID is a tricky biz and right now a team of lawyers is busy earning their keep by smacking down a small, defiant biz that refuses to follow public health codes.

Here are the deets stolen liberated quoted from a lesser blog . . .

An online fundraising site pulled a page raising money for Rae’s Cafe in Blue Springs and returned all contributions to donors over the weekend.

Rae’s Cafe was cited for violating Jackson County’s mask mandate and is to appear in court. The page had been established to raise legal expenses. It had generated nearly $5,000 of its $15,000 goal by Friday afternoon.

The fundraiser violated the GoFundMe terms of service, said Olivia Kealey, a spokesperson for the site.

Kealey didn’t specify which terms had been violated, but provided a link to the site’s full terms of service.

Under the first term, however, users agree not to use the site to raise funds or establish or contribute to any campaign with the implicit or explicit purpose of or involving “the violation of any law, regulation, industry requirement or third-party guidelines or agreements by which they are bound.”

Accordingly . . . 

Here's at www.TonysKansasCity.com we might disagree with the foodie protest but it's not encouraging to watch a team of high powered lawyers smack around a small-time greasy spoon and pretend that they're doing the world a favor. 

Rest assured, as usual . . . There are no good guys in this fight. 

However . . . 

We're certain that social media experts can help Rae's craft a fundraising effort that won't violate the TOS of other crowdfunding sites . . . Maybe a new recipe for COVID cakes or something equally cheeky & futile might prove successful. 

However, let's be real about what we're watching. 

The current Jackson County Administration is RUTHLESSLY protecting their authority and using every avenue of the law and fine print to hurt a small biz that has defied them. 

Meanwhile, these restaurant owners probably realize they've started a fight they can't win and have willingly put their employees and patrons in tough spot in a not-so-important fight over brunch attire. 

There are very few pancakes in this world worthy of this kind of trouble.

(Only the ones YOUR MOM makes me after a night out. Lulz.) 

Again, we respect that the COVID restaurant rules seem like a pointless charade. However, pointless charades are required from all of us in this post-modern world. 

For instance, at some point so many d-bag denizens of this blog have gleefully listened to a spouse talk about losing weight or quitting drinking. Even better, maybe readers have been fortunate enough to intently listen to how a stripper really was working her way through college. 

But I digress . . .

For the plebs the lesson here is that local government isn't interested in compromise or mediation and they're not playing around about enforcing the new COVID rules or getting anything else they demand. This story is nothing less than an example of their skill in defeating anyone who would dare to defy their power. 

Those on the winning side of this equation might celebrate "victory" over a small biz in much the same way that so many truly awful people seem to revel in deaths of horribly mistaken vaxx deniers. 

Meanwhile, the political impact of COVID-19 has infected the soul of this nation with a horrible disdain for fellow Americans who fall on the opposite side of our cultural spectrum.

Update . . . They're on Venmo.

Developing . . .