HIPAA VS. ADA A Guest Post By Amie Gibbons
Come on. I’m a health law attorney and we have a giant shit show of violations of rights and dehumanizing of individuals under the guise of “medical science,” you knew I had to get to this eventually.
First up, lawyer hat’s on, so usual disclaimer. This is not legal advice. It is not to be taken as such. This is all very generalized and simplified legal ideas so y’all have a basic understanding of the difference here. Yes, I am a lawyer. NO, I am not your lawyer. And, since I want to keep my job, I have to make it very clear that none of this reflects the opinions or legal positions of my employer.
The main reason I’m writing this is because I am very much anti bullshit and anti using fear as a weapon en masse, as in the bullshit that’s been going on for a year and a half. Businesses were shut down, people were locked down, you couldn’t visit family in some places, and everyone had their faces covered (which is a very effective way to dehumanize people, but y’all probably already know that), and now there’s rules about who can do what if vaccinated or not, AND they’re back requiring fucking masks! (Don’t get me started, just read my last post on here about Creep Con).
Okay, that sentence got away from me there, what was I saying? Oh yeah, the point of all this is I want our side to argue properly against the massive mindfuck.
As in, everyone read this, and never, ever again argue against mask requirements, vaccine passports, or vaccines required to work somewhere by saying it’s a HIPAA violation.
IT’S NOT!
I’m gonna say that again for the people in the back. All this bull around health requirements are not HIPAA violations. Oh, they’re violations, the obvious one would be ADA, I’ll touch on that later, but they are not HIPAA violations.
When you’re arguing for our side, you argue correctly or you don’t argue at all. (Oh, dear lord, I’m channeling my father right now.)
HIPAA:
This is “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996,” and it is not about individuals, or even businesses, asking you for private health info. Nope. Get that out of your head. It is a privacy law, and it is about health, but it’s about others who have access to your private health info spilling it.
HIPAA is the law that protects you from people like me (who can have access to your personal info by virtue of my job) from telling random others about it. If I know your name, social, that you’re in the hospital, you have herpes, and PTSD through my job, me spilling any of that, personally or on social media or to your friends and family, is a HIPAA violation.
If I have your consent to tell people about it, and I stay within whatever you allowed me to share, that’s no longer a HIPAA violation.
It’s your information, you have the right to control it. Along these lines, HIPAA is also about your right to access your own health info.
You give your name, social, and health info to your doctor when something’s wrong, because they need to know information to 1) charge your insurance; and 2) to figure out what’s wrong with you. Without that info, they can’t help you and they can’t get paid. So you hand over the info to help them help you. You do this, because you trust them not to spread it around. (There are some exceptions, but this is just a general info post.)
Then your doctor/hospital gets your consent to share your info with your insurance company and others who need to know, and tell you they won’t tell others who aren’t in the loop to know about your info. Those others in the loop are entities such as insurance, business partners who deal with other aspects of your care, possibly other doctors or institutions.
You also can give another person authorization to access to your health info, like me as an adult saying if anything happens to me, my emergency contact is my mom, here’s her info, and you are allowed to discuss HIPAA covered issues with her.
A big one people have gotten into trouble for doing in the past was hospital personnel taking pictures of celebrities when they’re in the hospital. Most of the ones who screwed up on this weren’t thinking when they took a selfie with their favorite actor/athlete/author (haha, we can dream about being famous enough for people to want to violate our privacy in that way) in the background in a hospital bed, and posting it on social media.
If there was absolutely nothing personal showing, it’s the celebrity in a hospital bed, but covered and you can’t see anything off about them or any kind of medical charts, so you have no clue from the picture why they’re in the hospital, you might think it’s not a violation of HIPAA.
Nope. It is. Because the mere fact that they are in the hospital is protected under HIPAA. If the celebrity says please take my picture and post it because I want my fans to know I’m okay, or whatever reason they’d ask you to post it, then you have permission to do that, BUT that wouldn’t mean you could say what they were in the hospital for.
You’re probably wondering about all those paparazzi photos of celebrities any time they’re doing anything, including going to the hospital. Well, the paparazzi aren’t restricted by HIPAA. They aren’t getting personal info through their job then sharing it; they’re busting in and violating privacy to get personal info for their job. Big difference.
Let’s say a nurse takes a pic with the celebrity in the background, but she doesn’t share it anywhere. (That’s getting into fine print of what exactly crosses the line for HIPAA. It may be a HIPAA violation or risk of one, and it’s just rude, so she shouldn’t have done it.) That one is a it depends what happens with that pic risk. If a photographer sneaks in and takes a picture and splashes it all over the news, that’s not a HIPAA violation, because he’s under no duty to protect that info. If the nurse takes a picture and sells it to the paparazzi, that’s a HIPAA violation. But, just to be clear, it’s not the paparazzi who printed it who’s in trouble under HIPAA, it’s the nurse who shared it, because she was the one with the duty to keep that info confidential.
In the health care field, we have access to info so that we can help people (that’s the heart of it, yes, it’s me looking at it in rosy light) so we have a duty to those people to keep their information safe. There’s a lot more that goes into HIPAA, like the measures hospitals and businesses have to take to keep health info private, especially electronically. It’s a huge tech area, people make big bucks to make sure those records can’t be hacked, and it’s a huge deal when they are hacked.
When there’s a HIPAA violation by accident or something like someone hacking in, then there’s steps the entity has to take to mitigate the damage, and there’s some hefty fines, especially if it’s done on purpose, like the nurse taking a selfie with the celebrity in the background and posting it on her Facebook page, but that’s not really the point for this article.
With vaccines or what illnesses you’ve had, whether you’re in the hospital, your social, and so on, generally your doctors/hospitals/insurance companies can’t tell others without your consent.
That’s the general HIPAA rule. It is a duty of us in the medical field to keep the info you give us in confidence to help you with your medical situation confidential, and to make sure you can access it since it’s your info.
That doesn’t mean these entities won’t ask you for your consent to share. They do all the time for a multitude of reasons. (My parents signed a HIPAA consent for my brother to be in a rehab facility’s brochure when he was 14 because he recovered so beautifully from two broken legs… skiing accident, whole other story, so he was a wonderful success story for them to highlight.) And it doesn’t mean others who have no reason to know it, like a store, asking you to prove you’ve been vaccinated against the C19 Zombie Virus or don’t have it/never had it/have been living in a bubble for two years, is a HIPAA violation.
It’s kind of like saying an individual deleting your comment off their Facebook page is a violation of your first amendment right to free speech. Nope, Constitution applies to what government may and may not do (whole other post on the violations going on these days may have to happen) and has nothing to do with an individual restricting your speech. That’s what saying a business asking you for personal health info is a HIPAA violation is like.
Great example in here of that principle. Me saying my brother broke his legs and was in the hospital for weeks, then rehab for months, isn’t a HIPAA violation, because I have that info from being his sister, not from having access to that info because I worked at one of the places that treated him, or the insurance company processing the claims.
So, are we clear on this now? No one on our side shall argue vaccine passports or mask requirements are a violation of HIPAA again. Let the other side argue using completely wrong facts, they’re much better at it than we are anyway.
ADA:
Here is one law that should apply to all this vaccine passport, you have to wear a mask, and sign away your soul and individuality for the “greater good,” join the Borg because resistance is futile bullshit.
I say should, because as far as I can tell, when it comes to Covid restrictions, the ADA doesn’t exist. Everyone is ignoring it. I’m hoping that becomes a bunch of massive class action lawsuits in the near future.
This is the Americans with Disabilities Act. Basically, its job is to protect you against discrimination due to your disabilities. And this one does apply to businesses as well as government. It (very generally) says no discrimination against those with disabilities for employment, public accommodations in commercial facilities, and telecommunications.
The big issue we see these days is the part about public accommodations in commercial facilities. Public services and education (schools, courts, public transportation), restaurants, hotels, stores, and convention centers, to name a few, have to comply with the ADA.
As in, this one does apply to private businesses.
