Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Divide and Conquer

(Source)
And so it begins...

Mask wearing became a "requirement" at my work facility effective today.

Prior to this, as my location was over 90% vaccinated. masks were not required. Now, due to EO 14042, masks are required, you know, for "safety and health" reasons.

So, what's different between Monday the 1st of November and Tuesday the 2nd?

Pardon my French, but not a Goddamned thing.

Yup, it's not about health, it's about control.

What's next, little badges indicating one's vaccination status?

Camps for those who refuse to comply?

And people were worried that Trump was a Nazi ...

Foxtrot Juliet Bravo, or, (YMMV) "Let's go Brandon!"



66 comments:

  1. "What's next? " the masks ARE little cloth badges of compliance.
    Camps for those who resist have always been in the cards; c.f. Australia.

    Time might be coming when the choice will be to ride a boxcar or drive a rifle. Wishing it were less likely doesn't make it so.
    Boat Guy

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  2. We are headed for Woodrow Wilson levels of evil and tyranny, and the Democrats are hoping for it.

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    1. Wilson? You mean Stalin? Harrumph.

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    2. StB - I think we're past Wilson for what the Demons want (and their RINO imps alongside).

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    3. Well,, Woody did establish internment camps for Americans of German origins, he established basically brown-shirt brigades to beat down and destroy American businesses that were 'German' and he caused the formation of the neighbors ratting out other neighbors for not following along.

      And that's not even touching the segregation of the federal system or the militaries, the forced sterilization of the 'undesirables' and other things done to minority Americans that, well, the Nazis thought "Hey, cool, let's try that here."

      So, yes, Wilson levels of evil and tyranny, with a side order of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Mussolini (for the fashionable clothing) and some outright Hilter.

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    4. Wow, history has really hidden Wilson's crimes.

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    5. Yes, history, under the control of the Democrats, have hidden Woody's crimes. Just like they've hidden FDR.

      Hint: Look at what FDR did illegally and immorally, and just say that Woody did it first, which is pert near true.

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    6. Wilson organized Americans to spy on each other, and saying anything against his wartime policies was a felony. Over 10,000 American citizens were arrested and convicted under his laws instated by his Congressional allies. Some people were sentenced to over ten years.

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    7. Yup, the man was an early version of Slow Joe.

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  3. Anything short of mass civil disobedience is a half measure.

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    1. Concur.

      We're either citizens or subjects. I choose the former.

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  4. So, mask of choice....Darth Vader, Cylon, Toxic Avenger, Spitfire Pilot or Groucho Marx? Or, all of the above throughout the working week....

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    1. I like the way your mind works!

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    2. Why not just go "V" as in "V for Vendetta"???

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    3. Ooh, good one, most appropriate I think!

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  5. My condolences Sarge, having to wear a mask with glasses is a PITA. If you have to provide your own mask Stefan provides a path to follow. The Progs and RINOs are pushing, pushing.......they won't like the pushback even if they're planning/hoping for a reaction.

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  6. Triggering, very triggering. And I ain't talking famous palomino horses.

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  7. If there is one benefit of being old and retired is not having to face that workplace decision. In public I can always play the grouchy old man card with a touch of belligerence. Limited though it may be, I also vote my wallet.

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    1. Outdoors I play the "grumpy old veteran. might be dangerous" card. Which usually works.

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  8. Since the El Cheepo blue cloth masks are nearly useless, it is all theater anyway. Even with limited artistic talent or malevolence, you can comply and defy at the same time.

    A marker pen can add the decorations of YOUR choice. A smiley face or other emoji symbols; a toothsome grin (or frown); Dracula fangs; anarchist goatee; one of those "circle with slash" markings; "Thanks, Brandon"; "Yes, Master"; "Join the NRA"; "Go Army [Navy]"; "What, Me Worry?". Put your competitor's logo on the mask. "Vote 2022" [non-partisan so they cannot complain about that. Biohazard symbols. Pirate skull and crossed bones. Gay pride flag colors.

    If these are "mandated safety equipment" then the employer should be providing them, so demand that they do so- making it a hassle for the management to comply, not just an imposition on workers. Claim you don't have any masks of your own.
    File for religious exemptions and complain to HR if they are denied. Claim you have breathing problems and demand a "reasonable accommodation" under the ADA. Demand to be allowed to work from home.

    Make them follow their own rules (as Alinsky advises). Insist on strict compliance with working hours. Are required fire drills and safety briefings and inspections being conducted? Does everyone have ALL their medical stuff up to date- can you safely work there if someone has not had a flu shot, or their tetanus shot is overdue?

    If there is a smoking area, and smoke breaks authorized, take advantage of the opportunity to stop work and go socialize. Pretend to smoke if you have to.

    If a union place, file a grievance. Get someone else to file one tomorrow, etc.

