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Stupidest Story Of The Week: Put Your Masks Back On

The Blue State Conservative

This week’s decision was a difficult one, with so many options from which to choose. After much debate, gnashing of teeth, and occasional shouting, we finally arrived at a decision, and it’s difficult to argue against the ultimate winner.

Winner: Government Officials Are Pushing To Bring Back Mask Mandates Due To COVID

First off, I acknowledge that there’s a resurgence of COVID in various parts of the country, particularly In the Southeast and Southern California, due largely to the increased infectiousness of the Delta variant. But that resurgence represents a spike in cases, not in deaths. The number of Americans dying from COVID is a full order of magnitude lower than what we saw during the pandemic’s peak. We’re currently averaging approximately 300 deaths per day nationwide, compared to almost 4,000 per day during COVID’s darkest days.

Is it OK that 300 Americans a day are dying each day of COVID? No, but people make choices, and personal freedom is the single most cherished aspect of being an American. With the exception of an extremely small percentage of people over the age of 12 who can’t receive the vaccines for medical reasons, every adult in the country has had the opportunity at this point to be fully vaccinated. I’m one of those people, and I made that personal choice based on my own risk analysis. I’d rather roll the dice with the side-effects from the vaccine than with getting sick from the virus. But there are millions of you who have chosen not to get the shots, and that’s your right, and the decision is understandable, particularly if you are in a younger age group.

For those who have chosen not to get the vaccine, they have assessed that the risks with the vaccine are not worth the benefit of potential immunity and lessened severity of cases of the virus if contracted. It’s a decision I disagree with, but it’s a reasonable decision. If an unvaccinated person gets sick with COVID, they have no one to blame but themselves (and perhaps the WHO and China). But the government’s job is done here.

We rose to the occasion with the “fifteen days to slow the spread.” We never overwhelmed the hospitals. We stayed in our houses and worked from home, and some of us even obeyed those idiotic one-way traffic shopping lanes at supermarkets in order to socially distance and protect the elderly from getting sick. But that’s done now, it’s over. If you’re vulnerable, get vaccinated. If you don’t get vaccinated, you run the risk of getting infected, but that’s your choice. Those who are vaccinated should not have to take actions due to your decisions. That’s how this works. That’s life.

If an unvaccinated person gets sick, that’s not the problem of the rest of society. We should wish those folks well, and help in anyway possible, but it’s not our fault if they get sick, and it’s not the government’s fault either. It’s about personal responsibility. It’s fundamental.

The government’s role here should be pretty obvious, and that goes for any government: federal, state, or local. Encourage folks to get the vaccine by making strong, logical, and well-reasoned points. Run some PSAs if you want. Make sure hospitals are receiving the support the need, and that’s it. But as we saw this week, government officials, particularly Democrats, just can’t help themselves.

In Congress, the House of Representatives issued a mask mandated, while the Senate has not, and that mandate includes vaccinated individuals. The CDC itself has recommended masks for vaccinated people in certain “hot spots.” And in certain locales within California, Nevada, and Massachusetts, everyone, including the vaccinated, must mask up again.

This is insanity, and this is utter stupidity. Consider:

  • Vaccinated folks are 90% less likely to be infected, and therefore that much less likely to spread the virus. There is no reason to require vaccinated folks to wear masks.
  • If you’re trying to convince the unvaccinated to get the shots, telling them they’ll still be required to wear masks after doing so lessens the appeal.
  • Mask wearing was never effective to begin with. The COVID deaths/population in many states which mandated masks are higher than in states that didn’t mandate them.
  • Folks can still get vaccinated. If you want to reduce infections, press on vaccines, not masks.

And a final note. I live in a state/city that has not renewed mask mandates yet, fortunately. But as I’m out and about lately, I see more people going back to masks; in the mall, at restaurants, at Wal-Mart. Whatever their rationale, it’s up to them. Again, this is a free country. But I’ve seen many of them wearing the masks again and wearing them incorrectly. The nose isn’t covered, or it’s off to the side. If you’re really concerned enough to wear a mask when you don’t have to, wouldn’t you at least want to wear it properly?

Honorable Mention#1: Joe Biden, “I used to drive an 18-wheeler, man”

Note, I didn’t add the word “man” to the end of the quote for embellishment, that’s what Biden said while visiting an assembly plant in Pennsylvania this week. In an effort to clarify the president’s comment, the White House later claimed that Biden had in fact ridden in an 18-wheeler once as a passenger, and that he had driven a school bus for a summer job at one point. To use the White House’s logic then, anyone who has ever flown in a plane is a pilot. And likening driving a school bus to a tractor-trailer is like comparing checkers to chess. We can add this episode to the list of other, wild Biden claims such as his assertion that he was once a coal miner, he participated in civil rights marches, and he got a full-ride scholarship to Syracuse University Law School. When you lie for a living like Creepy Joe, blurting out nonsense like this seems logical.

Honorable Mention #2: Hunter Biden ‘Artwork” Priced For Up To $500,000

First Son and Crackhead-in-Chief Hunter Biden creates and sells art. If the story ended right there, it would be a contender for Stupidest Story, but it gets better. According to Fox News, prices for Hunter Biden’s artwork “range between $75,000 and $500,000.” The low-end stuff costs $75K. I’m no art critic, and in fact I only have a mild appreciation for it, most of which is limited to the late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth century impressionists. But one doesn’t need a Fine Arts degree to conclude that Hunter’s art is a joke. My kids brought home better finger paintings from preschool. Even Politico can’t keep a straight face with this story. No matter the quality of Hunter’s slop, we must give the Bidens credit: they are unabashed with their willingness to cash in on Joe’s name and are apparently pretty good at it. A half-million dollars, wow.

PF Whalen

P.F. Whalen is a conservative blogger at TheBlueStateConservative.com.  His work has appeared in multiple publications, including Human Events, the Western Journal, and American Thinker. Follow him on Parler @PFWhalen.

Image by Sumanley xulx from Pixabay

Content syndicated from TheBlueStateConservative.com with permission.

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3 Comments

  1. How does PF Whalen know that there’s such a thing as the Delta Variant or how many people are “dying” in various states? These are not vaccinations – they are gene therapy under the guise of “vaccinations” for liability purposes. Look at the CDC, NIH, etc., websites and look at their own documentation. For Heaven’s Sakes – do some research before stating that there are 300 more deaths a day

  2. Nope, ain’t doin it. I only patronize businesses that DON’T require masks. I go to the post office after hours to get my mail. They can take those masks and shove it. When approached by some Democrat who wants me to mask up, I pull my bear spray off my belt clip and tell them to back off or go blind!

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