I am done with masks

Hell yeah! All of us on the pink team are done! Masks get in the way of oral pleasuring huh Ricky 😉

Doesn’t this belong in the politics forum ?

I basically stopped wearing mine 6 weeks ago when I became fully vaccinated. I still wear one in businesses that require one. Kroger, etc

^Shadow I was doing the same thing until recently, only wearing one in businesses that require it. But now it's just becoming a running joke. I'm done. If a store wants to ask me to leave because I don't have a mask then I will, but I doubt that's going to happen around here. In the past few weeks there is barely a mask in sight in gas station convenience stores and even the larger grocery stores aren't enforcing it with customers or even employees.

Enough is enough.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Bravo to the OP for having the courage to stand up to this kind of injustice!

Not really. What a nutcase.

The best thing about the Covid pandemic: now when I walk into a bank wearing a mask, they don't call the police.

Yeah, what's a few more dead, compared to whims.

===> "Yeah, what's a few more dead, compared to whims.'

So now we're all responsible for protecting people who choose not to take the vaccine even though they could? For how long? Forever?

I kinda' expected that caliber of response from randumb and the site's uber troll, but had higher hopes of a more rational response from others. It is what it is I suppose. :)

I don’t agree with you RickiBoi I just got back from my brothers house in St Augustine, downtown everyone is wearing masks and Publix won’t allow you in without one, nor will most restaurants, I didn’t go into any other retail establishments but I’ll bet the majority are still requiring facial coverings, that said I don’t wear my mask much outdoors since I got vaccinated, unless I’m someplace crowded But go ahead and protest and refuse to get vaccinated it’s comforting to the normal among us that there won’t be as many of y’all around to complain about your freedom being infringed upon.

Its been a full year+ now. This is just getting beyond ridiculous. We've had flu's, ebola, zika, h1n1 or w/e its called, colds, chicken pox and west nile virus and who knows what else. Never in human history has everybody been so scared that we all wear masks in public for a whole year. Stds didnt even stop people from having sex. I swear some of these people would wear a full hazmat suit in public if the "experts" told them to.

25, not trying to take away from that deep educational moment based upon a brief pop-in to a couple of places in St. Augustine, I'm there fairly often and suspect that I have a much wider view on local mask compliance than you do. 😉

The reality is that most restaurants and stores are not enforcing mask requirements for patrons, except for a handful of chain stores and even those are starting to falter. I was just in Publix today and a 1/3 of the customers and even a few of the staff were maskless (including me). In the bars and gas station convenience stores you're now hard pressed to find a mask in sight. In between those two extremes are varying levels of compliance, but all of it is fading fast.

People are increasingly done with this now and I suspect that, by the end of July, we won't be talking about masks much anymore around these parts, except to make damned sure that the school board understands that we will not tolerate a return to that for the little ones for the upcoming school year.

Idk if things have changed at all in the K-12 system, but as I recall, that’s just how schools are. Drill conformity in all types of ways, and attire is a big one. Since we are taking about wearing masks affecting pediatric mental health care (snort) I’m just going to relive the horrible trauma of not being able to paint nails anything other than a “neutral” color, no dying hair to an “unnatural” color, piercings allowed on the ear lobe only, must always wear lanyard with school ID attached, can only wear shoes that are closed-toed and all types of other arbitrary stuff that adults decided was needed for a non-distracting learning environment.

Here is how I was denied from dressing back in the day: google.com

There has been plenty of stuff that kids have to do in the name of following the rules. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Trust me, children are emotionally tough enough to handle a piece of fabric over their nose and mouth. You might not be, but they are. The requirement will be dropped sooner than later most likely anyways.

Yeah - many are taking this mask thing too far - I've been told desertscrub goes as far as putting a tampon under his mask for extra-protection - not surprised w.r.t. scrub I guess (sometimes it's even a used tampon - wow)

^ Nice, you definitely took the long route in demonstrating your ignorance on the impact of prolonged disaster conditions on a child's psyche. It must be nice to be so utterly ignorant of a children's emotional and developmental challenges that you have the luxury of taking comfort in silly platitudes (snort).

Here in the real world of parenting, we are all seeing the impact of this prolonged siege mentality upon our children, like we're living in some endless version of the movie Contagion. Child psychiatric services are now overwhelmed across the country, including here in FL. Also keep in mind that time passes much more slowly for children than adults (it's a brain development issue), so for them it feels like this has been going on forever.

This is the reason that you're already reading isolated stories of parent groups in AZ and FL leaning on school boards to return things to normal. Expect it to become a swell over the Summer months. Also, by Fall parents in places that are STILL doing remote only and hybrid learning are not going to tolerate that any more. Our children have paid a horrible cost in terms of emotional damage over the past year and enough is enough.

Realistically speaking, even as somebody who has never procreated, I probably am not too far behind you as far as the “real world of parenting”—just because once in a blue moon, I’ll interact with other people’s children. 🙂 Sure it’s not much involvement, but it’s doubtful you’re too involved either in the lives of any children either.

