Here's a two-minute local TV report on a young lady from NC. This (then) captain the U.S. Army cut down the police tape at a local park and let her toddler son slide down the sliding board during the lockdowns!
It wasn't exactly the "Boston Tea Party," but I still say, "You go, Emily Rainey!"
P.S. she later "voluntarily" resigned from the U.S. Army after she booked a bus trip for private citizens to go to D.C. on J-6. Emily was also once the guest on a Tucker Carlson long-form interview and documentary about J-6 when Tucker was still with Fox News.
I tore down yellow tape at three parks in Evanston. They always put it back up. I know many moms who did likewise across the country, for the sake of their kids. Like you said, maybe not Boston Tea Party, but I daresay the BTP is overrated. ;-)
Sounds very familiar: brewery in winter 20/21. The scene: 40th birthday party (not my group) going on w maybe 30 folks, kids running around, almost no masks. This group is ~ 10' to the right of the bar. Also, a couple w no masks sitting on right side of bar. Random other unmasked folks milling about. I walk up to bar to order maskless: tiny in stature but loud of mouth and full of ink and tightly masked bartender says she will not take my order unless I don a mask. Note there are sheets of magic plexiglass dangling between us (had to be the magic kind cuz it stopped viruses), we are more than 6' apart as well. I said, "well why not yell at that unmasked couple or that giant group of unmasked folks to your immediate left? Unfazed, she said I must wear a mask to order. So in order to reduce the squirming and blushing from my normie friends, I say, it's totally ridiculous, but I'll hold a mask up to my face while I order the beer. Nope, that wasn't good enough. She screeched that I must have the ear loops engaged. At which point I told her to take her beer and shove it some place dark, as I exited the establishment and she yelled F-bombs at me and said, "yeah well you better leave because you're kicked out!" So there you see the true reason for mask hysteria: control. She wanted to control my actions and demonstrate her dominance over me. My noncompliance enraged her. Never been back there nor have I knowingly ever bought one of their beers since.
I remember your grocery story, Jessica. Out here in Insane Francisco, we had a few similar run ins (it usually helped if a few of us did these unmasked forays together) all the time. My most memorable one was when a friend & I were outside, in the fall of 2020, on the sidewalk, unmasked, on the far side of the parking lot of a local chain grocery store, collecting signatures to recall our horrible governor. We were actually having good conversations & getting quite a few sign-ups when the manager came out, said some customers complained about us (we didn't approach anyone, just held up our signs & petitions), and hysterically said his uncle died of COVID & that we should be wearing masks & move across the street, or he would call the police. We told him to call the police, as we were doing nothing illegal. Just then, we got called away to another location by HQ, but, in general, the police, even here, were very calm & fair w/us anytime we had skirmish, which was quite often.
In some ways you were lucky. I walked into a grocery store in 2021 without a mask. But I had previously tried to buy groceries using curbside service and had been refused. I called ahead and received the managers permission to enter without a mask. I had on me a signed letter from my doctor affirming I was exempt, and I had an app on my phone (obtained from an official government website) showing the same. Nothing mattered. I was stopped upon entry. All my credentials were rejected. I simply replied, "no problem, I'll just go home and starve to death." But when I turned to leave, they called the cops, who showed up in under 2 minutes and prevented me from leaving. For 30+ minutes 5 people stood all around me, all within inches of my face - till it was obvious none of these people remotely believed the nonsensical story in truth. I stood their calmly, asking questions of the cops, and affirming that I had done nothing wrong.
They gave me a ticket anyway. 6 months later I appealed it in court, at which point I found out that in Canada when it concerns a fine you are legally guilty until proven innocent. This meant that the only proof of exemption accepted by the court would be a notice on hospital overhead - something no hospital in MB was doing. And then I understood why the officer could so flagrantly ignore my credentials: good as they were, and legal, they could not stand up in court.
I appealed to the fact that the mask mandate was illegal according to MB law on 7 different grounds, and shortly thereafter the crown dropped their case against me.
As for starving to death, the very next day after receiving my ticket the government dropped the mandate. And 1000s joined me in shopping without a mask.
Agreed that I had it better than some and worse than others.
Can't recall the country, but there was a missionary who spoke to our adult Sunday school class in summer/fall 2022 who said the grocery stores where he was required the shot to go the grocery store. Even NYC, Chicago, and San Fran didn't go that far. Not sure about Canada.
There's a billboard on Interstate 5 in western Washington that has said, "No one died in WWII so you could show papers to buy food!" for at least 24 months. It's referring to the vaccines, but also applies to masks.