So all those people saying a private business can make it’s own decision about who to let in, wrong! No, they can’t. They aren’t allowed to discriminate. People arguing it’s a private business therefore it’s their choice, obviously don’t know about the cases stating businesses can’t refuse to serve you due to the color of your skin, and know shit all about the ADA.
Businesses aren’t allowed to discriminate against you based on certain things, such as race, and thanks to the ADA, they can’t discriminate based on a disability. They have to make reasonable accommodations for you to receive services if you can’t receive them the same way as others due to your disability.
A big, obvious example of this is all the handicap accessible retrofits you see in stores, restaurants, and hotels. They have to have ramps alongside stairs for people in wheelchairs to get in since they can’t walk up stairs, have to have handicap bathrooms so that people in wheelchairs can wheel in, and use the bars in there to lift themselves from wheelchair to toilet. If they can’t make something exactly the same for you as for a person without that disability, then they have to make reasonable accommodations. What those are can still be a grey area in more established areas. In Covid restrictions matters now? Half the businesses I know aren’t even trying, and their employees have no clue what medical exemptions and/or reasonable accommodations are when asked.
It’s pretty clear under a straightforward reading of the law that discriminating against people who can’t wear masks safely due to medical conditions, like asthma, is not allowed. Like the businesses that don’t let you in unless you’re wearing a mask are discriminating, and at the least have to offer reasonable accommodations to you to stay within the law. Most of them don’t even try. You have to push them, get managers, and threaten lawsuits most of the time for them to try to accommodate you, and they act like you’re being a ridiculous, entitled Karen. Take that situation and apply it to someone who can’t get in because they’re in a wheelchair and can’t get up the stairs, and the employees who have to lift up her chair to get her through the door saying she’s an entitled Karen demanding special treatment.
Yes, it is like that.
BUT the Covid restrictions aren’t about actual medical issues and health, disabilities, not discriminating, treating people fairly, or any of that. If they were, then businesses would establish policies on how to stay within the ADA with the Covid restrictions. Governments wouldn’t be able to demand you wear a mask to be in a government facility, like schools, city buildings, or courts. They would have to do the equivalent of providing a handicap ramp or at least carrying you and your chair up the stairs.
They don’t. Businesses don’t even worry about it, because the “rules” say anyone who can’t wear a mask is just being difficult, or making a political statement, or that if they really can’t wear one then they shouldn’t be in a place that requires it, and that’s that person’s problem.
They don’t worry about it, because the “good people,” wear masks, because the “good people” follow the rules. All of us not wearing masks. We’re the “bad people,” the “others,” we’re the people who don’t follow the rules.
And because of that, because we might inspire others to stop blindly following rules, because not wearing a mask might be about bucking the rules, we’re dangerous. And it’s okay to discriminate against the people who refuse to follow the rules, because then it’s not discrimination, you’re just making people follow the rules.
You see how they have that in a nice little bow.
When a business doesn’t comply with the ADA, you can file an ADA complaint. People have for being discriminated against under the Covid restrictions, but so far, as far as I have heard, nothing’s come from those. I’ll be filing one for the discrimination I dealt with at Creepy Con. I’m almost positive it’ll come to nothing, but hey, I don’t know much about the process since I’ve never filed an ADA complaint, never needed to, so at least I’ll be able to share what going through that process looks like.
Under the HHS fact sheet on the ADA, here’s who’s protected:
“Who Is Protected Under the ADA?
The ADA protects qualified individuals with disabilities. An individual with a disability is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities; has a record of such an impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities means functions such as caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning and working. Under the ADA, a qualified individual with a disability is an individual with a disability who meets the essential eligibility requirements for receipt of services or participation in programs or activities. Whether a particular condition constitutes a disability within the meaning of the ADA requires a case-by-case determination.
Physical or mental impairments include, but are not limited to: visual, speech, and hearing impairments; mental retardation, emotional illness, and specific learning disabilities; cerebral palsy; epilepsy; muscular dystrophy; multiple sclerosis; orthopedic conditions; cancer; heart disease; diabetes; and contagious and noncontagious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV disease (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic).”
Does asthma make me a qualified individual? I don’t know. I guess I’ll find out.
But PTSD sure as shit puts you in that category. You know what a common trigger for rape victims is? Having their mouth covered, because, surprise surprise, most rapists want to keep their victims quiet and cover their mouths. So far, everyone I know who has talked about it (and it’s a shocking and saddening amount) who was raped, has a trauma response to having their mouths covered.
I hope that helps clarify a bit why you shouldn’t bring HIPAA to a discrimination fight. I hope it was helpful information. I hope a lot of things. When it comes to the rest of the country, I don’t have much hope. (Post on Biden’s latest edict will probably be coming soon.) When it comes to our side, I have some.
And until the world as we know it ends, we’ll act as though it intends to spin on. For authors, that means writing and selling books.
So, if you want books that aren’t full of leftist woke bullshit spreading the “virtues” of fear and victim points, then check out my books. I have book bundles and my 911 Remembrance Day sale going on for signed paperbacks. The best part of that, besides the whole they’re signed thing, is big tech like Amazon doesn’t get an extra piece of these.
Books are $10 each. The Supernatural Streets Anthology is $12. And the Evie Jones Compilation is $8.
Bullet bookmarks are $4 each, 3 for $10, OR, you get one free for buying a book bundle.
Book bundles are: Buy 3 get 10% off, buy 6 get 13% off, buy 10 novels get 15% off, or buy all 12 and get 20% off, which knocks it down to $100. (Plus shipping and handling.)
The SDF Series: Paranormal Mystery Romances: Ariana’s like Buffy with a badge.
Ariana’s a cute, spunky FBI agent who only has the job because she’s psychic, and she’s going to prove to her coworkers and herself that she’s more than just a pretty face on a too young psychic when a serial killer strikes.
The Elemental Demons Series: Psychic Thrillers: If you loved ‘The Conjuring’ this is a must-read series. Fans are saying these ain’t your daddy’s psychic thrillers.
Sarah is shattered after the man she loved dumped her, throwing away their life plans, and ran back home after college. But the refuge of home isn’t when strange things start happening. She’s not religious, but there are more things in Hell and Earth than are dreamt of in her philosophy. She’s going to have to face her fears and find her strength again before one of those dark things she doesn’t believe in uses her broken soul against her, and all of humankind.
The Gods Defense, The Magical Adventures of Evie Jones, and Supernatural Streets, can be checked out through on my sales page too, so you can see if they’re your thing too.
AND Brena Bock is doing a paperback sale (after being voluntold 😊 )
Brena is in 3 anthologies, and has them up to be signed and shipped at discount prices too!
Supernatural Streets and The Hearts’ Enchantment anthologies for $12 each, and the award winning Space Force anthology for $10. OR all 3 for $30! (Plus shipping and handling.)
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To contribute to my feed the kitties fund, go order your signed copies of my books, and your really cool author shot, author made bullet bookmarks. 😉
According To Hoyt 
Thanks! It’s always good to have the info to make an accurate argument.
The paragraph below is me. And I’m bawling while I type because I’m about to be fired because of this. And I’m having to move out of state because of this. And fighting the medical grifters and the woke retailers has taken a toll on my spirit. I’m stronger, yes.
But…. to see someone else “fight” for me in this perfect way is almost more than I can take.
THANK YOU. I can’t say it enough, so I’m going to buy some of your work.
“But PTSD sure as shit puts you in that category. You know what a common trigger for rape victims is? Having their mouth covered, because, surprise surprise, most rapists want to keep their victims quiet and cover their mouths. So far, everyone I know who has talked about it (and it’s a shocking and saddening amount) who was raped, has a trauma response to having their mouths covered.”
Virtual hugs – and actual prayers. Good luck!
Hug you for real one day. God’s timing is perfect, just really hard right now. 🙂
Can I help? Got no idea of your location, but I’m a Carolina girl. Hit me up if there’s anything I can do, even if that’s just listening to a rant. Trufox at the positively charged e-mail place, or aggrokitty at Our Googly Overlords.