Just for some hard data, mental health issues among children has been a decade long trend, not some magical thing that only appeared because of either a virus or any emotional reaction to a virus. mhanational.org

Speaking of the past decade, there has also been a huge uptick in multigenerational living as well. And 2020 for whatever reason didn’t cause that to be temporarily paused. (Tho it should have been IMO-but that is neither here nor there)

You may have the luxury in taking comfort in silly platitudes that getting notions like masks and vaccines away from the public eye will reverse a long standing trend of mental health issues among children. And that school outbreaks can’t possibly affect the adults children come back home to. (And most children tend to love their families just enough they don’t really want to see them die. Or at least I assume) prnewswire.com

Vaccine distribution is going nicely enough now, but no it’s not quite “done” enough yet. It’s okay to advocate for something because in your opinion you consider it favorable for yourself, but arguing anything you advocate is for the chiiiiiillllllddddreeeeeen kinda falls apart. Hey, I’m right with you. Strip clubs without restrictions is good for business. And lonely men grieving because a loved one they know died and they want to take comfort with a pretty young female is also good for business. But I couldn’t possibly ever twist it that it’s good for children somehow.

Maybe next time try complaining about something more nuanced. Like whether bribing people not to work at a rate with better “wages” than many jobs has been helpful or hurting with the virus spread. It would be a lot harder to pick something like that apart.

^ (Well okay not only virus spread per say, but what is good for society well-being in general)

I would expect mask requirements will go away once each state basically maxes out on vaccinations to the point that everyone who wants one has gotten it and there is a dramatic drop in the number of vaccines being given on a weekly basis. Some states are already reaching that point while others still have a lengthy waitlist for vaccine appointments. Ohio's governor has said the state will drop the mask requirement once we get below a threshold of 50 new cases per 100,000 (currently just under 200 per 100k) statewide. Kentucky is set to drop there's once they reach a certain number (3 million I think) of people have been vaccinated.

I don't expect schools to drop the mask requirement until children as young as kindergarten are eligible for the vaccine. At that point I would expect schools to require students be vaccinated against covid the same way they require other vaccines.

I would assume that by next school year that schools would be back to full time in-person classes with parents having the option for virtual learning on a student by student basis. I could see schools having to switch to virtual learning for 10-14 days if there is an outbreak in the district but otherwise be in-person.

When this started half the people refused to wear a mask, now that it's ending, the other half refuse to take it off.

alldaylong took a nearly five year TUSCL hiatus and is back like gangbusters in 2021. Is he on the post-COVID strip club bender so many of us would like to do? With a mask or without?

Nice, thinking that you have a clue about parenting just because you occasionally interact with kids is about as silly as reading an article about pediatric mental health trends and believing that you understand how the pandemic has impacted available child mental health services.

Oh wait, you actually did BOTH. When you decide to go full on ignorant you go all-in, don't you? 😉

The pandemic has had a stunning impact on available child mental health services. This is coming not from a scholarly article, but directly from the mouths of boots in the trenches - school guidance counselors who we deal with, other parents (including family with kids in other states) and local mental health providers. We're all dealing with the fallout with our kids and the issues flared up when we started lockdowns and the endless melodrama and hyperbole any time they turned on the TV. It takes weeks if not months now to get a child seen for something, which is happening all over the country, and it is a direct result of the increased demand for services. Many pediatric psychiatry programs are now turning away new patients because they are already overloaded.

The purpose in returning to normalcy is to give the kids normalcy. COVID is not dangerous to them, so continuing to behave like it is causes much harm and very little good. We have a vaccine for anyone who needs it and now that supply is outpacing demand, there's no more reason for these ongoing mandates. COVID is not going away, so we need a different way to deal with it moving forward, preferably one that is much less harmful for kids.

Oh, and to someone who indicated that the schools would try to make parents vaccinate kids, good luck with that. Even if something was approved for kids by then, it's going to be hard to justify given that COVID is not dangerous to them. I don't see many parents being ok with a school trying this as part of some broader public policy agenda.

For someone who has a wife that works in a large school I can tell you this. These are facts not opinions.

1. Nobody is currently allowed in the school other than staff or students.

2. My wife had to quarantine 3 times this school year because parents (wealthy and poor) don’t give a fuck and have sent their kids to school sick knowing they were displaying COVID symptoms. After February this became a rare occurrence.

3. One time one kid shut down all the teachers for an entire grade level, the kids worked remotely during this time

Opinion:

1. This kids seem to be doing a good job with mask wearing compliance.

2. I’m willing to bet they wear masks in the fall, unless they’re vaccinating 3 year olds by then, there are kids at the school that young in pre-k.

3. Kids are off the chain this year at school. Most discipline problems EVER. My wife’s theory is kids have been sitting at home unsupervised in front of the computer babysitter from March 2020 to February 2021. Almost a year with out a structure or discipline. A lot of kids and parents were doing the right thin but a lot weren’t as well, zero parent involvement with their curriculum.

Ah, so this is a personal issue with YOUR kids in the trenches?

Judging by your posts through the years, there is probably way more things contributing to their anxieties than just schools being temporarily closed for a time and mask mandates...

