When I travel, Buddy often sends me pictures from his morning that he considers throwaway, but I loved this one, not least because he stopped in the middle of hauling a trap to catch it.
Reminds me of sunsets I contemplated in an old metal rowboat on the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, with a bottle of wine and steamed crabs with Old Bay awaiting my return to shore!
Anyone up for an open mic/thread? Figure I’ll post something here about the mask bans in places like North Carolina, since they are yet another fascist tendency that uniquely impacts my world as a doctor with vulnerable patients.
Mask bans are very un-American.
America aspires to be the land of the free, where government does not claim dominion over our bodies, our family privacies, and our freedoms to protect and express ourselves.
And yet we teeter on the brink of fascism in many ways. Women’s bodies. Disenfranchisement. Propaganda. Anti-intellectualism. Division. Xenophobia.
Here’s a small example among the many: a bipartisan groupthink that scorns the mask as an inconvenient reminder of this truth - Covid is still a problem. And now we have a radical partisan attack upon the right to wear one, in flagrant conflict with science and public health.
An excellent primer on this subject was published by The Sick Times:
Mainstream media coverage of mask bans has given space for politicians’ false claims that masks are associated with wrong-doing, like crime and antisemitism, while overlooking that bans are, in many ways, an effort to suppress the reality of Covid-19. There are 21 states and numerous municipalities with laws against masks or disguises on the books. Both Republicans and Democrats are pushing more severe mask bans than ever before in history. Democrats are more likely to give lip service to health needs without offering meaningful protections. Masks can and will be criminalized by police regardless of the language of the law, as arrest trends follow social trends. Police are also permitted by the Supreme Court to make mistakes in enforcing laws.
Even in New Jersey (where I practice) a Republican state senator recently introduced a bill to ban masks. Of course it’s a bad idea, with lots of potential for cruelty. The Star-Ledger then published a good editorial calling such bans dumb and dangerous. A few choice quotes: “ …this is a superficial policy that quickly falls apart on the details, and presents a clear danger to civil liberties. Start with this basic question: What if a troublemaker simply decides to disguise his face with large sunglasses and a hat, instead? Are we going to criminalize sunglasses and hats, too? …this “overbroad and vague” bill “also gives law enforcement the ability to target people based on their political beliefs.” If Republicans are trying to send a message, a more sensible way to do it would be to increase the penalties for anyone committing a crime in disguise. Criminalizing masks won’t help.”
As the Washington Post reported: “The day after the North Carolina House of Representatives passed its anti-masking bill in June in response to pro-Palestinian protests at the University of North Carolina, Shari Stuart said a man confronted her for wearing a surgical mask when she walked into an auto service center in the Raleigh area to get an oil change. After she tried to explain that she has Stage 4 breast cancer and a weakened immune system, Stuart said, the man called her a ‘f---ing liberal’ and insisted masks were now illegal. He later coughed on her and said he hoped the cancer would kill her.”
That guy and his ilk are not only un-American, but something much worse.
Several underpinnings of mask bans are built upon fascist principles. From Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works, we can see how these core elements of fascism underpin the arguments in favor of mask bans: delegitimize any source of resistance by characterizing it as an “other” or an “out group” to be scorned; offer new “truths” to supplant “facts”; divide people while undermining unity and notions of diversity; emphasize law and order to protect citizens from “undesirable” elements, violently if needed.
If you don’t want to wear a mask now, fine. I usually don’t except in higher risk situations like my work, or flying in planes during surges.
But anyone who would take that personal and public health tool away from those who choose to deploy it, here in the land of the free, should know they are marching in step with a fascist agenda.
Recall that it’s less about banning the actual mask than it is about forcing an ideology - that Covid is all good now. That scientists and intellectuals and vulnerable people present an uncomfortable reality, so let's turn on them.
He later coughed on her and said he hoped the cancer would kill her.
The red pill is the one that uncovers the unsettling, actual truth.
Just got my 8th vaccination and Flu shot this morning. Always have a mask or two on me in a plastic bag, and will put it on if others are masked and look uncomfortable around unmasked people.
I feel worst about all the healthcare workers we lost, and the ones that still stayed though going to extreme lengths to protect their families from the consequences of the risks they took to help even the most resistant patients that need not have allowed themselves to become infected.