Another virtual hug. I wasn’t raped, yet it still took me years to stop having certain reactions. Ping my e-mail addy through my blog if I can help in any way, in addition to prayers.
You’re just the best, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Things are just overwhelming my nervous system lately, and this is always a painful subject.
I so appreciate the virtual connection, and I’ll reach out.
Leaving your home for a better opportunity is stressful, getting chased out by tyranidiocy is worse. Add the trauma from years past…
I cannot remember if you’ve stated where you’re from or where you’re going, but I’ll drive a couple hundred miles out from central Florida to give you a hand moving stuff at least.
I woulda offered to help Our Esteemed Hostess, but don’t trust my 15 year old minivan for a Western Expedition.
It’s the sincerity of the *thought* that strengthens my heart. 🙂
I’m not the prayerful type, but my shoulders are good for tears as well as work.
And that, dear friend, is gold. Thank you.
Which was prudent, as I just shelled out $850 in vehicle repairs yesterday.
Never fun, though at least you don’t have a freshly totaled car… Not looking forward to straightening this out,
Aw crap, and it’s not like cars are easy or cheap to get right now. I’m just happy as hell they were able to get a new CV joint for my car
Aw crap, and it’s not like cars are easy or cheap to get right now. I’m just happy as hell they were able to get a new CV joint for my car. Durr, brain just kicked in, are you okay after said totaling?
Yep, and so is the other person. It’s more due to the car’s age than anything. About to see what the next step is going to be insurance-wise.
God bless you!
We’ll have to wait till I come down to the Keys for some backcountry fly fishing, maybe.
I’m north of Seattle, moving to North Idaho. Perhaps in as little as two weeks, if the interview Monday goes well.
Pushing Good Interview Wishes your way for Monday.
Prayer will do the trick, and I can’t thank you enough for it.
I drive the semi down to Miami all the time, but it’s been far too long since I drove or rode down the Keys. I’ve gotta ask, what’s “back country” on the Keys, they’re only a couple miles wide!? 🙂
🙂 No one drives US1 unless they really have to. Especially the 18-mile (death) Stretch.
“Backcountry” is a fishing term used to indicate the difference between the ocean (“Oceanside”) and Gulf side (“backcountry”).
The backcountry Gulf off of Big Pine Key and thereabouts is where I learned to fly fish, and to spin cast for sharks. Great fun, and beautiful in a very primal way.
I did foodservice delivery in Boston for years, and still have occasional wake-up-sweating nightmares about it. Driving U.S. 1, or preferably riding the motorcycle, is a far, far, better place to be.
I visited the combat zone. Once. Ai yi yi, never want to go to Boston again.
Lol, Boston, well, used to be, a good city to walk, but not drive in. Since I moved out of Taxachusetts my carry permit isn’t valid there any more so I’d avoid most parts of it now.
Prayers and good vibes your way for that interview to go well, Kathy. I’m from northern Utah, so maybe I can give you a real hug next time I’m visiting and swinging upwards for a trip 🙂
DATE. And I can get an in-person autograph as well, maybe?
NOTE: your post yesterday unlocked some really wonderful spiritual stuff. I heard “Five Smooth Stones” over and over again, and received insight on other things (using Harry Potter, crazily enough) that would have never occurred.
And I neglected to tell you how delicious your kittens are! I had a black kitten, Ming The Merciless. About 5 pounds of sweetness.
Not Kathy but central FL is on my list of possible escape places and may very well be the most economical from my current location in north GA. I’d be up for learning more about the area if you don’t mind sharing.
My brief experience with central FL was Martin County, and it was, years ago, a haven of delightful rednecks and people who knew how to do things.
Also the first time I saw a cow grazing under a palm tree near Lake Okeechobee.
I can recommend it.
Martin County, Stuart and surrounds, is nice, but nothing in Florida is inexpensive.
St Lucie County, just North of there is a huge planned development, much like Irvine, California.
You might have better luck in housing further North, in the Space Coast / Melbourne/ Titusville area, andbup to Daytona.
We stayed in Ft. Pierce for a while, but we’re not impressed with it as a place to live.
We are living on our boat in a Marina in Titusville now, but we may move ashore due to lessening in my physical capacity, requiring more money to hire help with things that I used to do myself.
John in Indy
As it happens Brevard was one area I was considering looking so good to know it’s got some possibilities! 🙂 I’ll check out Martin and Stuart, though.
John, thank you.
East Tennessee. Florida mainland. Even a return to South Carolina (I went to college at USC, Columbia) were considered.
“Mountains, Gandalf” makes it very hard for me to consider someplace flat, or rolling hills like TN.
Hard, not impossible.
I do most work for pizza, if you need a hand.
D8mn it. I wish you could have helped. We’d have bought you the good stuff. 😉
Hey, wanna help finish the new place, when the other house sells? We’ll even pay.
LOL. A pizza would pay for gas and tolls from me to Titusville, at least on the motorcycle. To get to Unknownistan where you’re moving might be two or three pizzas worth 🙂
No, we’d actually pay cash money. Part of our issue has been finding workmen who know how to do things and can be trusted.
Eh, I’m an amateur, hardly professional. Inside/ outside carpentry, basic electrical and plumbing. My house up north was about a hundred years old, and I couldn’t afford to pay anyone so had to learn. Pathologically bad at painting, won’t even try that any more.
I’m in Polk County, in between Tampa and Orlando. What settled the location for me was the relative nearness of large cities, but outside of the “grid” that seems to sprawl from all of them. The major employer here is the Publix grocery headquarters and their manufacturing plants, as well as support companies for them.
It’s hard for me to recommend other possible locations, as I don’t know your likes or job requirements. Plenty of nice places to live, but what would fit you is an unknown.
Nothing down here’s cheap as far as property any more, as people have fled the higher tax and lockdown states and bought everything in sight. I’d honestly advise against buying anything immediately anyway, as you don’t know what or where your employer might be. Apartment buildings are going up like gangbusters everywhere for the incoming people, I’d grab one of those and just spend the next year of weekends driving about and finding what calls to you. You’ve stated before a desire for a less “Southern” culture, so maybe somewhere south of State Route 70. More New England transplants on the East Cost from there south, more Midwestern transplants on the West Coast.
Additional employers near me, ‘Zon with a couple million square feet of warehouse space and many flights a day out of Lakeland/Linder Airport Coke, Owen’s Corning, Mosaic Phosphate Mine, a couple Universities, Lockheed Martin, Geico.. missing a bunch I know
Hi lazurus-
Like Ashen Baron, I’m looking at getting out of Blueville for points south. Do you know what’s available for someone who does chemistry and/or chemical safety between Gainesville and Fort-Myers? I really don’t want to do waste water again and I’d rather not do hospital or defense (not with FICUS diktats). It looks like there’s industry up by Gainesville, but the big FisherSci plant seems to be more bio than straight chem.
Ashen Baron- if you’re willing to do landscape work in FL ask Sarah to forward my email as I know someone who owns a landscape business and is tired of folks quitting on him without giving notice.
I know there’s CitroSuco out in Lake Wales, there’s a couple other companies that do orange to sweetener chemistry in Auburndale. I know there’s some petrochemical companies in the Port of Tampa area as well, but since I rarely haul tankers I’m unfamiliar with them. Maybe Owen’s Corning?
Thanks lazuhrus! That’s more than I had earlier today 🙂 Must get looking…
There’s a Polytechnic University that opened up in Auburndale about seven or eight years ago as well, if you’re interested in teaching, Florida Polytechnic University.
Florida Polytech sounds very interesting. I’m currently working for a big university in the northeast and I am TIRED of their ‘VID paranoia. I had checked University of Florida and University of South Florida, but nothing’s available right now in my field.
Just got a tip that Firmenich in Lakeland, FL is hiring as well, they do food additives.
Ooh yeah, Mosaic runs a lot of phosphate mines, I’m sure they are always running chemical assays on their product
Sorry, only just now saw the second part! It wouldn’t be my first choice if I do end up in FL but I don’t think I can be picky in terms of jobs. I will if things break that way, though.