^^ nah kids walking up to passed out strippers in the family room wouldn’t have any play on a kids psyche

This "virtual learning" will end up being devistating to the kids.

It may end up causing a lost generation. Kids have to be taught sequentially and consistently. Learning is not a switch that can be turned off and on.

Most these kids didn't learn anything during this period and were just automatically passed regardless of aptitude.

Many of us grew up in an era when nuclear war was a much more real threat. Kids even had to drill doomsday in the 50's. You think the psychological threat of annihilation was worse than having to wear a simple surgical mask in public for a couple years?

I think your kids will be no worse than any other generation for it.

This thread is virtue signaling for dummies, Dugan doesn't really care one way or another about masks, he's just looking to create some drama, and entertain himself I'd bet he already has this entire drama scripted out in his mind and he's just looking for a protagonist to fight with. Do as you please RickiBoi, wear a mask don't wear a mask IDGAF, get vaccinated, don't get vaccinated most of us here could care less, too bad for your supposed family but they too, probably are just a figment of your imagination

==>> So now we're all responsible for protecting people . . .

Actually Rick, yeah, that kinda is the point.

Look, I understand your feelings on this, you are real tired of the societal change this has caused. For yourself, for your kids. I'm REAL tired of it too. We all are.

But as Nicespice said, the vaccination thing isn't quite where it needs to be yet. There are still too many people that the virus can use to further it's aim, which is just to find someone new so it can continue doing what it does. Make people sick, make copies of itself, continue it's existence. It doesn't care what your feelings (or mine, or anybody's) are.

It is all our duty to try to stop the virus; if it gets in you, it should stop there. Cause though you survived it just fine (and we all know most do), maybe the next or the one after that won't survive it just fine. Few people 'know' they have the virus and pass it on on purpose. It just gets 'out' of them to the next person. A mask simply lessens this likelihood. It protects you some, but it protects other people more.

I know its hard to keep doing this. A year is a long time. Suffering and death are real though, as is the fear of such, just like your and my feelings are real. Real people are still suffering and dying, and worrying about possibly being next.

I can endure wearing a mask still (even though I don't NEED to as I'm fully vaccinated). I understand if you can't. A year is a long time. But I think we're just not quite though this yet. Soon. Please, god, soon.

rick. good point.

Now that its becoming less common I'm wearing it more often.

I think I just hate mainstream society. After the past year I can't even articulate my disgust for the sheep. If they stop putting these diapers on I'll wear them just to spite them.

No its not "all our duties" to stop a virus. Have you all lost your freaking minds? Wait, I've been asking this for 14 months. Nevermind.

damn straight were not going to vaccinate our way out of this. vaccines totally dont work. i mean rly how many people do u know that have had the polio? like fucking everybody

and the smallpox too. i have had smallpox at least twice since this whole covid thing started. i just rubbed some dirt on it and got back in the game. why cant u covid cowards just do that when u get the covid?

but i do have a real problem with dugans plan. it is such a fucking PUSSY plan

when the king of england gave royal ascent to the horrible tea act of 1773 our forefathers did not take that shit. they dressed up as indians and dumped some fucking tea overboard

so dugan shouldnt take this shit either. since he lives in the florida he should dress up with one of those tricorner hats and then go in to one of those publics supermarkets and go right to the tea aisle. then he should have the florida tea party

the florida tea party should start by having dugan take a page from the thomas jefferman by declaring that when in the course of human events people are mildly inconvenienced by being asked to wear the masks during a pandemic we must take a stand and then he should drop his trousers and take a giant shit in the tea aisle. as the coupe dee grace as it were he could then wipe his ass with a mask

people will hoist there new hero rick dugan on their shoulders and celebrate him as a liberator. well they will till after the ass wiping so the dont get the shit stains on their shoulders but theyll still celebrate him as a hero.

i bet dugan will get a medal if he does the florida tea party so lets all encourage him to be our load star guiding us to freedom and away from mild inconvenience

I'm going to ignore most of the trolling nonsense, most notably including nicespice's diversionary posts, and focus on the most substantive response, which was provided by gSteph.

g, you missed the back half of that sentence, by mistake I'm sure. The whole paragraph said:

===> "So now we're all responsible for protecting people who choose not to take the vaccine even though they could? For how long? Forever?"

I guess you didn't pick up the subtext, is that we are NEVER going to vaccinate this thing out of existence. So by your feel good logic, because the virus is still around we would need to do this forever.

But to use your painfully mealy and patronizing posting style, let me see if I can craft the right response: "Look, I get it. You are understandably afraid of the unknown. You have a big heart and never want to stop protecting anybody, even those who refuse to protect themselves. I get it man - we're all there. But at some point we need to reframe our expectations, as hard as that it is to do. Yes, I know, we've been doing this so long that why stop now? But at some point our kids - your kids, my kids, have to return to normalcy. But god please let those anti-vaxxers get their shots before it's too late."

Does that resonate? 😉

Or we can just acknowledge that everyone who wants the vaccine now has ready access to it and that ongoing mask mandates and other restrictions have become pointless unless we intend to do them forever, which I suspect will never be in the cards.