    If this is a rule, then demand it be enforced 100%, especially on management. If ANYONE is seen violating the mask rule, then get everyone else to walk out ("for their own safety," of course) immediately. Do it a dozen times a day, every time anyone fails to comply. Get your phone cameras out and video anyone (especially management) failing to comply.

    Let's go Brandon!
    John Blackshoe

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    1. All good ideas, all really not possible for a defense contractor working on classified systems. But when the revolutions comes, and it will, we'll remember those who enforced the dictator's "mandates."

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  9. Just quit. Walk out, and let them know why. Let all your fellow workers know why. They think they are going to go hire some person off the street to replace you? Not likely- every business in the country is screaming even for unskilled labor.
    And to find a replacement with required security clearances? Ha ha ha.

    Actually, toss that advice- refuse to wear a mask, and make them fire you. It will come in handy in a year or so when the lawsuits gain traction.

    You have the power- not them. They NEED you. A few percent of their work force walks off, they are toast.

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    1. Especially if those that do the walking out are the ones that actually do the damned work. Leave them with the useless clerks and paper pushers, the backstabbers and office climbers and all the other riff-raff.

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    2. Won't work, it's defense contracting, they get paid even if they don't produce. Really.

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  10. Line in the Sand time. Stand or die time. Work or retire time.

    What's next? Can't own a gun if you work for a government contractor? How about can't own an internal combustion vehicle? Can't own a single family residence? Can't own certain books? Can't follow certain religions? Can't vote certain ways? Can't eat meat? Can't watch certain shows or movies? Can't hang around certain people?

    All of these are agendas by the illegal and immoral regime that is currently in power. The mask mandate is the "Go-No Go" test. If the sheeple or even the wolves follow the mandate, well, what's next?

    The illegal regime has already said that gas prices are going to get worse. That coal plants are targeted. That any fossil fuel plants are a no-go. That nuke plants are bad. Solar and wind and unicorn farts for the (dumb) masses. I, being down here in the South, feel really bad for the people who are going to freeze to death or nearly freeze to death because of this regime's attack on fossil fuels.

    And the attacks on farmers who use fossil fuels. Attacks on farmers who use modern chemistry (prices on fertilizer and pesticides and other chemicals are more than doubled, some are tripled, from even summer prices.) Attacks on ranchers for destroying the environment. We are past the Obama's EPA saying all water things are 'navigateable waters.'

    Stand or Die. In 1775 it was 60 seconds to grab your kit and out the door to stand up to tyranny. Now it's wear a mask or live.

    Especially since studies show that mask wearers are much more likely to get der Covid because they can't exhale the viral particles out of their lungs.

    And, of course, if masks worked, so many 'elite' jobs wouldn't be exempt, like... Congress.

    Time for you to get 'sick' and retire.

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    1. "Line in the Sand time. Stand or die time. Work or retire time." - easy to say, so hard to do.

      I've got bills to pay and there are sailors out there who, whether or not they know it, depend on me to make sure the brown-nosers and the corporate drones don't f**k up their combat system. Because that's what will happen if I walk away.

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    2. A lot of testosterone-laden advice here - digitally advised. This is one time that sitting back for a while and assessing the situation is required to maintain sanity. Testosterone-laden activity can be useful (airplane delivery of "bombs for peace, spinning Phantoms, etc.) but now is a time that the LORD will dramatically show you His will.
      I can't advise you Sarge. I'll pray.

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    3. Used to work QA for a DoD contractor. Unfortunately OldAFSarge is right about having to make sure the "brown-nosers and the corporate drones don't f**k up their combat system". That will indeed happen if nobody at the contractor is invested in preventing it. There are a few good people at DCMA (usually ex-military) who are good allies in this, but many are afraid to make waves. The whole government contracting system is a clusterf**k. Logic and common sense have been pretty much eliminated.

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    4. LtFuzz - You couldn't be more right, sit back, assess, and keep an open line to the Lord.

      Prayer is always good, and always welcome!

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    5. Feral Ferret - You've "been there, done that" so you know of what I speak. I know a couple of good ones in DCMA, there aren't enough. The gubmint contracting system is indeed as you say. Logic? Common sense? Not in the requirements dontcha know.

      It is to weep.

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  11. Masks cause irritation on the nose tissue, and medical advice (Sean might qualify) to take a break from wearing one for a couple of days may be necessary. Surely you got some sick leave built up, so use it.
    JB

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    1. We don't have sick leave. Sucks, but there it is.

      I do my job to the best of my ability because the customer, the Navy (and no, not the desk riders in DC but the sailors who actually go to sea) expects no less. I'll work to the end then walk away, hands and conscience clean. When the safety of the nation (the actual safety not the left wing vision of safety) is at stake, I can't walk away. They can always find some sycophant who claims he/she can do my job. Who suffers, the sailors, that's who.