Ashen Baron- I totally understand. I’d rather go back to doing waste water testing than FL landscaping, but I wasn’t sure how desperate you were for an escape and a job _now_. I hope you find something you both like and are good at in a location you can stand.
I still have some work to do on my house and a lot of potentially profitable decluttering to do first so there’s still some time there. 🙂 Unless things really blow up my absolute, have to be out of here deadline is January 2023 before Stacey Abrams’ inevitable coronation. What, does anyone reading think that any of our statewide elections down here going forward are going to end in anything other than blue waves?
So sounds like you’re on about the same schedule I am to get out the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts.
Another, unsolicited thought on the job hunt, do you have _any_ chemical background? Would you be willing to get your 40 hour HAZWOPR? Everything I’ve been hearing in my current field (EH&S) is that the haz waste side of it is hurting for people. I can probably help you network here too.
I actually do clean up hazmat spills at work, though nothing biological or anything more specific than “clean x crap up with absorbent or pads, bag it, label it, and leave it for Damages to sort out.” I wouldn’t want to make a career out of it since I’m not fond of that part of the job (as much because constant interruptions annoy the *insert unprintable words here* out of me as the actual cleanups) so again it would just be an only if I have to thing. I’d really, really like to get out of manual labor type work as well as things adjacent to it. I just don’t have a choice in the matter right now because no degree and a weak resume that’s not good for anything other than cleaning or warehouse monkeying.
One of the reasons for not going to FL (and man would getting this house ready be FUN from there…) is that we could no longer afford it when we started looking.
Yeah, and stuff is selling for more than list in well under a week, most times one to three days.
Same for TX, actually.
I meant to also say, if you’ve more specific questions that you don’t want public, my handle at Goog.
Thanks for all that. With four cats renting isn’t really an option so it sounds like housing might be tricky even if I sell my paid-off house. Polk is close to one area I was looking (my big three areas are the Brevard cities, Sarasota/Bradenton area, and Pensacola area), though. On work I’m resigned to being a warehouse monkey for at least a few more years though there’s absolutely no way in hell I’m doing Amazon. Unless we go into mandatory overtime I was planning on spending a few weekends down in FL to check things out, though. I do a four 10 hour shift week leaving three days free for that. I plan on saving Pensacola until a particular Hun and her Bugbear are up for meeting up, though! Still, sounds like there are some possibilities! And yeah Southern culture really does drive me crazy, though I doubt I’d enjoy the Yankee alternative. Midwestern, maybe, though that brings me back to the good case Fox and her husband make for IA. Or full Western, which is part of why Holly’s sales pitches for ID sound so good…
Ah, if you’re a warehouse worker there’s plenty of options in the Lakeland area where I work, Rooms 2go, Badcock, Hagerty and Conn are furniture companies with warehouse here, Best Buy, Burris for cold stuff, Pepperidge Farms has a bakery, as does Flowers
Come be our neighbor. It’s still cheap. (Yes, I’ll tell you where in pm.) Then we’ll have mutual cat sitting, too.
That actually sounds pretty cool and may very well break my decision deadlock! Honored that you would trust me with this as well, Mrs. Hoyt.
*Offers hugs*
There are days – fortunately few – I just want to snap at J. Random Person shrinking away because I’m unmasked, “Guess what? Spending weeks making sure you keep breathing at night ’cause you can’t afford to go to a hospital means you have a problem with anything that obstructs breathing.”
(Right after Fauci originally said masks didn’t work. As in a day or two after. That was a rough month.)
Fortunately where I am most everyone is currently ignoring mask mandates. There are signs up at doctors and dentist, but no one’s demanded I mask up, regardless. Even the libraries seem to have regained a bit of sanity.
These are times when I’m almost sorry people can empathize with me. I mean, dayum.
Part of my “problem” is that virtually everyone here is muzzled outdoors 24/7. Out-f’ing-doors.
Group insanity is messing with my brain, and I know when I get outside WA it’s a different scene.
Come to the Gulf Coast. Much more sanity here!
Then they are suffering from impaired judgment from reduced oxygen.
Get outside of the I-5 Corridor and it is a different scene, generally. Don’t know specifically about Washington or California Cascades and East. But Oregon, once one heads into the Cascades, the mask mandate is represented by a sign on the door. Employees might be masked (OSHA thing), but not customers.
When the mask mandate generally went away through much of the heartland, a lot of corporate establishments (hotels, gas stations, etc.) still had mask required signs up. Few of the customers were complying, but you could usually tell if it was corporate owned or franchise by whether the management and employees were complying.
I’m currently seeing more mask wearing at the Kroger and Home Depot which are the big chains that have mask signs around here, but even there it seldom goes about about 30%.
Here in South Kalifornia the signs are up and 90% of the sheeple submit. They wear masks in their cars, alone. They cross the road because I’m on the sidewalk without one. They have all gone batshit crazy and I’m the enemy for not being the same flavor of crazy.
———————————
Ma Lemming: “If all your friends jumped off a cliff into the sea would you…oh…um…nevermind.”
Not even in CO anymore….
I’m just outside of Vancouver, BC.
I swear most of the time I am the only maskless person in the store. Only been hassled a couple of times, though.
Oh man, right there with ya. I moved out of Nashville to get away from those crazies. (Yes, we blame California, way too many of them moved out here.) They wear masks in their cars alone, wear them outside, for awhile there the mayor actually had cops ticketing tourists in downtown for not wearing masks outside. I’m not even kidding.
I moved 1 county up, like 15 miles north, and it’s a completely different world. Some businesses have employees wearing them, like Kroger, but other than that, practically no one besides a few older people here and there.
I’m so sorry. That’s not a neutral thing, to be surrounded by insanity.
What I practice here in “Mordor”, is to remind people that physical separation is the only thing that works. So by not wearing a mask, I encourage others to stay away from me. It lets me talk a greater distance, so it is safer.
I walk around outside without a mask, and flow like water. I tell people the vaccine is a leaky one, and we who have been vaccinated are more dangerous to the unvaccinated than they are to us, since we are more likely to be “typhoid Marys”. (infectious without symptoms).
Practice the two secrets of life, Joy and gratitude. When I feel down, I think of the story of Elijah, and ask myself if I would trade places with him, or the widow. It reminds me of how well off we are.
It looks like north Mordor will have to worry about having too much water. Be careful what you pray for, your prayers will be answered.
Hugs! I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said there’s a lot more people I know who were assaulted that came out with issues with the mask thing than I ever thought.
Buy some books if they look like your thing. I wouldn’t want you to buy something you don’t think you’ll like 🙂
🙂 Bless you. I saw a crap ton of your work that looks interesting and very worth investigating. (And as a thank you for your post yesterday I’m temperamentally inclined to buy at least one. Like a tip for excellent service?)
In my case it’s “just” asthma. As in, half an hour and I need an inhaler.
“PTSD sure as shit puts you in that category. You know what a common trigger for rape victims is? Having their mouth covered, because, surprise surprise, most rapists want to keep their victims quiet and cover their mouths. So far, everyone I know who has talked about it (and it’s a shocking and saddening amount) who was raped, has a trauma response to having their mouths covered.”
It can also be true of non-rape type sexual assault. I know from personal experience.
I’ve was turned away from stores early in the lock-down for not wearing a mask.
My sister and I were mocked and laughed at, told to stay home, when we said we had our masks down to prevent triggering PTSD. Woman and man (not store staff) found that inconceivable that both of us were sexual assault survivors. 😦
Some good information here. Permission to share on my page?
I’m so sorry.
I empathize.
It’s not just rape.
{{hug}}
No, and the scars can last just as long.
{{hug back atcha}}
I’m not Amie, but every post on this blog is shareable.
Thank you.
I sometimes like to double check rather than assume.
It’s a public blog, there is no password or hidden site you have to go to to reach it.
