It’s July 24th and, as of today, it is now a regulation under UK law that people wear masks (or face coverings of some kind) inside shops, stores and supermarkets. Not on the street, or inside pubs and restaurants (which have been open for weeks), but inside shops and on public transport. Breaking this rule …
The COVID crisis has given the State unprecedented new powers which politicians are more than willing to use in order to further consolidate power. Has Boris Johnson decreed mandatory masks to follow suite with Nicola Sturgeon’s diktat north of the border? But are the public aware of the long-term costs to democracy and society as whole?
This new Politico/Morning Consult poll comes as more than half of U.S. State governments have issued mandatory mask requirements which they claim will somehow slow transmission of COVID.
Cone of Shame by Nancy OhanianOn the Senate floor yesterday, Elizabeth Warren reminded her colleagues that the country is "just days away from a housing crisis that could be prevented if Mitch McConnell stopped stalling and the Senate act. This is about our health, our economy, and our values. Forcing thousands of people out of their homes during a pandemic will make a public health crisis worse.
by NoahIn Trump They Trust! Or, what does a death wish look like? You can find examples of idiots and fools declining to wear a mask anywhere, but burning them? That takes a special kind of stupid and inconsideration, especially when you could send them to a hospital or senior center. But, hey, that's Repugs for ya.
So, how are you enjoying the “New Normal” so far? Is it paranoid and totalitarian enough for you? If not … well, hold on, because it’s just getting started. There is plenty more totalitarianism and paranoia still to come.
In front of White House
Americans are angry. I suspected they would be, but I got confirmation that they are, all over the place: in Miami, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Minneapolis, New York, and Boston. Basically, everywhere I went, while “taking pulse and temperature” of this country where I used to live, cumulatively, for more than a decade, I felt frustration and bewilderment.
The sign in front of the Apple Bistro announces that social distancing is not practiced and that “oxygen deprivation” masks and “dirty germ spreader” gloves are not worn. Many people have left negative reviews and complained on Yelp about the policy, but there also are many who are rallying to support the restaurant.
As the coronavirus, once again, surges out of control in the United States, it is safe to say that even those few lessons learned have been cast aside by those who place profits before people. Greed and ignorance, not public health policy, is deciding the fate of tens of thousands in our nation who are likely to die and many times that who will suffer from COVID-19 as we stumble from one surge to another.