This thread reminds me of a thread in yesterday’s discussion about the P25 plan to target FEMA and NOAA and the Tennessee governor’s fast and pray, rapture is around the bend. It an us v them and anti science slash and burn approach, shared by the legislatures enacting such bans and the people spitting on vulnerable people for trying to protect themselves (and others btw). I experienced and will again experience a version of the mask ban in Sweden, where the health minister decided to buck the international trend towards mask mandates and the citizens took it as a sort of gospel that it was ‘wrong’ to wear them. (Huge generalizations but not unfair.) I am on immune suppressants and even without Covid circulating plague by viral and bacterial infections. The vaccine had little effect. So I masked in all public situations and could taste the disapproval, though Swedes rarely open conversations with strangers. It was almost like I was breaking the law. I was in the hospital in September ‘20 and NO one, nurses, doctors, patients, visitors, or the many construction and cleaning workers wore a mask. A different cultural dynamic than the mask-bans but the overall quasi heard immunity approach in Sweden resulted in so many deaths in nursing homes in the early phase and a reality that we in the risk group were on our own (and essentially need stay at home). Eerily echoing a more proactive policy of tour neighbor to the south in the time of the Third Reich.
Thank you for bringing this to light Ryan. The anti mask groups you are talking about are the epitome of cruelty and creeping fascism. They find joy in ridiculing and preventing people at risk for serious illness or death from protecting their health by wearing a mask. They make them an outsider or “other” to delegitimize their rights or their right to exist. Some are just dumb f***s that are still angry that they had to wear a mask for a nanosecond of their lives. Vote Blue!!
Thank you Ryan, Jim, Karen and all. I have an immune disorder and wear a mask when shopping. I have felt an increase in the stares and glares so much in the past six months that I want to write "IMMUNE DISORDER" on my masks. Instead I have limited my outings and order more products on-line. Seems like local stores would want to encourage my patronage of their businesses, as well as protect their own employees, with a "mask-friendly" policy and attitude.
The mask ban is the height of idiocy. Well, since they're banning books, discussion of slavery, abortions, voting rights, fact-checking, and policy to reverse climate change, they must have figured, "While we're at it, how about masks?" This belligerent ignorance is exhausting.
Agreed. Thank you for writing on this topic so succinctly. It has been bothering me since I heard about this ban. I am in Illinois where the climate is more democratic and moderate leaning-so I am insulated from some of the repug legal nonsense in other states. Mask bans are fascist. I will use one if I feel others or I need it.
I wore one to see a doctor this week since I have heard the Covid cases in my town are increasing. But the dr. and staff were not. This is a small town in CA. where they closed the emergency part of the hospital due to short staff down with Covid just a few days before. To wear or not is one of our freedoms. Mask bans are Wrong!
Thank you, Ryan, for expounding on this topic of mask bans and naming it for the slippery slope to fascism that it is. I rely on your highly informed common sense advice to help me navigate the world of politically motivated medical misinformation. My little corner of this world is as a provider of gender affirming care, and here at the international symposium of WPATH in Lisbon, we are struggling to strategize the fight against the spread of misinformation about gender dysphoria and medically necessary treatments.
I wear a mask in public here in my senior apartment building. There have been three cases of Covid that I know of in this apartment building. I will be getting my latest Covid shot Wednesday along with my flu shot. I have always kept my shots up to date and so far have never caught Covid.
But another thought has occurred to me, Dr, McCormick, Halloween is 4 weeks from this Thursday, are the North Carolina police prepared to arrest all the little trick or treaters "prowling" the streets that evening? You never know if those little kids are secret Democrats
Surgical masks protect those around you if you are sick by limiting the range of how far your exhalations can spread virus particles. To protect yourself against others who are ill (masked or not) you need a properly fitted N-95 mask. You may already be aware of this, but I thought I'd throw that bit of info out there in case other readers aren't. Stay safe.
That’s absolute insanity. People have medical reasons to wear a mask other than Covid. Before Covid, I worked in a small natural foods store. A woman used to come in there regularly always wearing a surgical mask. As this was before Covid, almost no one else wore masks. She never volunteered any conversation so I just assumed she had a medical condition probably that affected her immune system that she had to be cautious about.
Are they going to ban inhalers? Or canes? Or any other kind of medical tool?
Thank-you, Ryan. In reality, mask bans trample on individual liberties, force the burden of managing the pandemic on those most vulnerable to it, and dismiss the last 4+ years of public health expertise - gained at some cost, I might add.
You are correct in saying mask bans are more about control of 'the other' through coercion than about freedom, ideology, science, or even votes. It is weird, divisive, and un-american.