Glad to know that & of course I won’t ask about the cat’s bathroom. 😉
Oh man, I think you told me that before, Wyld. It still makes my blood boil. One reason I’m such a bitch about the mask this is because I can fight back and be a bitch. People with trauma from it usually can’t. I had PTSD around other things, and when I was faced with my triggers, I froze, or panicked and ran.
Book marking for future reference.
It’s amazing how much damage this covid insanity has done to the fair and impartial application of law.
Yes, Irish Democracy is a thing, but it’s a far lesser thing than a set of laws we’ve all agreed on, and can actually follow fairly.
The damage was already there, we just didn’t know about it.
The killers laid in wait, but had not yet slid in the knife.
Now the knives are in deep.
“It’s amazing how much damage this covid insanity has done to the fair and impartial application of law.”
As some of us have been pointing out, that’s been true for a long time. COVID simply made it obvious to all but the most delusional.
I’ve recently noticed a rather trolling alternative argument.
So, if people refuse vaccine, they are to be denied access to food and to economic activity. IE, denied life.
But, if we are not misled about the alleged pathogen, it is a coronavirus. Implying similar structure, length, etc., so it should mutate like a coronavirus. It should mutate like a cold.
In other words, since cold mutation implies that all vaccines have outdated signatures, there is no real reason to exclude the vaccinated from the denial of life, so everyone goes into the camps.
But, what if, instead of killing everyone, we just kill the communists?
Someone on board with vaccine mandate can obviously have no principled reasons for treating communists according to a concept of human rights, so if they aren’t on board with killing communists, they must not want us to be safe. 😛
In fairness, if you could isolate the American population from the other populations, and if the mutation rate is evenly associated with persons, the effective US mutation rate would be 1/20 of the world mutation rate. So there was more of a reason for people to think that vaccines could be effective under Trump, and especially to discard that assumption under Biden.
Though, Biden is probably counting on the people he is bringing in spreading other diseases, and miss-classifying them as corona chan.
You had me at killing communists
I’m not saying I’m down for that. Not saying I’m not down for it either. Nor can I I either confirm or deny that I may be loading freedom seeds into seed holders whilst whistling “Ballad of the Green Berets.”
I also could not offer my support, nor could I *not* offer it.
I think someone said their favorite scene from Green Berets was the dude stuck on the tree, with the tree branch coming out his chest.
Someone said.
Never seen the movie all the way through, though my favorite bit is when the AC-47 lays waste to the VC and NVA who’ve taken over the camp.
I haven’t seen it in awhile, and the scene you mention is memorable, and pretty fabulous (IIRC).
I’m going to watch it again, soon, as well as Heartbreak Ridge.
Since you know the tune….. 😎
“Drooling Comrades, from the sky.
Dumb Comrades, who fall and die.
500 more, we’ll drop today,
Per the plan of Pinochet.
“Pinochet inspires us all,
but he’s thinking way too small!
US has a faster way,
Shove them from a C5A!”
St Pinochet of the Helicopter, ora pro nobis.
Glad I’m not the only one who’s come up with a tune like that. My version’s more like this:
Dropping Commies from the sky,
Worthless turds, go SPLAT and die.
Chopper flights all night and day.
Cleaning house like Pinochet.
Still working on a refrain and second & third verse….
I’m telling you, C5A is the way to go…. 10000 feet, cruising speed, drop the rear door and then crack the front ramp just enough to get a piece of the slipstream…. It’s Commie-dusting time…..
Don’t know if you can crack the front ramp in flight, but daisy-chain them all together, put a big ol’ chute on the one at the end, drop the rear ramp, pop that big ol’ chute, and away they go. Like air-dropping cargo pallets.
And those same people who want to deny healthcare to the unvaccinated are often the same people who a few years ago were claiming that healthcare was a human right and mustn’t be denied to anyone for any reason.
That’s why they have to pretend that the un(not)vaccinated aren’t human.
Dammit Jim! It’s a genetic therapy, not a vaccine! (And one hell of a scary therapy.)
Well, they’re also the same ones screaming “My Body, My Choice!”, but only when they think it benefits them.
Yesterday, I caught part of a segment on Hannity where the leftie caller was claiming hypocrisy for the people using MBMC for not-Vax refusal, but who condemn that for abortion.
When Hannity didn’t start shouting “There’s a real human being in the abortion. It’s “Their body, too!” “:, I gave up and switched to music. After I finished shouting that (with extra profanity).
That’s reason 45288 why I seldom listen to talk radio since Rush Limbaugh (RIP) passed. It seems I can handle about 30 seconds of Hannity in the course of a week. I do kind of like Lars Larson on his PNW focus\sed afternoon show, but “I want my MP3s”.
Similar.
Can’t abide Hannity.
Lars is righteous, and solid.
Best patriot on the radio is Todd Hermann, KTTH 770, 6-9 AM PDT. The only time I can listen to him is when I’m on adventure, I have to leave early and drive an hour or so. He makes me cry and shout and… it’s fabulous. He gets it. Completely. And says so.
I still can’t even talk about Rush much. Haven’t listened since Katheryn told us that morning that he was gone. His show was more important to my day than I realized.
I caught a trio of guys recently doing talk in Rush’s timeslot on a Flyover Falls station who seemed fairly good. OTOH, the only time I have talk radio on is while I’m driving alone–$SPOUSE prefers conversation, and if $PUPPY is along, it has to be country music–she (the dog) hated Simon and Garfunkel. Didn’t try Steeleye Span. 🙂 So, it’s a maximum of 45 minutes at a time for weekly shopping, and my not-Rush tolerance is 15-30 minutes–enough for a good segment on Lars or the new guys.
I think I’ve heard Tom Hermann as a substitute for Rush. If so, I liked him. The name is familiar, anyway. If Mark Steyn had a show that was on local radio, I’d listen quite a bit.
I know! I pointed that out the other day. From what I can tell is their argument is that healthcare is a right granted by government (yes, these are the people I want to smack upside the head with a rolled up Constitution because they truly believe rights come from the government) and therefore if people are not following the government’s rules, they shouldn’t get whatever rights the government is granting.
It actually makes sense if you accept their premise that rights come from the government and that healthcare is one of those rights.
I’m finding the idea that there are universal, inalienable rights seems to be a uniquely Christian concept. No other ideology not derived from it seems to have even a concept of it.
It’s it just the absolute dominance of the Christian faith that has made it seem self evident in the west.
In a way, I suspect that implies the Christianity is the faith most concerned with being humane, or even one of the few that thinks it even matters.
And this right here is reason #1 that I vastly prefer to be an atheist in a Judeo-Christian culture than in any other one.
>> “I’m finding the idea that there are universal, inalienable rights seems to be a uniquely Christian concept. No other ideology not derived from it seems to have even a concept of it.”
I can think of at least one. Objectivism has it, and not only is it not derived from Christianity but it’s completely secular.
Trying to find a downside to Bob’s reasoning… always a bad sign when there doesn’t seem to be one.
When Bob seems sane, you know it’s the world that’s gone crazy. 😛
And how. I’m to the point I’m researching snake-handling, because those churches seem so much saner than the creatures in DC.
THIS
Some of the models suggest a mad logic to their actions, but trying to grok it isn’t exactly a pleasant experience.
The Wikipedia page has some good source refs listed; found a Kindle sample of one of the better ones and read it last night. The Church of God and Holiness Churches at least have a biblical basis for what they do… can’t say that of the DC madness.
(They’re also generally sane enough to seek medical attention if something does go wrong. Also setting them as saner than DC.)
The downside is that it isn’t an effective argument. If you aren’t preaching to the choir, you will get your audience’s back up, probably around the point of “vaccine obviously won’t work”. If you are preaching to the choir, you won’t get their backs up, but if you are serious someone will point out that Christ will be a mite skeptical of a ‘just use of lethal force’ argument that relies on dehumanizing the target with a joke. Because I know there are people here good for making that counterpoint. 🙂
I’ve pretty recently had a couple steps back on my mental health. Maybe I’ve recovered a step, but there are challenges in front of me.