I knew too it was a hoax by April 19. I couldn’t understand why the global governments were doubling down I would choose what schools to work at based on if the principal supported masking. One time a student reported I wasn’t wearing the mask correctly so the principal marched in and reprimanded me in front of the class. I told her I could not walk talk tie shoes and read out loud with the mask on and I would leave the classroom if she preferred. Of course she didn’t want me to leave cuz she would have to deal with a class without a teacher. After that I made it my mission to tell the little ones 1st graders how to avoid being chastised by authority teachers 👩🏫 I told them to always say you needed water It would be 100 degrees on the playground the kids are running around all red in the face masks wet and dirty. I told them to take them off It really made me angry and it was dangerous for the kids.
Oh wow - what a story!! Good for you! I won't speculate about that particular principal, but as someone who worked in and with schools for 20 years, I can say that principal is always tough position because you get pressures from the top-down AND pressures from bottom-up. So the scolding may have been more about the pressures she/he was expecting and/or receiving
Good for you for teaching the kids how to workaround authoritarianism and non-sensical rules!
“I walked over to the masked managers & security teamand& said I'd never been so ashamed of fellow Americans & that they no longer have to wonder if they would have the courage to stand against tyranny.”
I said something similar to someone forcing me (unsuccessfully) to put a mask on outside.
I am still so ashamed of and angry at so many people who just accepted the mask mandates.
Do you have meaning friendships with people who don’t see or won’t admit to that what occurred was wrong? I just can’t. I can’t unsee their horrific behavior.
With relatives (blood or extended family by marriage), those relationships don't simply go away. So some modicum of understanding/tolerance is required, out of love and out of respect for being in a situation or an at event together.
Right now, my IRL friendships are primarily people who a) do acknowledge that what occurred was wrong OR b) are people I did not know at the time. When you're not privy to what the person said or did during the events - and in general they at least get that it was all pretty crazy - it's easier.
That said, I'm no saint and people saw me at my worst during those years too.
I have been forgiven much - and so must also forgive.
Hopeful sign from the left coast last night. Went to a film screening in SF for a documentary about the musician & producer Brain Eno, so you know the audience was very artsy & liberal (the movie was great, BTW). It was a packed house of about 200 people and there were a few maskers in the audience, but we're used to that here in SF. Before it started, a masked-up employee went to the front of the theater to introduce the film. As he was mumbling through his face diaper, a few people asked him to speak up, which he did, but his words were still indecipherable, just louder. then another 10 or 15 people all over the theatre started yelling "we can't understand" (of course I barked "take your mask off"). He got frustrated and scurried off stage never to be seen again. If a liberal crowd here in the bluest of blue cities isn't putting up w/this BS, there's real hope everywhere.
In practical terms, if you can't tolerate their behavior, it's impossible to maintain a relationship with someone who's consistently covering his/her face around you. So, the problem in a way resolves itself.
The day I followed you, had just moved WA to ID (5 hrs from husband) to be able to function since I can’t wear one. We were apart 2 yrs, saw each other on wknds. Lost my career in theatre. Will never forget, and grateful for you!
I’ve moved into films (theater is still Covidian) & my first Christmas movie just sold! A non union boutique production co, appears to be on our side :)
This brought back so many memories. I'd like to say none of them good, but on reflection I'm glad I stood up against the insanity here in the UK. Tests your mettle.
Well done for standing your ground and not buckling. And getting groceries in the end!
Thanks. I was active and already established reputation-wise on Twitter as being pro-choice on masks, so I did go in with the intent of documenting what happened if I wasn't simply left alone. Also intentional about my kids not being with me, because I knew it could get contentious.
The really crazy part is it was a Saturday night, which is NOT a busy night for grocery shopping. And it's a big store. So even from a "spread" point of view, I presented no "risk."
Glad that time is past, but if someone can't stand against the "small evils," I am not sure how they think they will stand against the bigger ones!
My local hospital still has "masks required for all support staff and patients", "6 foot social distancing", "patients can only take off their mask when they are alone in their room", "if you have symptoms of COVID like fever etc you must let someone know and get a test", in-processing forms still have "COVID" sections, "COVID vaccine" status, and so on and so on. This is a recent visit to the hospital this 2024.
However, everyone ignores all of it. Nobody wore masks, despite all the COVID verbiage on various forms it was not mentioned by doctors or nurses at all, there was no mandatory test on entry, nobody asked about vaccine status, etc. But all of the paraphernalia is still there.
A friend of mine had a medical emergency in another state in 2020 (this state was widely excoriated as "not taking COVID seriously" and had "lots of COVID deaths because of the governor's near-COVID-denial" and so on). Nobody in the hospital wore masks, not even in the ICU.