Let it never be said that I don't give credit when it's due which in the case of rummydummy is less than once in a decade of blue moons but the Florida tea party post is funny!

I'm going to ignore most of the trolling nonsense<

Really than why would you creat a thread of this nature except to troll Like you don’t realize you don’t have a snowflakes chance in hell of changing anyone s mind , so explain the point, I know you’re just trolling you know you’re just trolling so give it a rest This is just virtue signaling from the stupid side.

Hmmm Dr. Phil, interesting. I mean, dude, that analogy of polio to COVID was just SO clever that we almost forgot that only a moron doesn't understand the difference between the two - almost forgot. 😉

But hey, perhaps I'm being too harsh. Maybe nobody shared those critical differences with you, so here goes: COVID is not especially dangerous to kids or most people under 50, but polio was devastating to children. So while it is easy to sell a once in a lifetime vaccine to parents who are afraid for their children, it's much tougher to sell parents and other young people on a never-ending annual vaccine for something that isn't dangerous to young people to begin with.

Glad I could help with the remedial learning. 😁

well mr dugan i know that u think ur an epidemiological geneious but i was only addressing ur statement

u said we could never vaccinate covid out of existence. what u acktually MEANT is u dont think people actually care enuf to vaccinate this out of existence

for a guy who seems to think he can give the remedial learnings u rly dont think very clearly. maybe u should organize ur thoughts and come back when u can state ur thoughts clearly

just a space geneious trying to challenge u to be ur better self. i will give u a gold star if u can make ur points succinctly and clearly. i know u can do it mr dugan!

your welcome

I am done wit da mask too. It gets in da way of dumpin loads. You won't get da full effect of da smell with a mask

Okay dugan, I’ll break character. I was mostly fucking with you and was actually hoping you’d respond to my shitting inside Publix suggestion. That would have been funny!

Hell, even TheOSU thought the Florida tea party was funny and he thinks I some guy who creates multiple characters to fuck with him. Nope, Mr TheeOSU, it is just that your responses to being fucked with are funny so multiple people want to fuck with you! Also, you should work on your paranoia. Yeah, folks want to fuck with you, but on here it is all in good fun. Just relax with your persecution complex!

Back to dugan. He actually got some things right. But then again your major thesis is still dickish

Dugan is right that we won’t be able to vaccinate covid out of existence. Not because of vaccines. A concerted effort would work. But people like dugan don’t give a shit so we’re probably as good as its going to get right now. In other words, we’ve like arrived at the “fuck it, whoever dies dies” point with covid. We could to better, but we ain’t because people are fucking retards.

But here is why dugan is being a dick in this thread. Nobody else pointed out is that many store employees are still being told to wear masks. I know dugan claims store employees ain’t wearing them where he lives in East Bumfuck Florida and maybeeee that’s true...but somehow I suspect he’s seeing what he wants to see and not seeing reality.

So there is some minimum wage worker being told to wear a mask all of the time they are working. But now in comes dugan walking past the “we want you to wear a mask” sign all maskless. Minimum wage Jimmy looks at dugan and says to himself “I ain’t gonna confront this asshat because he’s probably strapped and will go nuts and kill me.” But trust me folks, Jimmy still looks at dugan and thinks “what a dick.”

Maybe dugan is really some sort of princess and the pea kind of guy for whom even 5 minutes in a mask is just intolerable (aka “a giant PUSSY”). As for me, I actually respect the little guy enough that I’ll put my mask on for 5 minutes in the store. And I’ll do it until the store actually takes down the “mask up” signs. Not like I’m wearing masks all the time - just when I go in places with signs saying to mask up. Guess that makes me a sheeple...

But if I’m a sheeple then I guess dugan is just one of them elites that thinks he is better than those proles working minimum wage (in other words, he is “a giant DICK”)

Okay, so I was going to point out that what I said can’t possibly be a diversion at all thanks to Rick declaring pointing out anything going on nationally is too “academic” and only what he says is valid because of his own personal experiences.

Yet be only vaguely alludes to “school guidance counselors who we deal with, other parents (including family with kids in other states) and local mental health providers.” —which heavily implies he’s dealing with a kid who is being referred to mental health counseling. And yet refuses to say anything substantive about that even. Which means that he doesn’t have any actual points and is just complaining to complain.

BUT I don’t want to even go any further with that because Dr Phil. wins this thread. Well played good sir 🤣

@Nice: You'd be hard pressed to find ANY parent with school aged children who hasn't had to deal with fallout from this. The specifics about my kids are not relevant to this discussion. We are all in school, community and social circles together and are sharing common experiences.

@Phil: Perhaps I'd be feeling a bit less "dickish' about this whole thing if we had handled this more rationally from the get go. We firebombed countless businesses and caused incalculable harm (emotional and educational) to a generation of school children for something that is only seriously harmful to a small % of the population - essentially the very elderly and those with underlying medical issues. Your ridiculous melodramatic troll post analogizing COVID to polio, while not doubt done for comedic reasons, is exactly the type of behavior we've been seeing over and over to justify these horrible policies.