There is a cruel, ignorant and dangerous part of the population in this country. They have always been part of us, from slave owners to wife and child beaters and animal abusers. Now they have been given permission to openly express themselves, following the example of their lord and master Trump. I just watched the movie “The Sixth” on prime Video. They are in action, on camera, for all to see. Frightening and sad.
And thank you, Heather, for that terrific conversation at the Cap Times Ideas Fest. I was writing postcards as I listened to it, and I thought it was a wonderful talk, a great synthesis of your recent letters, and I sent the link to my activist friends. I especially appreciated your explanation that the American people have been in an abusive relationship with the Republican party, but that now with Kamala as our voice, we're waking up and starting to push back against them. Thanks for your optimism and your daily encouragement.
Gorgeous - I have fond memories of camping in Maine when my wife and I were first married. If we ever return to the US it will either be someplace like this in Maine where Buddy takes his lovely pics, or the coast of Oregon. Thanks as always for your work.
I love this Heather! That is a gift the two of you have. He saw the opportunity to stop his work and capture the moment, and you saw the beauty and understood it.
Beautiful sunrise. I hope it forecasts a brighter day for all of us. Take time off. Your work has kept us informed, and put things in perspective. Yet, it’s be a long, exhausting struggle. The results are not yet clear, which to many of us is baffling. Another 40 days.
exhausting...agreed. And, it promises to be a chaotic winter, if the rational, sane candidate wins, as the irrational and increasingly demented candidate whips up his minions to pursue every manner of rear-guard action attempting to throw out the vote and let the current House majority call the winner. What does one do when already exhausted and the marathon is still miles from completion?
May this beautiful sunrise foretell our collective future.
You and Buddy give us so much hope, thank you.
Reminds me of sunsets I contemplated in an old metal rowboat on the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, with a bottle of wine and steamed crabs with Old Bay awaiting my return to shore!
Anyone up for an open mic/thread? Figure I’ll post something here about the mask bans in places like North Carolina, since they are yet another fascist tendency that uniquely impacts my world as a doctor with vulnerable patients.
Mask bans are very un-American.
America aspires to be the land of the free, where government does not claim dominion over our bodies, our family privacies, and our freedoms to protect and express ourselves.
And yet we teeter on the brink of fascism in many ways. Women’s bodies. Disenfranchisement. Propaganda. Anti-intellectualism. Division. Xenophobia.
Here’s a small example among the many: a bipartisan groupthink that scorns the mask as an inconvenient reminder of this truth - Covid is still a problem. And now we have a radical partisan attack upon the right to wear one, in flagrant conflict with science and public health.
An excellent primer on this subject was published by The Sick Times:
Mainstream media coverage of mask bans has given space for politicians’ false claims that masks are associated with wrong-doing, like crime and antisemitism, while overlooking that bans are, in many ways, an effort to suppress the reality of Covid-19. There are 21 states and numerous municipalities with laws against masks or disguises on the books. Both Republicans and Democrats are pushing more severe mask bans than ever before in history. Democrats are more likely to give lip service to health needs without offering meaningful protections. Masks can and will be criminalized by police regardless of the language of the law, as arrest trends follow social trends. Police are also permitted by the Supreme Court to make mistakes in enforcing laws.
Even in New Jersey (where I practice) a Republican state senator recently introduced a bill to ban masks. Of course it’s a bad idea, with lots of potential for cruelty. The Star-Ledger then published a good editorial calling such bans dumb and dangerous. A few choice quotes: “ …this is a superficial policy that quickly falls apart on the details, and presents a clear danger to civil liberties. Start with this basic question: What if a troublemaker simply decides to disguise his face with large sunglasses and a hat, instead? Are we going to criminalize sunglasses and hats, too? …this “overbroad and vague” bill “also gives law enforcement the ability to target people based on their political beliefs.” If Republicans are trying to send a message, a more sensible way to do it would be to increase the penalties for anyone committing a crime in disguise. Criminalizing masks won’t help.”
As the Washington Post reported: “The day after the North Carolina House of Representatives passed its anti-masking bill in June in response to pro-Palestinian protests at the University of North Carolina, Shari Stuart said a man confronted her for wearing a surgical mask when she walked into an auto service center in the Raleigh area to get an oil change. After she tried to explain that she has Stage 4 breast cancer and a weakened immune system, Stuart said, the man called her a ‘f---ing liberal’ and insisted masks were now illegal. He later coughed on her and said he hoped the cancer would kill her.”