As an addendum I recently saw an ad for my local hospital system (careers in nursing) during the Olympics. From the TV ad you would think every doctor, nurse, patient, and visitor in these hospitals is STILL WEARING MASKS. But today nobody is!
Just a random passing thought I had that this what 90% (99%) of COVID was: an alternative TV reality utterly at odds with real life. And it still is so in 2024.
How many times in the past 4 years would you guess Mariano's has had a masked shoplifter go through one of its stores, and Mariano's came away with no idea who did the shoplifting?
At least some of the convenience stores near me now have "show your face" signs at the entrance.
To your point, I remember earlier in April 2020 - when rumors of mask mandates were afoot - saying to a friend that I had serious concerns about masking and crime. Since we lived close to the city & had experienced stolen cars and home theft, we were well aware of the potential issues. My friend was like, "Oh I didn't even think about that."
This isn't deeply relevant, but today I read about the Pearl Harbor attack. The author, writing in the late '50s, describes the Japanese pilots preparing to take off, and how one of them, "such a hypochondriac," always wore a gauze mask.
Praise to all the protestors ....
Here's a two-minute local TV report on a young lady from NC. This (then) captain the U.S. Army cut down the police tape at a local park and let her toddler son slide down the sliding board during the lockdowns!
It wasn't exactly the "Boston Tea Party," but I still say, "You go, Emily Rainey!"
P.S. she later "voluntarily" resigned from the U.S. Army after she booked a bus trip for private citizens to go to D.C. on J-6. Emily was also once the guest on a Tucker Carlson long-form interview and documentary about J-6 when Tucker was still with Fox News.
Emily's father, Scott, is one of my best friends.
https://www.wral.com/video/coronavirus/video/southern-pines-woman-banned-from-playground-facing-charges-after-removing-caution-tape/19117254/
Great documentation!
I tore down yellow tape at three parks in Evanston. They always put it back up. I know many moms who did likewise across the country, for the sake of their kids. Like you said, maybe not Boston Tea Party, but I daresay the BTP is overrated. ;-)
Sounds very familiar: brewery in winter 20/21. The scene: 40th birthday party (not my group) going on w maybe 30 folks, kids running around, almost no masks. This group is ~ 10' to the right of the bar. Also, a couple w no masks sitting on right side of bar. Random other unmasked folks milling about. I walk up to bar to order maskless: tiny in stature but loud of mouth and full of ink and tightly masked bartender says she will not take my order unless I don a mask. Note there are sheets of magic plexiglass dangling between us (had to be the magic kind cuz it stopped viruses), we are more than 6' apart as well. I said, "well why not yell at that unmasked couple or that giant group of unmasked folks to your immediate left? Unfazed, she said I must wear a mask to order. So in order to reduce the squirming and blushing from my normie friends, I say, it's totally ridiculous, but I'll hold a mask up to my face while I order the beer. Nope, that wasn't good enough. She screeched that I must have the ear loops engaged. At which point I told her to take her beer and shove it some place dark, as I exited the establishment and she yelled F-bombs at me and said, "yeah well you better leave because you're kicked out!" So there you see the true reason for mask hysteria: control. She wanted to control my actions and demonstrate her dominance over me. My noncompliance enraged her. Never been back there nor have I knowingly ever bought one of their beers since.
Completely insane
For some, the power of rule enforcement is a drug.
Was she truly afraid of catching COVID from you, or even from losing her job?
Seems it was the power she feared losing most.
Just like JB Pritzker et al
I'm going to need to know which beer not to buy. This place doesn't begin with a "C" does it?
Proclamation - don't know if they distribute outside New England
I remember your grocery story, Jessica. Out here in Insane Francisco, we had a few similar run ins (it usually helped if a few of us did these unmasked forays together) all the time. My most memorable one was when a friend & I were outside, in the fall of 2020, on the sidewalk, unmasked, on the far side of the parking lot of a local chain grocery store, collecting signatures to recall our horrible governor. We were actually having good conversations & getting quite a few sign-ups when the manager came out, said some customers complained about us (we didn't approach anyone, just held up our signs & petitions), and hysterically said his uncle died of COVID & that we should be wearing masks & move across the street, or he would call the police. We told him to call the police, as we were doing nothing illegal. Just then, we got called away to another location by HQ, but, in general, the police, even here, were very calm & fair w/us anytime we had skirmish, which was quite often.
Reminds me of Sept or October 2020 - can't recall which - me and husband walking in neighborhood, no masks of course.
Masked Man passes on the sidewalk and yells, "No mask?? F*** you!"