So now here we are, still formulating policies based upon irrational fear responses. Since we agree that vaccines have likely brought us as far as we are going to get, which anybody with a lick of sense understood from the get to was bound to happen, what else are we waiting for? We can whine about human nature as much as we want, but it is what it is and here we are?

What possible rationale could still exist to keep schools closed in some of the larger school districts? Also, since almost everyone who falls in a high risk group has had the shot and whoever remains just doesn't want it, ongoing mask mandates are now pointless unless we intend to do them forever, which of course will never happen.

Protect other people? Lmao. When people stop committing crimes against other people, stealing, rioting, looting, aborting, drunk driving, identity theft, encouraging illegals, not paying taxes, etc. I will maybe think of protecting other people. Desires was mask free last night. Almost like a real world place.

Routinely evangelizing against masks is exactly as tedious as routinely evangelizing for masks.

Also, both usually occur with the goal of picking a fight.

Masks suck!

OOPS! I mean, they get in the way of sucking!

CMI for the win!

I agree that now that the elderly people in the high risk category are all vaccinated there is little reason for mandatory mask laws. Individuals can still wear them if they want to and businesses can make their own decisions on whether to require them.

A bigger problem I see is that this crisis has been used as a pretext for the government to print out and pass out large amounts of money. You already see the beginning of inflation. For example, food prices are going up 7% annually. The government is doing this to buy votes and get people hooked on money they get from the government instead of money they get from working.

Employers are complaining of having trouble finding willing workers. I've been having trouble with daily activities. My local barber shop normally has four barbers but now just has two and they have more guys wanting to get their hair cut than they can handle. I went to get my car repaired but couldn't because they only had one employee and he didn't come to work that day. I had a serious injury that required me to go to a hospital emergency room today. When I needed to go home, I couldn't find a taxi company with any extra drivers. The hospital had a police officer drive me home. I'm 64 years old and have never seen anything like this in my life and it is a little frightening that so many people don't want to work and want the government to take care of them instead. This is not going to end well for this country.

My job has me running around all day with a mask. I've been done for ages

"... I'm 64 years old and have never seen anything like this in my life and it is a little frightening that so many people don't want to work and want the government to take care of them instead. This is not going to end well for this country ..."

The Dems seems hell-bent to stay in power either by force or by buying-off votes - they don't seem to care running the debt to $50-fucking-trillion if it means they can stay in power - the likely reality is that the Dems' policies (all the white-supremacy; critical-race-theory; etc BS) are not popular and they likely know are not popular and thus they seem to resort to buying elections as part of their strategy and making people, and the economy, dependent on the federal gov so they have no choice but to vote for them.

^ the Dems see massive spending as a way to stay in power in '22 and beyond despite their radical policies which are likely not popular w/ more than half the people

AFAIK hospitalizations and deaths are way down which are more important parameters than infections - from what I've heard the biggest group of infections now is among young people for whom the virus is very-rarely fatal or even affects them very much - Covid seems to have become another weapon of the political-left in their multi-prong approach to obtain more power and keep that power in perpetuity.

Ahhh. So OP doesn't care about the lives of others or potentially murdering others. Ex: You're asymptomatic despite the vaccine (because you can still get Covid dummy) and out and about spreading that shit because you don't care. And then people die because you gave them Covid. Way to go, slugger... I mean BOOMER. Keep up the good work!

I hear that Waffle. Ok then, so when do we stop?

We are obviously not going to vaccinate it out of existence and every person who wants one has had it. So...

When do we stop?

Hey I get it. Girls tend to be a bit more scared of things like this and some of the purported men on here are easily as hyper-emotional as scared girls. But when we calm down, poke our heads out from under our beds and rationally assess where things are, We have to ask ourselves: What's the point of continuing this? COVID is not going away. All we can do is protect everyone who wants it and go back to normal.

Unless of course you really think that this is a forever thing? Or maybe you believe that COVID will magically disappear, kinda' like what you used to pretend your Rainbow Sparkle My Little Pony could do? That's just silly girl thinking. 😉

Huh. I guess I saw Wiffle Waffle's post as being gender neutral, but I guess I was wrong.

In terms of restrictions, etc., wearing a few ounces of cloth on your face has literally been the least anyone could do and lowest-hanging fruit during the entire Covid-19 pandemic. And, if more people had been mask compliant, it's at least possible that some of the more damaging restrictions would have been unnecessary or at least diminished in scope.

Also ... there would have been fewer dead people. That would have been nice.

When masks become completely optional is a moving target. We all know this without the circle-jerk debate. The scientific community will advise and make decisions. The States and Federal government will also make their own decisions. And, private businesses also have the right to make their own decisions. That being the case, even after I'm able to go without a mask, I'll probably keep one handy in case I wind up someplace where they are required or I feel like it's a good practice to put it on. Because, it's literally no big deal and can only help.

There is a small silver lining to the "year of masks." I know several people who have auto-immune disorders who, pre-Covid, felt weird about wearing a mask in public even during flu season. Now, people who medically should wear masks more often than not feel like mask wearing has been normalized to a degree that they can do so for their own good even when it's not required.

This podium-pounding over not wearing a mask is a weak-sauce "protest" at best.

