Today when I went to Lowe’s garden center I’m checking out. It’s hotter than hell. This nice woman was the cashier, she was doing her duty of all masked up. The lady behind me was also wearing a surgical mask and the dude behind her was wearing his “ go Clemson “ cloth mask. Myself, no mask.
The guy seemed to be agitated that I wasn’t wearing one but didn’t engage in his opinion. So I ask the cashier (that was wearing a sticker or patch she was a veteran.) I said, "man you musta did something pretty bad to get stuck out here in the blazing heat 🔥🔥 all day and have to wear that mask?" She replies, "Yes it’s awful, I can’t breathe with it on, but I can take it off if no customers are at my register. Then she says this ... “I was full time employee and since this mask wearing is mandatory to work here, I told them I would only work part time if I have to wear this mask. I told them I’d quit.“ Then, she says to me she was a nurse in the military and it’s not “HEALTHY “ to be breathing in your own carbon dioxide,. nor does a mask protect you from a virus." BINGO! Then, the lady behind me says she has trouble breathing, too. So I told both of them, "I am not going to wear one no matter what, I’m not endangering my health. When I woke up this morning, I didn’t wake up in Venezuela. I woke up in AMERICA! The land of the FREE! Does anyone recall the amazing Paul Harvey commentary entitled something like “If I Were the Devil, This Is What I’d Do.” It PERFECTLY mirrors what is going on today.
“If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of its real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please. To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington… And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil I’d soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door. Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle. If I were the devil I’d take from those who have, and give to those who want until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work in Patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus, I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing.” Paul Harvey, good day. (FROM 1965.) The question I have is how far do we go? Why didn't you or we wear masks in indoor places for the last fifty years or so? We have been constantly exposed to all sorts of pathogens, viruses, the "regular" flu, colds, good ole germs, etc. in the world for thousands of years, right? What is to prevent our power hungry leaders from requiring masks with the pretense of "saving lives" and "you are selfish if you don't wear a one" for the rest of our days on Earth?
I'm an American. I don't want to live in fear of a virus or anything else, most especially a country with greatly diminished freedom. If the robotic Chinese, Europeans and our liberal dupes want or have to wear masks, then fine. Just don't tell me if I'm reasonably healthy that I have to wear one. That's not the America my ancestors and I ever want to live in and I certainly don't trust many of our current leaders to resist the temptation to rob citizens of their freedom to associate and conduct vital business operations. Here's a fair question:
Miami Dade and Broward mandated a very strict mask law July 1st. They have been ruthlessly enforcing it. The virus has a 14 day incubation period so theoretically we should start seeing a drop off in cases if masks worked, no? I understand it won't be a complete eradication but if masks were remotely effective one would assume we should begin seeing a drop off very soon. What are they going to turn to when cases continue to rise (as I feel/see they are) despite mask laws? What will they blame it on next? Will they except the inevitable conclusion that they can't stop it or will they seek further measures? Mask facts: A cluster randomized trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in health care workers (1600) was conducted on 2015 involving flu and flu like transmissions. The rates of all infections were highest in the cloth cloth mask use. Penetration of cloth masks by particles was almost 97% and medical masks 44%.
“The results caution against the use of cloth masks. This is an important finding to inform occupational health and safety....moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection.” April 2015. WHO website: “There is limited evidence that wearing a medical mask by healthy individuals in households, in particular those who share a house with a sick person, or amping attendees...of mass gatherings may be beneficial as a measure preventing transmission...At present, there is no direct evidence...on the effectiveness...of universal masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory virus, including COVID-19.” June 5, 2020. NATURE publication of April 2020: RESPIRATORY VIRUS SHEDDING IN EXHALED BREATH AND EFFICACY OF FACE MASKS. “Among the samples of collected without a face mask, we found that the majority of participants with influenza virus and coronavirus infection did not shed detectable virus in respiratory droplets or aerosols. For those who did shed virus in respiratory droplets and aerosols, viral load in both (masked or unmasked) tended to be low.” The major limitation of our study was the large proportion of participants with undetectable viral shedding in exhaled breath for each of the viruses studied. We could have increased the sampling duration beyond 30 minutes to increase the viral shedding being captured.” May 27, 2020. |
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