Rain-masking was also rampant https://x.com/Wood_House76/status/1453823461319716865
In some ways you were lucky. I walked into a grocery store in 2021 without a mask. But I had previously tried to buy groceries using curbside service and had been refused. I called ahead and received the managers permission to enter without a mask. I had on me a signed letter from my doctor affirming I was exempt, and I had an app on my phone (obtained from an official government website) showing the same. Nothing mattered. I was stopped upon entry. All my credentials were rejected. I simply replied, "no problem, I'll just go home and starve to death." But when I turned to leave, they called the cops, who showed up in under 2 minutes and prevented me from leaving. For 30+ minutes 5 people stood all around me, all within inches of my face - till it was obvious none of these people remotely believed the nonsensical story in truth. I stood their calmly, asking questions of the cops, and affirming that I had done nothing wrong.
They gave me a ticket anyway. 6 months later I appealed it in court, at which point I found out that in Canada when it concerns a fine you are legally guilty until proven innocent. This meant that the only proof of exemption accepted by the court would be a notice on hospital overhead - something no hospital in MB was doing. And then I understood why the officer could so flagrantly ignore my credentials: good as they were, and legal, they could not stand up in court.
I appealed to the fact that the mask mandate was illegal according to MB law on 7 different grounds, and shortly thereafter the crown dropped their case against me.
As for starving to death, the very next day after receiving my ticket the government dropped the mandate. And 1000s joined me in shopping without a mask.
Simply incredible.
Agreed that I had it better than some and worse than others.
Can't recall the country, but there was a missionary who spoke to our adult Sunday school class in summer/fall 2022 who said the grocery stores where he was required the shot to go the grocery store. Even NYC, Chicago, and San Fran didn't go that far. Not sure about Canada.
There's a billboard on Interstate 5 in western Washington that has said, "No one died in WWII so you could show papers to buy food!" for at least 24 months. It's referring to the vaccines, but also applies to masks.
Canada was brutal to its citizens
I knew too it was a hoax by April 19. I couldn’t understand why the global governments were doubling down I would choose what schools to work at based on if the principal supported masking. One time a student reported I wasn’t wearing the mask correctly so the principal marched in and reprimanded me in front of the class. I told her I could not walk talk tie shoes and read out loud with the mask on and I would leave the classroom if she preferred. Of course she didn’t want me to leave cuz she would have to deal with a class without a teacher. After that I made it my mission to tell the little ones 1st graders how to avoid being chastised by authority teachers 👩🏫 I told them to always say you needed water It would be 100 degrees on the playground the kids are running around all red in the face masks wet and dirty. I told them to take them off It really made me angry and it was dangerous for the kids.
Oh wow - what a story!! Good for you! I won't speculate about that particular principal, but as someone who worked in and with schools for 20 years, I can say that principal is always tough position because you get pressures from the top-down AND pressures from bottom-up. So the scolding may have been more about the pressures she/he was expecting and/or receiving
Good for you for teaching the kids how to workaround authoritarianism and non-sensical rules!
ICYMI, I created this page a few weeks ago and couldn't believe how much crazy had gone on. https://www.woodhouse76.com/p/illinois-k12-covid-policy
“I walked over to the masked managers & security teamand& said I'd never been so ashamed of fellow Americans & that they no longer have to wonder if they would have the courage to stand against tyranny.”
I said something similar to someone forcing me (unsuccessfully) to put a mask on outside.
I am still so ashamed of and angry at so many people who just accepted the mask mandates.
For me, the worst part is what I tried to articulate here: https://www.woodhouse76.com/p/what-my-dads-september-11th-has-taught
People don't see and/or are not willing to admit that what occurred was wrong.
Some are average folks who enjoyed, benefited from, or didn't mind what happened https://www.woodhouse76.com/p/joe-average (written by Matt Brown, not me)
Others like Emily Oster were in more elevated positions and want to pretend is was all completely understandable https://www.woodhouse76.com/p/osterism
Do you have meaning friendships with people who don’t see or won’t admit to that what occurred was wrong? I just can’t. I can’t unsee their horrific behavior.
It's a challenge: https://x.com/Wood_House76/status/1735749746524905911
With relatives (blood or extended family by marriage), those relationships don't simply go away. So some modicum of understanding/tolerance is required, out of love and out of respect for being in a situation or an at event together.
Right now, my IRL friendships are primarily people who a) do acknowledge that what occurred was wrong OR b) are people I did not know at the time. When you're not privy to what the person said or did during the events - and in general they at least get that it was all pretty crazy - it's easier.