That guy and his ilk are not only un-American, but something much worse.
Several underpinnings of mask bans are built upon fascist principles. From Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works, we can see how these core elements of fascism underpin the arguments in favor of mask bans: delegitimize any source of resistance by characterizing it as an “other” or an “out group” to be scorned; offer new “truths” to supplant “facts”; divide people while undermining unity and notions of diversity; emphasize law and order to protect citizens from “undesirable” elements, violently if needed.
If you don’t want to wear a mask now, fine. I usually don’t except in higher risk situations like my work, or flying in planes during surges.
But anyone who would take that personal and public health tool away from those who choose to deploy it, here in the land of the free, should know they are marching in step with a fascist agenda.
Recall that it’s less about banning the actual mask than it is about forcing an ideology - that Covid is all good now. That scientists and intellectuals and vulnerable people present an uncomfortable reality, so let's turn on them.
He later coughed on her and said he hoped the cancer would kill her.
The red pill is the one that uncovers the unsettling, actual truth.
Keep taking it.
Just got my 8th vaccination and Flu shot this morning. Always have a mask or two on me in a plastic bag, and will put it on if others are masked and look uncomfortable around unmasked people.
I feel worst about all the healthcare workers we lost, and the ones that still stayed though going to extreme lengths to protect their families from the consequences of the risks they took to help even the most resistant patients that need not have allowed themselves to become infected.
This thread reminds me of a thread in yesterday’s discussion about the P25 plan to target FEMA and NOAA and the Tennessee governor’s fast and pray, rapture is around the bend. It an us v them and anti science slash and burn approach, shared by the legislatures enacting such bans and the people spitting on vulnerable people for trying to protect themselves (and others btw). I experienced and will again experience a version of the mask ban in Sweden, where the health minister decided to buck the international trend towards mask mandates and the citizens took it as a sort of gospel that it was ‘wrong’ to wear them. (Huge generalizations but not unfair.) I am on immune suppressants and even without Covid circulating plague by viral and bacterial infections. The vaccine had little effect. So I masked in all public situations and could taste the disapproval, though Swedes rarely open conversations with strangers. It was almost like I was breaking the law. I was in the hospital in September ‘20 and NO one, nurses, doctors, patients, visitors, or the many construction and cleaning workers wore a mask. A different cultural dynamic than the mask-bans but the overall quasi heard immunity approach in Sweden resulted in so many deaths in nursing homes in the early phase and a reality that we in the risk group were on our own (and essentially need stay at home). Eerily echoing a more proactive policy of tour neighbor to the south in the time of the Third Reich.
Thank you Jim🩷
Thank you for bringing this to light Ryan. The anti mask groups you are talking about are the epitome of cruelty and creeping fascism. They find joy in ridiculing and preventing people at risk for serious illness or death from protecting their health by wearing a mask. They make them an outsider or “other” to delegitimize their rights or their right to exist. Some are just dumb f***s that are still angry that they had to wear a mask for a nanosecond of their lives. Vote Blue!!
Yes.
Thank you Ryan, Jim, Karen and all. I have an immune disorder and wear a mask when shopping. I have felt an increase in the stares and glares so much in the past six months that I want to write "IMMUNE DISORDER" on my masks. Instead I have limited my outings and order more products on-line. Seems like local stores would want to encourage my patronage of their businesses, as well as protect their own employees, with a "mask-friendly" policy and attitude.
The mask ban is the height of idiocy. Well, since they're banning books, discussion of slavery, abortions, voting rights, fact-checking, and policy to reverse climate change, they must have figured, "While we're at it, how about masks?" This belligerent ignorance is exhausting.
And it has been said before - with all the idiotic bans, like for masks and books, why not ban GUNS?
Good question.
…or at least ban certain types of guns and weapons - those intended for war!?!?!
Agreed. Thank you for writing on this topic so succinctly. It has been bothering me since I heard about this ban. I am in Illinois where the climate is more democratic and moderate leaning-so I am insulated from some of the repug legal nonsense in other states. Mask bans are fascist. I will use one if I feel others or I need it.
I wore one to see a doctor this week since I have heard the Covid cases in my town are increasing. But the dr. and staff were not. This is a small town in CA. where they closed the emergency part of the hospital due to short staff down with Covid just a few days before. To wear or not is one of our freedoms. Mask bans are Wrong!