===> "When masks become completely optional is a moving target. We all know this without the circle-jerk debate. The scientific community will advise and make decisions. The States and Federal government will also make their own decisions. And, private businesses also have the right to make their own decisions."

This was a squishy bunch of fluffer-nutter. Now that the vaccine is widely available and already distributed to the most vulnerable, the continuation of mask mandates and other restrictions is nothing more than a fear reaction and, for businesses, a CYA policy. Mask mandates will disappear not when politicians, risk averse scientists and business leaders apply rational and informed decision making - because frankly that is unlikely - but when enough people signal that they are no longer willing to tolerate it.

===> "This podium-pounding over not wearing a mask is a weak-sauce "protest" at best."

For the reasons noted above, mask mandates are not likely to go away until a critical mass of people will no longer tolerate them. Vaccine distribution to our most vulnerable, which has now been accomplished, was the critical tipping point in turning this from a necessity into something driven more by politics and fear. It is also a stalking horse for a broader discussion of other mandates and the governments ongoing role in restricting our activities.

So tell me @ Dugan how many minds have you changed with your stubborn recital of you own opinions or should we call this “ The Narcissist’s Guide to Virtue Signaling “

^ Just having a chat 25. I never went into this with the notion that any minds would be changed, especially not old scared dogs like you. 😉

The mask is being used as a political football - fucking Biden looked like a fucking dork being the only one wearing a mask on a fucking zoom video call with 18 world leaders - this guy doesn't leave a political-brownie-point unturned

LOL Ricky has broken down so much he has to resort to using gender-based insults at Waffle. Meanwhile, this entire thread from beginning to end with him has been full of Ricky expressing his emotions and very little in the way rational assessing. (A recurring theme in many of his posts, and why he is one of the most low-hanging fruit on this site when people are in a trolling mood)

Now what is a more likely reason his daughters most likely have a need for mental health counseling?

A) Masks mandates in schools? B) Or a basket case parent who projects his own insecurities about himself onto women in general?

^ Nice, a silly response earns a silly retort. 😉

Now moving on from Nice's painfully forced and repetitive trolling...

@Papi: Exactly. It is political now - ongoing virtue signaling with no underlying rational basis for continuation given the current level of vaccine distribution. I started this thread partially to see if there was a rational competing viewpoint as to why mask mandates should remain, but unsurprisingly I have yet to see one.

Funny a dummy on the autism spectrum who’s never met another TUSCLer calls me an “ old scared dog” Sheesh RickiBoi so very like you, typically antagonistic and personal yet stupid as it gets You’re developmentally stuck at 12 or 14

Need to retract my “CMI for the win!”. Sadly he engaged!

25 is finding his trolling roots. A guy who can't process why young girls might not like old men puffing on stinky cigars is calling another guy autistic. In his version of the universe, every one of them is supposed to have a grandpa fetish or be robogirls who can equally deal with anyone. Up is down and down is up in this crazy new world. 😉

Anyway, back on topic, I suppose we'll have to wait for the irrational fear reactions to die down before we see widespread removal of mask mandates. I am eager to see that happen sooner than later as I do not want my children to keep living in this dystopian disaster reality that we have created through the same irrational hysteria.

BTW I spoke with my brother just so happens the regional manager for Publix Supermarkets lives a few doors down from him, any Publix employee not wearing a mask in the store can find another job, because they will be terminated if that is noticed, so looking back to your earlier rebuttal to my post you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

—>“I started this thread partially to see if there was a rational competing viewpoint as to why mask mandates should remain, but unsurprisingly I have yet to see one.”

You started this thread, not for a good back-and-fourth debate, but to passionately to blame masks on causing a “huge strain on our pediatric mental health infrastructure.” And since that fell apart, now you’re trying to steer away from the mental health advocacy stuff and just rant about masks period with the same “painfully forced and repetitive trolling...” that you have done for a little over a year now.

^ Nice, did you read every fifth line posted or are you just reading comprehension challenged? Just curious. 😊

What has caused the strain on our pediatric mental health system are the ongoing state of emergency conditions. The mask mandate is merely one element of that, but the most constant one. Until we get rid of all vestiges of these responses in our kids' lives, they will not return to true normal.

@25: He'd better start touring NE FL and doing spot firings then. ;)

What has caused the strain on our kids mental health is the willingness of morons like you to politicize every fucking thing Really wearing a mask is a very threat to your way of life Too bad they did away with the draft joining the armed forces would have made some of you idiots much more tolerant of people with different views of things.

Wear a mask don’t wear a mask. Follow your state or local rules or don’t. Abide by the rules of your local businesses or don’t. Come onto a strip club web page and start the hundredth thread about Covid after swearing you were done, just to virtue signal how you’re done with masks even though you live in the great state of Florida where king desantis has already decreed you are fully open? Do you really need to be this much of a prima Donna?

I live in a blue state and the kids are back in school and all the businesses are fully open. No masks are required outdoors. We’re supposed to wear masks indoors if we can’t socially distance. Is it effective? Who cares. It’s literally the least intrusive thing I can be asked to do. I certainly don’t need to tell everyone else how to live their lives.