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  12. Hi, I'm Joe, my cousin Brandon is going as fast as he can.

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  13. The rules continue to change - almost on a daily basis. I'm retired; I'm constipated (not a medical condition, just a polite way of saying "I don't give a s/whit.") but my horizons are contracting (more like being contracted by new laws and rules) and everything's getting almost impossibly expensive (not thank G-d, the medicines; you're paying for that).
    I feel like getting a bunch of old (my age, anyway) men together for one last charge, bayonets fixed, the wheels of our well-oiled walkers squeaking.

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  14. Ach! I've been so angry for so long now...she said spitting another nail while reading this!
    How much longer can this go on?

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    1. Hopefully not much longer. Though I'm not holding my breath.

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  15. Ok, in all seriousness.....I have a study on my shoephone about the medical implications of "mask" wearing. Problem is, it's in German.

    "Pathologie des Maskentragens"

    by Professor Dr. med. Arne Burkhardt
    Reutlingen. März 2021

    Whenever I can, I use a Dräger 3500 twin filter mask, which has inlet and exhaust valves, and top of the line filters. When I walk into a supermarket with this thing on I cannot smell their rotting vegetable display. Reading glasses do not fog!

    I am saving up for a MB-90 PAPR (powered air purifying respirator) system, which is a blower that fits two 40mm NATO threaded filters. At about 600 euro it is half the price of the industrial systems, and is sourced from Israeli military supply chain. Those guys know something about breathing gear, methinks. I'm also considering fitting a microphone/amplifier/speaker, for those precious moments when hand signals are not enough.

    May The Lord Jesus bless and keep you all.

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    1. Now that's a serious mask. The GD neckerchief/fake medical mask/cloth pretend masks just don't measure up. But again, it ain't about science, it ain't about health. The German word which most often springs to mind is Quatsch.

      Political posturing and control, that's what this is all about.

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    2. Sorry, Late to the fight. Taxi service, doncha know.

      Political posturing and control, that's what this is all about.

      Zackly! Which is why I only wear the mask in medical spaces. I've been asked to put it on elsewhere. My answer is "No". If they open their mouth and anything but "OK" comes out. I spin on my heel and walk out the door. There might be a "Screw you" thrown in as well.

      As I am wont to say, "Never give up, Never surrender". Wish I'd have won the lottery when it was $650M a while ago, I'd have hired you as my official fermented beverage advisor with a very comfortable salary.

      Alas, twas not to be.

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    3. The needs of the service, er, grandchild.

      I have not yet begun to fight. I may not have to.

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  16. Yep, we're in the first stages of what I feel is going to be an epic battle to restore our rights and personal sovereignty.

    And it's going to get worse before it gets better.....

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    1. I think you're right, the fascists aren't going down without a fight.

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  17. TOTALLY OT here, Sarge, but if you would please go back three posts to my comments re War of 1812.Left a funny true story about its teaching to modern-day grammar-school students..

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  18. Seen the rumor that Slow Joe dropped a load in his pants whilst visiting Bergoglio???

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  19. RE masks being mandated...sigh...welcome to my world. Have to wear both a mask plus a visor on every regular visit. The visor, blue mask over the N95 if the patient is positive, suspected to be positive, or if I wasn't vaccinated. We had to have all 3 on up until this past June when we were allowed to go only with the blue procedure mask and visor to see patients if we had been vaccinated. So much cooler dontcha know.

    And, no, no cloth masks, or being creative with the masks. Unfortunately. And, yes, ALL the top level management, even in their offices wear a procedure mask all the time. Unless the door is shut. And, no there are no meetings, except on Zoom or Webex, no getting together for any reason at all.

    The wonderful thing is we are now allowed to use a new mask every day, unless we had a positive patient--then that mask gets put in a labeled paper bag to be used only for that patient. For the first 10 months of this stupid pandemic we had to use the SAME 2 masks, over and over and over. Unless the inner N95 mask became stained or soiled. If you had a positive patient, you could throw away the outer blue mask, but had to keep the N95. Then, you were supposed to turn it in for "cleaning" and ya didn't get "your" mask back. Because there was NO EXTRA masks to be had for love nor money.

    The worst part about have to wear a mask and a visor (or goggles--which have to fit tightly to your face, broke my glasses using those, or didn't wear my glasses under the goggles--did I mention I am near-sighted, and have tri-focals?) is I live in the great northeast, and it is the beginning of November...winter is coming...guess what happens when you put on ANY mask, and a visor, and you wear glasses...yup...you guessed it...the inside of the visor fogs up...BIGTIME!!!! In the cold, not only does it fog up (which it does year round), it ices up in the inside of the visor, so I have drips running down the inside of the visor when I go into someone's house...sigh...