Thank you, Ryan, for expounding on this topic of mask bans and naming it for the slippery slope to fascism that it is. I rely on your highly informed common sense advice to help me navigate the world of politically motivated medical misinformation. My little corner of this world is as a provider of gender affirming care, and here at the international symposium of WPATH in Lisbon, we are struggling to strategize the fight against the spread of misinformation about gender dysphoria and medically necessary treatments.
I wear a mask in public here in my senior apartment building. There have been three cases of Covid that I know of in this apartment building. I will be getting my latest Covid shot Wednesday along with my flu shot. I have always kept my shots up to date and so far have never caught Covid.
But another thought has occurred to me, Dr, McCormick, Halloween is 4 weeks from this Thursday, are the North Carolina police prepared to arrest all the little trick or treaters "prowling" the streets that evening? You never know if those little kids are secret Democrats
Surgical masks protect those around you if you are sick by limiting the range of how far your exhalations can spread virus particles. To protect yourself against others who are ill (masked or not) you need a properly fitted N-95 mask. You may already be aware of this, but I thought I'd throw that bit of info out there in case other readers aren't. Stay safe.
Thanks Steve I do have N 95 masks. But mostly I stay in my apartment and don't mingle with the residents
That’s absolute insanity. People have medical reasons to wear a mask other than Covid. Before Covid, I worked in a small natural foods store. A woman used to come in there regularly always wearing a surgical mask. As this was before Covid, almost no one else wore masks. She never volunteered any conversation so I just assumed she had a medical condition probably that affected her immune system that she had to be cautious about.
Are they going to ban inhalers? Or canes? Or any other kind of medical tool?
Thank-you, Ryan. In reality, mask bans trample on individual liberties, force the burden of managing the pandemic on those most vulnerable to it, and dismiss the last 4+ years of public health expertise - gained at some cost, I might add.
You are correct in saying mask bans are more about control of 'the other' through coercion than about freedom, ideology, science, or even votes. It is weird, divisive, and un-american.
There is a cruel, ignorant and dangerous part of the population in this country. They have always been part of us, from slave owners to wife and child beaters and animal abusers. Now they have been given permission to openly express themselves, following the example of their lord and master Trump. I just watched the movie “The Sixth” on prime Video. They are in action, on camera, for all to see. Frightening and sad.
It’s simply lovely. Tell Buddy thanks from me and have a good rest. See you tomorrow.
I am so glad Buddy takes pictures while he’s working on the water.
Another gorgeous shot. Thank you, Buddy!
And thank you, Heather, for that terrific conversation at the Cap Times Ideas Fest. I was writing postcards as I listened to it, and I thought it was a wonderful talk, a great synthesis of your recent letters, and I sent the link to my activist friends. I especially appreciated your explanation that the American people have been in an abusive relationship with the Republican party, but that now with Kamala as our voice, we're waking up and starting to push back against them. Thanks for your optimism and your daily encouragement.
I must have missed the link. It sounds like an interesting talk. Could you please share it here?
https://captimesideafest.com/one-on-one-with-heather-cox-richardson/
Thanks, Susan!
Lovely. Thank you, Heather - and Buddy.
such a beautiful picture. The softness of the sunrise and the glorious colors juxtaposed with the straight lines and black color if the lobster traps.
I love reading your letters. And I love seeing what Buddy sees. You are a great twosome!
Gorgeous - I have fond memories of camping in Maine when my wife and I were first married. If we ever return to the US it will either be someplace like this in Maine where Buddy takes his lovely pics, or the coast of Oregon. Thanks as always for your work.
A moment to celebrate being alive
I love this Heather! That is a gift the two of you have. He saw the opportunity to stop his work and capture the moment, and you saw the beauty and understood it.
Beautiful sunrise. I hope it forecasts a brighter day for all of us. Take time off. Your work has kept us informed, and put things in perspective. Yet, it’s be a long, exhausting struggle. The results are not yet clear, which to many of us is baffling. Another 40 days.
exhausting...agreed. And, it promises to be a chaotic winter, if the rational, sane candidate wins, as the irrational and increasingly demented candidate whips up his minions to pursue every manner of rear-guard action attempting to throw out the vote and let the current House majority call the winner. What does one do when already exhausted and the marathon is still miles from completion?
Love the beautiful Maine sunrise ❤️
What a warm, soothing scene. Truly, so beautiful. Thank you for sharing and get a good night’s rest!
Beautiful picture, beautiful area.
That's a gorgeous shot.