Spring Fundraiser 2020, Day Six
Saturday’s Update: Who is That Masked Man?
We’re moving into the penultimate day of Gates of Vienna’s quarterly fundraiser.
Readers who are sheltering in place at home and have nothing better to do are invited to send a modest donation by way of the tip cup on the sidebar (or by using this link).
Those small individual gifts are the way I keep this blog going. If a significant number of readers give a little bit each, it adds up to enough to pay for the site and keep me in cheese and crackers for another quarter.
Full disclosure: This website is not corona-compliant. Its proprietor is a coronadissident who refuses to wear a mask.
Since yesterday morning’s update I became aware of an article published by the The New England Journal of Medicinethat bolsters my dissident stance. It concerns the ineffectiveness of wearing a mask as a means of preventing the spread of COVID-19. One of our commenters mentioned it, but I also ran across it on Twitter.
This was actually published in April, but for some reason is only now drawing attention:
We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.
This article provides yet another knowledgeable conclusion that there is no “science” behind mandatory masking, and no indication that a wearing a mask is significantly beneficial to public health. It underscores the unconstitutional nature of Governor Coonman’s recent executive order, which exceeds his statutory authority under the declared state of emergency.
That’s my rationale for defying the governor. Unfortunately, supermarkets and other retailers may decide to station corona-goons at the front doors of their businesses to keep out the maskless and heartless coronaskeptics who don’t care if their negligence causes people to die.
If that happens, I may have to put on the damned mask if I want to eat…
That’s enough corona-gloom for this morning! Friday’s generosity came from:
Stateside: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia
Far Abroad: Germany, New Zealand, Portugal, and the UK
Australia: Western Australia
I’ll see you tomorrow for the final update of this spring fundraiser.
Friday’s Update: To Mask or Not to Mask?
Well, here we are at the end of the work week in Gates of Vienna’s spring fundraiser. However, thanks to the ChiCom flu, the work week doesn’t differ significantly from the weekend for the average working man. Stay at home and drink beer — that’s the drill.
A lot more donations came in yesterday, thanks in part to Western Rifle Shooters, who gave me a great shout-out first thing yesterday morning. I really appreciate that, boys.
The pattern seems to be continuing: the number of donations is actually greater than normal, but the total amount is less. In other words, people are hurting financially, yet they’re still opening their billfolds and sending in what they can.
That’s truly inspiring.
If you just got here: the goal is to keep this site going for another quarter. If you like what you see here, please make that tip cup on the sidebar clink, or use this link.
I don’t really have anything new to say on the topic of COVID-19, except that I’d like to extend the discussion about face masks.
I’ve been exchanging views about them with people, both here in the comments and by email. The main bone I have to pick with the issue of face masks is the coerced mandate for their use, either by gubernatorial ukase (which is what Virginia Governor Ralph “Coonman” Northam has done as of today, if I understand it correctly), or by extreme social pressure, commonly known as “mask-shaming”.
If the coercive aspect hadn’t been so strong, I might have been convinced that I should put on a face mask when I’m out and about. But the fact that no dissent is permitted on the topic has once again activated my Scots blood, and I am determined to resist wearing a mask. If I end up getting a citation from a sheriff’s deputy, I intend to find a dedicated pro-bono activist lawyer who will help me take my case all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. The governor’s face mask requirement is blatantly UNCONSTITUTIONAL. It exceeds the limits of the statutory authority granted him under the state of emergency.
However…
Let’s pretend that everyone is being civil about all of this, and discuss the pros and cons of face masks. I’ll forget about the coercive aspects of the issue and consider the arguments on their merits. I invite readers to weigh in on the topic, without invective, using fact-based, reasoned arguments.
Do face masks protect the wearer from contracting the virus?
It seems clear that they help keep the virus from spreading if the wearer is infected and is coughing or sneezing. But do they prevent him from spreading the virus if he a carrier, i.e. asymptomatic and breathing normally, without emitting droplets of sputum?
OK, boys and girls, have at it! But please remember the rules of civility.
Thursday’s many, many gifts came in from:
Stateside: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington
Far Abroad: Germany, New Zealand, Spain, and the UK
By the way: several new donors didn’t have address records with PayPal. If I’m pretty sure they’re in the USA, I assign them to Texas, California, or Illinois at random, because those states have the greatest number of donors. If I’m pretty sure they’re Brits (for example, if the donation is denominated in GBP), I put them in the UK.
I’ll be back tomorrow for the Saturday update.
Thursday’s Update: A Brief Personal Note
The gifts have continued to arrive with encouraging regularity. I know that a lot of readers are hard up at the moment, so I am deeply gratified by the response.
For late arrivals: this is the way I keep Gates of Vienna going. Rather than sell advertising space or charge a subscription, I beg from my readers for one week every quarter. Yes, I know it’s annoying, but not as annoying as a local NPR affiliate’s endless fund drive. My version has a finite, predictable end: next Sunday.
If you haven’t dropped a groat into the tip cup yet, please consider doing so! You can also use this link.
I don’t have any additional thoughts on the Wuhan Coronavirus scam this morning. There’s much that could be said, but my poor brain is too tired to cobble those sentences together.
Rioting and looting in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd continued for a second night, spreading to D.C., New York, Atlanta, Louisville, and other cities. CNN headquarters in Atlanta was attacked by a mob. Meanwhile, it has emerged that Derek Chauvin, the former policeman charged with murdering George Floyd, had known his victim when the two were security guards at a nightclub.