Hey, I'm not telling anyone who wishes to continue wearing masks not do so. By all means do whatever makes you feel comfortable.

But IMHO it's time for Nanny types who wish to impose it upon others to stop now. The state of emergency requirements need to end and that includes mask mandates.

Btw 25 I just swung by Publix to grab my lunch and now it was a full half of the customers without masks. We'll see what it's like another month from now.

We were talking about employees, I’m well aware that there’s a large group of narcissistic people out there who don’t really care about anything or anyone except for themselves, you can try to spin it anyway you like, you’re still a selfish prick who doesn’t care about anyone , except for what you want for yourself

@25: Now now cranky old man, let's be fair. I'm only a moderately selfish prick. I was ok with wearing masks pre-vaccine, especially in places with a lot of vulnerable old people. But now that they've all been vaccinated, or at least those who wanted it, not so much. I guess where we differ is that some Nanny twats like yourself think that it's ok to impose these requirements on others potentially forever to protect other people from there own choices, while I do not.

Oh, but to be fair 25, at this Publix all the employees were masked this time. The few I saw the other day were at a Publix elsewhere. And everything else I said about gas station convenience stores, standalone bars, etc., holds true. Each and every day I'm seeing fewer masks, which is not surprising given that there is a widely available vaccine now. Duh.

A large group of narcissistic people? Democrats.

If I go into a building that I don’t own or lease, and the owner/tenant requires mask wearing, I put mine on. It does me no harm to do so and I’m free to not go in that building if I so choose.

As far as our kids’ mental health and avoiding pandemic fear, I think that’s handled by sensibly talking to our kids.

===> "As far as our kids’ mental health and avoiding pandemic fear, I think that’s handled by sensibly talking to our kids."

Great that you think so Huntsman. Too bad that they are being exposed to never-ending breathless COVID melodrama all over social media, on the news and even in their schools, with panicky teachers and school administrators passing along very different messages. Shit one of my kids even has a hyperventilating (literally) dance instructor who panics every time they have to be in a public performance.

If we could completely control the message then that would be great, but unfortunately other adults are contributing to this never-ending "state of emergency" vibe. Indeed I've never been so disgusted with the utter lack of emotional fortitude among too many grown adults as I've seen during this "pandemic."

—>“ and I was ok with wearing masks pre-vaccine, “

tuscl.net tuscl.net tuscl.net

^The breakdown goes even further.

Ok Nicespice, partially fair, though you missed the last half of that sentence..."especially in places with a lot of vulnerable old people. "

I was never thrilled with it, but I did it where I needed to. In church for example, where a lot of old people congregate. I also routinely masked up in stores, banks, restaurants, etc. Strip clubs are a different story (and two of those links focused on clubs), but no old vulnerable person should have been in those places anyway if they were worried about COVID.

But not now - post vaccine. If Publix or Walmart want to kick me out then so be it, but I'm sure they won't. I'm done now.

Oh, goody.

(Probably 61 days at most, hopefully less)

Me,too.

This thread is too fucking pathetic.

Masks should not be a political issue. They are a medical prophylactic device. Whether or not you wear a mask should be between you and your healthcare provider, and at the discretion of the property manager (i.e. I can dictate if I require masks in my office/home).

I think this thread should return to intelligent points. More specifically, points made by ricks.

I’m specifically going to hone in on an intelligent point that the Phil Ape made inadvertently. Specifically, the Florida tea party suggestion.

I sometimes find it quite relaxing to hire a stripper for some housecat play. As an anthropomorphic lion I usually shit in a bathroom. I have installed a squat toilet because typical toilets are hard for creatures with tails, but a lot hairless apes in this crazy world uses squat toilets anyway, so no biggie.

However, I have devoted a room in my house to housecat play. I’ve covered the floor in kitty litter and when I feel the need for housecat relaxation I go into said room and crap. Then I say “hey pretty ape, kitty made boom boom in the sandbox....meow”. At that point the hairless ape hooker cleans up after me with a slotted spoon. Very relaxing!

Anyhoo...I feel for my brother rick. This whole mask thing has bothered you more than I realized. It has even caused a bit of a rick rift. You should try shitting someplace you normally wouldn’t and hiring a hooker to clean up after you. It might help you relax.

Just find a way to heal my friend. You, me, the vulture, and the shark will be back to gangbanging the whores in no time. ROAR!!!

axios.com

Governor De Santis weighs in on this topic with this decision!

^ Yup and it gets even better. This executive order does not currently extend to school safety requirements, but a law that goes effective July 1 will. That law eliminates the ability of local governments and their agents, including school districts, to close schools or businesses unilaterally (except in certain short term emergency situations) and allows the Governor to negate local restrictions if he deems them to be too harsh.

De Santis has already questioned the necessity of further mask requirements with the vaccine, so it is widely anticipated that he will extend Florida's mask mandate prohibition to schools for the next school year.

Now wonder De Santis is so popular in Florida. It is awesome to be a Floridian.