The world can be very much insane /and/ I can be much too gloomy to be a good guidepost to where sanity is.
C4c
This is a great post. I knew all that about HIPPA at one point (working in healthcare software), but one forgets over time. Thanks!
And I’ll check out some of the books; posting here always gets at least a look from me.
Glad I could help, Marked! 🙂 And yeah, check me out through the link to my paperbooks, or ebooks on Amazon 🙂
I made up this little Photoshop job the other day:
I’m stealing this
Be my guest.
Thank you. Even number two son was impressed. Genius.
Papieren, bitte!
This is so good it kind of scares me. And makes me happy all at the same time.
It really helps when people “get” it.
I love this, and yeah, stealing. 🙂
I also wonder how much of this falls under the informed consent and experimental medicine doctrines.
It feels like the gov’t directed blackout on information contrary to the official line directly violates the right to informed consent.
Further, all of these vaccines are extremely new, and have still only had very limited testing cycles, and, again, under the same information blackout. I know a Pfizer one got official approval, but can that really be considered legitimate when it is both, significantly different from the one under Emergency Use autjorization, and when any reports of adverse reaction have been suppressed?
The private action at government request also seems like a giant sidestep. If Facebook deletes your post because they don’t like you, that is one thing, but is it still the same thing when Facebook deletes your posts because the government asked them to? And once they’ve done that, how can one reasonably assume they wouldn’t delete posts specifically because they thought the government would want them to, even if the government did not directly ask them to?
Is that actually that different from the government handing them a list of things to be censored?
I used to think Facebook, Twitter, et al, we’re just private companies and free to moderate what was said on their platforms as they saw fit. Maybe if they had been content with that, I still would.
But I watched them as they coordinated with banks and web servers to regulate what people said on other platforms too. It is not that Facebook only cares about what is said on Facebook, rather an industry coalition wants to restrict what may be said anywhere, by anyone, not just on their corporate forums, and to control the gov’t and its actions through it.
Once Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, etc. deletes posts at government request, they become agents of the government and both are liable for violation of the 1st Amendment. And yes, violated your right to informed consent.
I can agree with that, but I’m wondering if, even without government direction, having a coalition of businesses working together to enforce speech restrictions also becomes a violation of the right to free speech?
That seems to be the way a lot of this has gone: a group of tech oligarchs have decided was should and should not be and are working together to ensure that that is.
We talk about what the current admin is doing, but they would not even be the current admin if the techarchs had not spent so much time and effort preventing the other candidate from even having a platform. They are the ones who made this happen, not Team Basement.
Well, when business work hand in hand with the government like that, that system is then known as fascism. i.e. another dirty cousin of socialism. Usually business that do that are of the, “government will eat us last” mentality. It never ends well for anyone.
I don’t have the link, but saw an essay at Market Ticker about corporate liability over not-vax mandates. He noted that the feds have agreed that adverse reactions are possible, and he noted that both the manufacturers and the health care providers are given immunity. Thus, if there’s a tort-worthy adverse reaction, the company (and whoever wrote the mandate without federal requirements) is on the hook.
I don’t know about the state-level mandates, but have a suspicion that it’s going to get really interesting as the various deadlines result in forced shots and adverse reactions. (Could Kate Brown be personally liable? One could hope.)
Sovereign immunity is a thing, and it will be exercised officially or otherwise. Who, after all, will enforce the judgements?
Being a violation of rights and being legally recognized as such are two very different things, unfortunately.
Private companies can either carry everyone and face no libel suits (like the phone company) or carry whom they choose, and face libel suits. The Internet companies have been given the privileges of both and the duties of neither, which violates the 14th Amendment.
If the government is coercing the businesses to coerce their employees to get the vaccine or wear masks or do the chicken dance naked to keep their jobs, then yes, it does fall under government action and should be analyzed as anything else coming from the government. You start with the Constitution and work your way through laws with that as the basis.
I say should, because they tossed that out the window around the time of FDR.
I can see that, but I thin knits going both ways. The current admin may be offering suggestions to the corps, but the corps themselves are coordinating to erase from society anyone who doesn’t follow the approved line.
If I say the wrong thing in public, tip over the wrong special interest group, I less have to worry about being sent to jail, than I do discovering my bank has frozen my accounts, my phone company has disconnected me, and all my credit cards will no longer do business. And, that I could likely not find a replacement bank to take my funds, issue me credit cards, or a new carrier to supply me phone or Internet connectivity.
It is not prison, no, but it would no less cut me off from modern life. How much it really different if public discourse is dictated by a coalition of unaccountable interest groups, instead of directed by gov’t bureaucrats? Is the essential debate any less suppressed?
It sounds like a conspiracy to deprive someone of their civil rights, which I believe is a cause of action under federal law.
“because they thought the government would want them to, even if the government did not directly ask them to?”
Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?!?
Just found out that the Federal Judiciary is NOT liable under ADA. Called in for jury duty, and they have a requirement for a full mouth and nose masking to enter the building.
Now, if they don’t continue me again (they have once already) and compel me to appear with that still in effect, well… I haven’t decided yet whether to show up at the front door hacking and coughing (very easy to do for me, just slap on some cologne that morning and I’ll be sounding like walking pneumonic plague), or to comply through the doors and keel over before I even reach the holding pen.
I’ll make sure to have the numbers of Fox News, etc. on my speed dial. Obviously not worth even trying to get them to pony up for preventable injuries, but I’ll make things as hot for them as possible.
Reminds me of the woman I know a specific food allergy who explains it to restaurant folks, “This is a really allergy. It is NOT “I don’t like it.” It is “There WILL BE an ambulance at your door.””
Yeah, I’d have to research it, but I’m wondering what happens if you just say you can’t wear a mask for medical reasons, so they either reasonably accommodate you, or don’t make you do it. Because if they have flat out told you that you have to wear a mask in there, and you can’t wear one, they’re putting you in an impossible situation, and that’s a lawsuit if they don’t do something to accommodate.
Locally the “accommodation” is they do the shopping for you, also called “Curbside delivery”.
Groceries. Besides the fact, that means the produce can’t be checked and selected by the individual, same for some meats, etc., it also means the online shopping charge, some have, has to be waved. Because per the ADA a charge for the accommodation options is not allowed.
Now with Subway, etc., not that big of a deal. They don’t charge for curbside. Worse case is they get the order incorrect. Drive through can get orders wrong too.
Clothing? There is a reason I don’t like ordering online. I will end up sending something back. Shipping both ways better be free. Shoes are impossible. Heck I’ve ordered dang near 6 dog harnesses trying to find the right fit with the features I need; 5 returns. (Not because of accommodations. Couldn’t find what we need locally. If you add the local in place try on, add another dozen styles.)
And considering how many businesses have ended up on the wrong side of ADA claims because things like that are “not the same experience” that makes this whole mess even more galling.
I’m going to see what happens – won’t know anything until early December, at least, to see whether they continue it again or just excuse me.
So far as a lawsuit – I’m already having a rocky time getting my second career as a writer off the ground; I’m not planning to switch again to a third career of suing the Federal courts in the Federal courts. My family tends to be long lived, but at 60+ I probably wouldn’t make it.
Go get ’em, Amie Gibbons!
Don’t hesitate to solicit funding if needed. I’d happily put a few bucks into the pot if it’ll help you make those mf’ers feel some pain.
#LetsGoBrandon #HeadsOnPikes
Thanks Ing 🙂 I’m filing an ADA complaint and seeing where it goes, but that’s not really something that requires money. Now, suing, like the businesses that are requiring vaccines or firing people, look into lawsuits doing that and see if you can help there.
And I can’t stress this enough, get involved with your local government, with local chapters of people in whatever specific party you associate with (I go to young republicans) and volunteer with groups that focus on fighting back big government. I know Americans For Prosperity (AFP) and the Heritage Foundation are nation wide.
Sounds like “expanding your work skills” to me.
Job-related training used to be something you could deduct from your taxes.
If an auto mechanic can deduct a tech school, a lawyer ought to be able to deduct her expenses too.