    I love my job...I HATE the damn mask/visor crap...on the other hand, I do know that it does work. I have been with patients and caaregivers at bad breath distances, who have told me 2-3 days later that they were positive...and I have been negative...so far. The one time I didn't have a mask on, and was with some folks, I came back positive.

    Do I wear it when I am not working...gotta confess, no I don't. Because I am out and about, not bad breath distance away form someone. But, I go to the grocery store, I drive thru the bank and the pharmacy, and I am pretty much home. I am not going around eating out, or going to shows, etc. Plus I do wash my hands. Or use the hand sanitizer until I get home, when I wash my hands. Wash before eating, and after being out someplace. I think hand washing and avoiding the mass crowds is a much better infection control measure than wearing a handkerchief on my face.

    The one thing that really ticks me off, besides having to wear the stupid mask and damn visor, is Brandon is busy telling everyone if ya get the shot, ya wont get sick...UM, NO!!! The vaccine for Covid 19, is just like the vaccine for influenza---it protects against the complications of the disease, not the virus itself...if you get the Covid shot, you decrease your chance of ending up in the hospital and stressing out the health care system...if you get the flu shot, you reduce your chance of getting pneumonia and ending up in the hospital...so it's all about staying out of the hospital...nothing else...well, besides all the political crap...I REALLY wish the government would get the hell outta health care!!!! Do I wish Faucci and company would go take a long walk off a short pier--youbetcha!!

    My only pro-tip would be to learn to breath through your mouth, slowly. And figure out a way to take a break every hour or so. Or, figure out a way to get rid of the bills so you can retire sooner.

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    1. Well, I understand the health care folks needing to take extra precautions, I mean you are on the front line of this thing. But for the rest of us? In military terms t feels like having to wear a helmet and body armor in Omaha, because there's fighting in Iraq.

      The latest move by my company is based solely on that damned executive order and the CDC's perceived threat of infection from being in a crowd in Rhode Island. It's all far too political. It would be more palatable if the damned government didn't lie to us all the time. And get called out on it. Who can one believe? My doc, sure, but where are they getting their info, from the CDC.

      I don't trust anyone anymore if they're "from the government."

      Hang in there Suz, you're doing the Lord's work out there.

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  20. Sarge, I recently finished reading the book After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre. It was published in 1981 and, in a nutshell too big for my small brain, is a review of the failure of philosophy to reconcile moral philosophy in the (then) modern world. It is a smart book written by a very smart man, and I am slow man trying to read it.

    He discusses the failures of the Utilitarians (something is good because it is useful), and in his recounting gets to the philosopher Max Weber (a man who, apparently, I should read more about). Among other things (apparently he was on the committee that drafted the Weimar Constitution - who knew?) he did a fair amount of analysis on bureaucracy. One of his findings - and I am paraphrasing maximally - is that bureaucracies ultimately demand obedience not because of the truth or rightness of what they are enforcing, but rather that it is a product of the bureaucratic system e.g. you must obey because of the decision making process that made the decision and the "rule of experts" that came to decision.

    In a nutshell, this seems like so much of what we face today: on so many fronts, we must obey bureaucracies without question not because of their expertise or knowledge but because by not obeying them, we are essentially questioning the rationality of the system itself.

    At this rate, we will all be rebels.

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    1. Can't the process I suppose. Face the same thing in engineering, the "experts" decide, all must march to that beat. Even if it flies in the face of reason.

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    2. Amen! Recently had our "project manager" moonlighting as forklift driver in the production yard (welding reinforcement in shipping containers and planking out with OSB....brutal job) in prep for the open day. Repeatedly tried to reason with him as to what went where, to no avail. Finally he drove off laughing at me.

      We still haven't found half the tools and materials he squirreled or threw away, the adhesives and paints are now worthless because they spent a few nights out in hard frosts; but I'm the PNG at work now because at the end of the last day before The Event he shut the workshop roll door 10 minutes before finish time....right in the middle of cleanup....and I succumbed to temptation and let a choice old school Aussie Infantry epithet echo across the landscape.

      He drops rush jobs on me at normal closing time so I have to bodge up a quick fix in the rain with 0 notice of two hours overtime, when the job could have been done properly in the sunny morning (when I asked about the problem). I have to detail the foreign subbies and mark out their tasks, supervise them and somehow get my own work done as well. Oxygen thief.

      Rant over.

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    3. He sounds like a right wanker!

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  21. We're required (Biden's DoD-wide mandate) to wear them indoors in all DoD facilities. I think that's been set aside for individual region commanders to decide. We're still doing it in SanDog despite the fact that we're far lower in all categories when that rule went into effect. The metric for it keeps changing.

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    1. I mean we're lower than when the rules were laid down.

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    2. Tuna #1 - They keep changing the rules,it's what leftists do.

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    3. Tuna #2 - Yup, no science behind this at all.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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