That does not impact mask requirements by businesses, school districts, healthcare networks, etc.; just county/municipal mask mandates, occupancy, curfews, and hours of operation restrictions. However, just last Friday, he extended the state of emergency for 60 more days.

What does it change? Not much.

Gam, he needs his state of emergency powers to stay in place for 60 more days so that he can keep local governments from doing anything stupid before the new law kicks in on July 1. It is also anticipated that the new law will give him the authority to eliminate public school mask mandates.

You are right that his orders and even the new law do not extend to business mask mandates, but it does cover vaccine passports. Effective July 1, no business in Florida may require a vaccine passport or other evidence of vaccination as a condition of providing services.

De Santis has shown a cool head throughout this pandemic and becomes more popular in FL by the week, especially when we look at what NY, CA, WA and OR continue to do to their citizenry.

^^^ of those states you mention, everyone of them are great to visit, but that’s it. I could never live in those zones. I hate it when my wife tells me what to do, let alone gobernment. Lol!!

The teachers unions are running tv ads against DeSantis (at least down here in Miami)

^ the teachers unions are doing what they do best - spend a ton of money on politics

There’s one big problem though with his banning vaccine passports and I know you’re going to make this personal as usual but the Cruise industry is a major player in Florida politics close to 8 Billion in Florida alone and let me break this to you gently the cruise lines were counting on using those covid passports to get bodies back in the cabins as well as getting destinations to relax restrictions on ports open to ships so they have itineraries to market to vacation travelers

Well this should make it easier for those cruisers to get to the dock.

^ how so ?

^ 25, sadly the cruise lines were put in that position by a CDC playing political games. The agency was already well aware of FL's new law so they conveniently made proof of vaccination a pre-requisite to getting the cruise industry going again faster, no doubt to put additional political pressure on De Santis and the state legislature.

I won't even get into how cynically political the CDC has become under the current administration, but suffice it to say that if that single industry is held hostage for a while in order to keep all other commerce in Florida flowing smoothly, IMHO it is a small price to pay.

Cruise lines are a different animal - thousands of people in close quarters 24/7 for days on end often in the middle of the ocean - so I can see extra precautions in that situation

Well like it or not the cruise industry is a large chunk of change as part of the 180 billion + travel sector of the economy most of the major players in that industry have their fingers in other parts of the market hotels and resorts as well as casinos were counting on that vaccine passport as well we’ll have to wait and see how mr DeSantis holds up he’s going to be under pressure next election for Florida gubernatorial races are in the 2024 cycles

^ The $8 billion contribution to Florida's economy is an eye catching number for sure, but very tiny when measured against the rest of the state's trillion dollar economy, including the bulk of the 180 billion travel industry contribution. Having a patchwork of different access and service requirements applied all over the state is a recipe for chaos, confusion and reduced commercial activity across the board. It makes about as much sense as sending sick people back to nursing homes, which fortunately Florida also didn't allow. 😀

Oh, and I suspect that De Santis is going to be just fine. The state's unemployment rate is 4.7% and falling, so most of the FL residents who worked in those jobs have already been absorbed elsewhere. This is one of those tempest in a teapot moments I believe. ;)

I agree he's very likely to be re-elected if that's his choice, but he will have to show some love to the big players and it's very likely there will be some compromises made to those rich folks that have the ability to cut a check because like it or not Florida is one of the four or five most expensive places to run an election and there will be some accommodation to the Mickey Arison family as well as the Disney Corporation, as well as the Jenkins family which was bribed by making them the sole vaccine provider for the roll out of the vaccine, even though others are now included he took a bunch of heat for that so......

"... I suspect that De Santis is going to be just fine ..."

He is despised by the left almost as much as Trump - the left will try to do everything possible to derail his future election(s) including a ton of outside $$$ as well as all the left dirty tricks of using the media and social-media as political WMDs and the left will try as much as possible to destabilize the election-process (push for as much mail-ballots as possible; push for not having signature verification or ID requirement; etc) - I heard on the radio today that former governor Charly Christ

^ I heard today that former governor Charlie Crist was planning to run for governor again (he was first governor as a republican then switched to the democratic party)

Chuck is an idiot, and needs to hang it up. Nikki Fried is too partisan, and will alienate independant and swing votes. Val Demings would have a shot as a black female with a quasi-hispanic name; but her rhetoric and the dem Defund Police platform will cost her.

It looks like masks are on their way out in Palm Beach. The county order requiring them has been repealed, although the town of Palm Beach did extend their order another 30 days. I'm pretty sure at least. Over the weekend I noticed that at a number of restaurants off the island employees were no longer wearing them, signs saying "Mask required by county order" are gone. At Cheetah Palm Beach they had a big sign that said masks are optional. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods both still required masks yesterday though.

I'm vaccinated & I don't mind wearing a mask in most situations, indoors at stores and similar. But, I am glad the nonsense with wearing them to walk in the strip club is over & putting it on to walk to the bathroom in a restaurant was always of limited use.

I work in Philly- I stopped wearing a mask on the street last week - I’d say 75% of the people still wear them on the street. No one has said anything to me yet.

Like everyone, I still wear a mask in a store or restaurant (until seated). I’m sick of it.