Thank you. I’ve tried to make the HIPAA VS ADA comment, but get shot down, as I’m not a lawyer. Agree. I am not a lawyer. BUT I do deal with the ADA all the time. Or the reason I use a Service Dog.
The answer to “Medical Alert isn’t specific enough” (which is my response to the legal question of “What service/task does your SD perform?”) is “Not your business.” There will be times where it is my best interest to provide more information, but in general, No. Another thing. It isn’t the SD right to be with me. The SD has NO rights. It is MY right to have the SD accompany me to be able to do the tasks trained.
FYI. None of the typical “Medical Alert”/”Medical Response” reasons were on the example lists provided by the ADA quote. Which can be also a PIA.
Regarding the ADA Discrimination Suit. I applaud you filing it. Just a heads up. Based on what I’ve read from the SD community, ADA suits are better filed the lowest governmental level as possible, Local -> State -> Federal. Filing at Federal Level usually doesn’t get even a sternly worded letter unless there are multiple complaints by multiple individuals. Example, some states provide additional ADA protections for SD Handlers. Better to complain at the state level than the federal DOJ. More likely to get an investigation and at least a sternly worded warning letter. Don’t know how this helps with your complaint given the craziness, but never know.
What do you mean you get shot down? Like people from our side who mistakenly argue HIPAA tell you you don’t know what you’re talking about?
Shot down in general. Not here. Some on “our side” arguing. Some not on our side being, well whatever their being. Not an unusual occurrence FYI. Depending on how much I care, I’m not above using the “I told you!” In this case neither argument is having an impact.
Regarding HIPAA. It is a PIA for spouses. We just switched medical insurance because I became medicare qualified. So, ALL my new insurance stuff is now setup online. I would setup hubby’s too. BUT if I do, without his signature on specific documents, his account will be locked out. NEVER mind that I’m the one who manages that part of our lives, have for 43 years. The only thing I don’t do is make appointments (heaven forbid I accidentally mess up a golf day). Applies to his PeaceHealth account too. Which if I did use it’d be easier to pay his bills (as it is I just use a “Guest” option). Also run into it on other stuff “Who is primary on the account?” is often answered with “We give up. We don’t know. It is one of us.”
When dad died they had mom in *tears before we got all the accounts straightened out (after 53 married years, and 45 in the same house …). Do I need to say that ASAP I at least was on all of mom’s accounts as allowed to deal with them? After almost 13 years I’ve done so once, recently. (EWEB accumulated pay off balance on Balance Pay option did not make sense to her, based on the posted online numbers, which were missing June charges, I couldn’t get it to balance. I requested everything back to Jan 2021. Gee with June charges included, everything worked …)
* By the way. Those tears ought to be declared weapons. Must admit we actually did weaponize them. She’d call, get the run around, cue waterworks, hand phone to me. “Gee thanks Now you have her crying. It doesn’t matter who is primary on the account, Dad died. What do you need to make sure she is the primary?”, pause on the other end, a contrite voice “We’ll take care of that. Do you know the information?” Sounds Funny Now. Then? Not so much. Don’t know how legal. I know why they do this. But dang it was a PIA.
Tyranny is like porn. Hard to define but you know it when you see it.
And dear Lord, have we been seeing way too much of it lately. May we see less of it, and soon.
Agreed completely. I’m so over this garbage.
I was over it before the March 2000 shutdown stupidity was a week old.
There are other laws that likely apply, including the Nuremberg Code, which forbids any level of coercion to get someone to take an experimental drug or treatment.
I recommend that anyone who is or may be facing such ultimatums check out this lawyer blog site: vivabarneslaw.locals.com.
Given that the “vaccines” are still all on EUAs, any requirement to get them in order to keep your job would seem to be a blatant Nuremberg Code violation.
As it is, I’ll be finding out in a few hours if my old employer still has the muzzle requirements. I’m going in for an interview, and if they require even the folks up in the back offices to be muzzled at their desks, I’ll be noping right out.
I’ve gotten very good at waltzing past the checkpoint at the local WalMart and ignoring them or chirping out “medical exemption!” without pausing. For everything else, I just drive to the town north of us, which doesn’t require masks. I’m amazed how the virus knows exactly where the town lines are. It’s obviously more intelligent than our public health folks.
And I need to call the vet today and find out if they can do a home euthanasia. Our poor little boy cat is only 12 or 13, but he’s had kidney problems for a while, and he’s finally reached end stage kidney failure. At least he doesn’t seem to be in any discomfort, just no appetite at all. We’re hoping he’ll make it to Halloween so younger child can get home to say good bye, but I suspect he won’t.
I’m so sorry about your kitty.
“And I need to call the vet today and find out if they can do a home euthanasia. Our poor little boy cat is only 12 or 13, but he’s had kidney problems for a while, and he’s finally reached end stage kidney failure.”
I’m so sorry. That’s tough.
My condolences as well.
The kitties are adorbs.
I currently work in the healthcare industry, but it’s nice to have someone else back me up on things like this.
Had a conversation this morning that sums the “good people,” bit up. I’m attending an event with lots of classes and shopping. While going to see if they needed setup help I saw that, unsurprisingly, it’s, “masks on indoors, vaccinated or not.”
Now, I suspect part of this is the organizers trying hard to avoid even the possibility of lawsuits. Still, I met an attendee who has been triple vaxxed…and still wears a mask. To “be considerate of others,” and to give a “good example.” She was slightly nettled when I told her she, of all people, didn’t need to wear a mask. She admitted it was also a social signal. She announced she was walking away from the conversation when I mentioned that being in a mass hysteria means everything feels normal until it’s over. I told her all any of us could do was our best, as we understood it, and parted without rancor.
But man, was it a depressing conversation.
It’s not so much the virtue signaling part but that’s why voluntary diapering is up even in this red part of my newly blue state, “it’s just being courteous to/respectful of others” and it really is depressing as everything. Makes one feel like we’re already at a critical mass of compliant sheep even if you know about things like the jab, and especially the mandates for it, being a hard line for a lot of people and Let’s Go Brandon.
🙂
LET’S GO, BRANDON.
Paging Lesco Brandon!
It’s not voluntary around here, but Irish Democracy coincides with un(?)common decency so that the masked don’t hassle the not-masked. A 33% take rate on concealed carry might have something to do with county attitudes, too.
Spreading and reinforcing a lie is neither courteous nor respectful to anybody.
———————————
A good Zombie Apocalypse novel is at least as believable as anything we’ve heard out of the ‘Publick Health Authoriteez’ over the last year and a half.
Exactly.
Plus, mask-wearing isn’t part of our culture and never has been, and it’s poisonous to our sense of social well-being. Issuing do-it-or-else orders and gaslighting massive amounts of people into “voluntarily” abandoning their own social norms are the polar opposites of common sense and respect.
Let’s go Brandon. (Yes, but *when* will he finally go, and where? I’m tired of waiting.)
we’re slow to actually move. When we do, though, it’s Katie bar the door.
And it’s almost BOOM time.
‘Cause when we start we don’t stop.
Better: Participating in a lie is only courteous to the liars.
Of course, but if you say that to one of these softheads you’ll just get “But that’s so mean!” in response. “Wearing is caring” or “It’s a small ask, wear a mask,” though? “See, it’s just being courteous!”
Good to know, and the floofs are adorable! My four send their regards too, especially R to his his fellow black cats! Good luck with the ADA, the fact that it, and so many other things, have been all but discarded because COVID So Scary has been one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in this insanity, especially voluntary compliance with masking out of a misguided sense of courtesy as I’ve been a broken record about for a while now. It really is demoralizing to see and makes me wonder what the best approach to dealing with the weaponized niceness that drives so much of it is. Or if any of the necessary conversations and samizdat will have any use in my darker moments. Hope your part of the South is doing better than mine in this regard.
Oh yeah. I moved out of Nashville this year to get away from the insanity. (I blame Californians for moving in) and only 1 county up, it’s almost perfectly normal.