That said, I'm no saint and people saw me at my worst during those years too.
I have been forgiven much - and so must also forgive.
Hopeful sign from the left coast last night. Went to a film screening in SF for a documentary about the musician & producer Brain Eno, so you know the audience was very artsy & liberal (the movie was great, BTW). It was a packed house of about 200 people and there were a few maskers in the audience, but we're used to that here in SF. Before it started, a masked-up employee went to the front of the theater to introduce the film. As he was mumbling through his face diaper, a few people asked him to speak up, which he did, but his words were still indecipherable, just louder. then another 10 or 15 people all over the theatre started yelling "we can't understand" (of course I barked "take your mask off"). He got frustrated and scurried off stage never to be seen again. If a liberal crowd here in the bluest of blue cities isn't putting up w/this BS, there's real hope everywhere.
That is encouraging, although I must say I feel badly for him because it sounds like he is suffering from mask addiction!
In practical terms, if you can't tolerate their behavior, it's impossible to maintain a relationship with someone who's consistently covering his/her face around you. So, the problem in a way resolves itself.
The day I followed you, had just moved WA to ID (5 hrs from husband) to be able to function since I can’t wear one. We were apart 2 yrs, saw each other on wknds. Lost my career in theatre. Will never forget, and grateful for you!
Thanks, Brooke!
It's heartbreaking how many actors lost their jobs - and the arts community in general was horrifyingly Covidian. :(
Here's hoping the next generation of actors will take what happened and turn it into powerful, convicting performances and films.
I’ve moved into films (theater is still Covidian) & my first Christmas movie just sold! A non union boutique production co, appears to be on our side :)
Yay!!
This brought back so many memories. I'd like to say none of them good, but on reflection I'm glad I stood up against the insanity here in the UK. Tests your mettle.
Well done for standing your ground and not buckling. And getting groceries in the end!
Thanks. I was active and already established reputation-wise on Twitter as being pro-choice on masks, so I did go in with the intent of documenting what happened if I wasn't simply left alone. Also intentional about my kids not being with me, because I knew it could get contentious.
The really crazy part is it was a Saturday night, which is NOT a busy night for grocery shopping. And it's a big store. So even from a "spread" point of view, I presented no "risk."
Glad that time is past, but if someone can't stand against the "small evils," I am not sure how they think they will stand against the bigger ones!
My local hospital still has "masks required for all support staff and patients", "6 foot social distancing", "patients can only take off their mask when they are alone in their room", "if you have symptoms of COVID like fever etc you must let someone know and get a test", in-processing forms still have "COVID" sections, "COVID vaccine" status, and so on and so on. This is a recent visit to the hospital this 2024.
However, everyone ignores all of it. Nobody wore masks, despite all the COVID verbiage on various forms it was not mentioned by doctors or nurses at all, there was no mandatory test on entry, nobody asked about vaccine status, etc. But all of the paraphernalia is still there.
A friend of mine had a medical emergency in another state in 2020 (this state was widely excoriated as "not taking COVID seriously" and had "lots of COVID deaths because of the governor's near-COVID-denial" and so on). Nobody in the hospital wore masks, not even in the ICU.
COVID enforcement was very patchy.
Someone I know who was in the hospital recently for something unrelated to respiratory illness:
Nurse: "Here's a COVID test. We'll be back to take that."
Patient: "I refuse. State law says you can't make me take it."
Nurse leaves and comes back ~10 minutes later.
Nurse: "Ok, so you don't have to take the COVID test."
Patient: "I know. Thank you."
As an addendum I recently saw an ad for my local hospital system (careers in nursing) during the Olympics. From the TV ad you would think every doctor, nurse, patient, and visitor in these hospitals is STILL WEARING MASKS. But today nobody is!
Just a random passing thought I had that this what 90% (99%) of COVID was: an alternative TV reality utterly at odds with real life. And it still is so in 2024.
How many times in the past 4 years would you guess Mariano's has had a masked shoplifter go through one of its stores, and Mariano's came away with no idea who did the shoplifting?
At least some of the convenience stores near me now have "show your face" signs at the entrance.
Precisely.
To your point, I remember earlier in April 2020 - when rumors of mask mandates were afoot - saying to a friend that I had serious concerns about masking and crime. Since we lived close to the city & had experienced stolen cars and home theft, we were well aware of the potential issues. My friend was like, "Oh I didn't even think about that."
This isn't deeply relevant, but today I read about the Pearl Harbor attack. The author, writing in the late '50s, describes the Japanese pilots preparing to take off, and how one of them, "such a hypochondriac," always wore a gauze mask.
Acculturated masking