Chipping away at our sanity, self-worth, autonomy, and, as Que Mala would say, "fweedom," undermining our basic rights, destroying our souls — that is how I would describe the box we've been forced into.  That this repression and forced constriction are occurring worldwide makes the situation no less awful, nor any more lawful.

I yearn, as I'm sure you do, to go where I want, to smile at people in stores and restaurants and even on the street, without a moronic face diaper.  I long for the day when I don't have to think, "Can I go there without a vaccine passport?"  Increasingly, here in California, the answer is "no."

Along with the COVID mess, there's the rest of the dumb decisions by our "ruling class."  For a simple walk downtown, I put my driver's license and phone in my inner pockets, and I never carry cash.  Our once-safe 'hood is now that dangerous.  I am wary of people every time I get in my car, with freeway shootings rampant.  We've just had two carjackings in front of the elementary school up the street.

Someone a mile from here called the police because a guy had walked into her house and was masturbating in her kitchen.  Forty minutes later, a squad car came.  Luckily, her neighbors subdued the guy and held him until then.  That could have ended badly.  We live in Tombstone these days.

I wake up and think about what I need to do today, trying to find the energy to do anything, I'm so dispirited.  Can I find the words to write something meaningful?  Thanks to the useless face diaper, I'm just getting over a stye in my eye that hurt like crazy.  Before the last time they canceled mask mandates (that lasted about a month in June-July), I developed rashes below both eyes.  Ugly, red, itchy rashes.  And I don't wear a mask more than absolutely necessary, only in places where I know I'd be kicked out if I left it off or even down.  And yes, I wash them daily.

I had to switch gyms because my old one rigidly required masks and, then, vaccine passports.  At my new gym, along with many fellow members, I wear my mask at half-mast.  We play along that way.  Totally meaningless, putting it below one's nose.  But we must do it because, as I found out, if you take it all the way off, somebody uptight complains.  Just like the ritual entry into a (no passport required) restaurant.  Once you're seated and have water, no more mask.  But you can't come in without it.

What wears us down is knowing it's all meaningless, stupid, and counterproductive, but we can't do anything about it.

California is champing at the bit to vaccinate 5-year-old kids, when it's obvious, beyond any doubt, that it's wrong.  But you know when we can again lose the mask?  When we have reached 80% of everyone in our county vaccinated.  That's an unachievable number, less the children.  One more turn of the screw.

Then again, our local paper just ran a "question man" feature, asking, "How will having a Covid-19 vaccine available for 5-11-year-olds change things for your family?"  The responses were that it would "ease our minds" and "allow us to travel."  Our town is apparently 97.5% vaccinated, among the "eligible."  You can't go to school if you're over 11 without it or even volunteer there.  I'm not sure how they get the compliance information, but I guess it's by looking at vaccine passport data.  Whatever happened to HIPAA?

One of my favorite reads these days is Eugyppius.  The latest post talks about how the vaccinators in Europe, realizing that their efforts are futile against the spread of COVID, are nonetheless doubling down on stupid.  So true!  They can't admit they are wrong.

Then, yesterday, I listened to Michael Yeadon, former Pfizer scientist and executive, talk about the nefarious reasons for the jab and explain how dangerous they are.  A plot to gain total control over the population sounds extreme — until you need a passport to dine in your own county or city.  He asks, how soon will they be requiring a passport for other things?  Grocery shopping?  Letting your kids go to school?  Medical care?  All travel?

Today, I read the letter that Archbishop Viganò, retired papal nuncio, wrote to the bishops of this country denouncing the vaccine quite emphatically and clearly.  Best thing I've read yet — and bound to have some effect, more so than most documents.  Over 20% of the U.S. population is Catholic, but of course, that includes Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, so maybe I'm delusional.  So is Gavin Newsom, and he's poised to implement the mandate for our 5- to 11-year-olds as soon as the government gives its blessing.  Maybe the fetal cell use will sway some people.  Around here, you never know.  Logic and information certainly have no palpable effect.

Comment from Andrea Widburg: Someone emailed to say that HIPAA applies to healthcare providers who must keep people's records private. True. However, Congress passed HIPAA to ensure that people who had AIDS -- then a still deadly, not manageable, contagious disease -- could keep their health status private from people who might worry about catching it. Just recently, California went further and passed a law saying that it's just a misdemeanor if people with HIV/AIDS don't tell their sexual partners about the disease. Meanwhile, across America, we are being forced to divulge our health details for a disease that, for people under 60, has a less than 1% mortality rate -- and Biden is preparing OSHA regulations mandating businesses to ask. So Ms. Paulding is right to ask, "What about HIPAA?" 

Image of Despair by Stormseeker under Unsplash license; edited in befunky.

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