I was lucky here though, because my work went full on work from home and we’re staying that way, so it was easier for me to move further away from a big city.
Sounds like it, and nobody cares one county outside of Nashville but stores are 30-50% compliant 50 miles outside Atlanta? Gah, no wonder this state’s fruit resembles a butt! Going to really have to pick up the moving pace once I settle this car drama…
“Gah, no wonder this state’s fruit resembles a butt! ”
Brilliant.
Serious question about HIPAA here, but I need to lay some background:
In the US military medical system junior enlisted up to about E5 cannot, in the absence of obvious major trauma like being shot or blown up, get anything done without the permission and knowledge of their first and second line supervisors. For the Army, that means team and squad leaders (E5 & 6), and often platoon sergeant (E7) as well. I mean anything, from morning sick call or filling prescriptions on up. Some of that is institutionalized power tripping, much comes from the requirement that leadership, which is legally responsible for everything subordinates do or fail to do, has to know the readiness status and location of those subordinates in detail.
Now, after HIPAA was implemented by the Army, every time I had a soldier with a medical issue the medics at the clinic level or above refused to tell me anything about the medical status of that soldier, citing HIPAA. I had a requirement to know under regulations, but they couldn’t tell me anything. It got to the point where I couldn’t check vaccine cards prior to deployment to make sure everybody’s shots were up to date. And yet you’re telling me that any business can demand what would otherwise be confidential medical information and that’s OK?
Just imagine the stupidest idea that can do the most harm. That’s probably the law.
Remember, it doesn’t have to make sense to be the law.
Yeah, this.
There are in theory ways of reconciling things. In practice, my view is ‘LOL’.
Army would obviously be a special case, and one likely to be overlooked in the initial law. And I am not 100% sure that the Army, or any of the services, would push things until a reasonable accommodation is developed.
This is not something that requires Amie to describe or justify or explain some element of the status quo.
Law is an abstraction, and simple compared to the reality of human behavior. It never is a 100% match to actual behavior, and it never is based on so much information that it will always make sense in every circumstance from every perspective. Lots of things that there are legitimate experts for, when you actually learn about them*, are stupider and less impressive than what you imagined when you didn’t know anything, and thought super smart experts had all the answers.
I am not a lawyer, I am not an investment advice provider, and I didn’t sleep in a motel last night. I am a crazy internet rando, who has gone a bit more insane, and may be entirely off base.
*Okay, there are also bits that are even more beautiful and wise when you can actually see, and understand how difficult the path was.
The kitties are adorable.
OT: Wall Street Journal running story Evergrande has managed to make a late dollar -based bond payment, staving off a default. BGE, comments?
Amie, bought The Psychic Undercover from your site. I did look at the preview on Amazon and was impressed enough, although not enough to go for the whole series yet.
I was one of those who went down the HIPAA argument path, but soon disabused myself of that tactic. I do have a story about the stupidity of the anonymous TB patient and the 400 people who couldn’t be told who patient zero was,,,, but never mind that.
I have refined my arguments over time. I argue that Jacobson v Mass and Buck v Bell (which relied on it as a precedent (but nobody wants to defend that one), only held that your constitutional rights were not violated by the STATE law in question. Also I first mocked the private companies can do what they want argument (they can make you eat tomato soup and take a barium enema before coming to work too). Now I point out that private companies are only doing it based on explicit federal coercion (at least for those of us working as federal contractors). Even the Southworst CEO is now going, “It wasn’t me! It was the feds! Yeah, that’s the ticket. The feds made me do it!”
I am not a lawyer, but the only precedent I’ve found that enforces an executive order as a legal mandate without any authorizing congressional legislation (like ADA, the EPA, or the Civil Rights Act) is Korematsu v US. Make them defend that one!
Things are coming to a head soon. If you listen closely, you can hear the CEOs gnashing their teeth at the prospect of losing even 4% of their workforce (United’s claim is 96% vaxxed) in a market where many companies are paying cash bounties for successful referrals.
From what I’ve seen in my company, the latest tactic is handing out religious accommodations like penny candy. Still, the devil’s in the details of how you can be accommodated while “keeping everyone safe.” I’ve also heard people saying, “I was first in line for the vaccine, but this mandate thing….”
Not religious “accommodations”, religious “exemptions”.
The usual summary is “Yes, you have a religious exemption; here you go. However, we see no changes are necessary in our behavior to make an accommodation for your practicing it. Still have to be jabbed.”
That was my company’s first take on September 30. On October 7, they backed down–“clarifying” their stance probably after getting so many requests and listening to their lawyers.
Meanwhile, it seems that Alec Baldwin (an experienced actor who allegedly knows better) managed to shoot not one, but two people with a prop gun, while on set and not supposed to be messing around with a prop gun. He killed the lady who’s director of photography/cinematographer, and he injured the regular director.
So yeah. That’s a thing.
The other story going around is that the script called for Baldwin’s character to aim a gun at a camera lens, and for some reason the gun was loaded, or loaded with a blank; and that’s why the DP and the director had their heads in line with the gun.
Lovely.
Oh my, I wonder if it’s a similar problem to the deputy who shot a woman at a training class last year because he was handed wadcutter loads instead of blanks.
Maybe the loony liberals have a point about gun control — for themselves! Trouble is, they’re the ‘smart’ ones, so everybody else must be even stupider than they are. They ‘know’ it’s true!
As with all negligent shootings, this one resulted from breaking MULTIPLE rules of gun handling:
1. Don’t point a gun at anything you don’t want to shoot
2. Don’t assume a gun is not loaded
3. Don’t put finger into trigger guard until ready to shoot
…because just breaking one of the rules was not enough, oh, no!
———————————
The Democrats trust violent criminals and terrorists with guns more than they trust you.
If it indeed did go through the camera, then Rule 4 applies as well,
Know your target, and what lies beyond it.
My school district (from which I am on unpaid leave of absence and unlikely to return) has approached it this way.
1. State requires all employees to be vaccinated unless exemption is granted
2. You are asking for an exemption so the burden is on you to provide sufficient information for us to consider your request
3. Provide all and detailed information or we won’t consider your request.
Fifteen years. So much for the “family” that they are constantly talking about.
My preferred version of rule 1 is “Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.” Because guns are always pointed at something, and most of the time you don’t want to shoot anything.
To them, nothing is real. You might as well tell this it’s called a boom stick.
MEANWHILE — have you seen the video of the marine disarming the store robber?
Nice piece of work, but I have literally seen people state that this proves you don’t need a gun. As if the marine were not very lucky in his positioning relative to the robber, and that the other robber was frightened off, before you even getting into training or physical ability.
Right. Because every good person is a strong man intensively trained in combat, and every enemy is a clueless punk that barely knows how to hold a gun and has never heard of situational awareness.
There’s a crazularity* model of how current events may fall out.
Alec Baldwin could have lost what remained of his mind, and committed an outright murder.
*crazy singularity
Apparently the story now going around is that the director called for one more take, and Baldwin jokingly said that he was going to shoot them. Except he didn’t just point the gun at them (which would have been dangerous enough). He shot them with a blank or whatever.
The DP was a Russian/Ukrainian military brat, so Putin will probably get into this.
Because I had “Putin lectures us on gun safety” on.my 2021 bingo card.
The 24 hour rule probably applies. I’ve seen it going from the director in ICU to “he’s out of the hospital”. My WAG is that the director freaked out from the shooting and medical complications arose.
FWIW, Brandon Lee was killed during filming of Crow when the prop gun had a “defective” blank in it–I saw it mentioned today, and Hollywood d’Mordor has a history of people getting killed with prop guns. Jon-Erik Hexxum could talk about the safety of blank loads. Oh wait.
Way I heard it, the prop revolver used in that Crow movie was first loaded with dummy cartridges (case, bullet, no powder or primer) for a front-on shot, then reloaded with blanks for the action shot. Nobody noticed the bullet had come loose from one of the dummy cartridges and remained in the gun. When a blank went off behind it, it shot out the barrel almost like a normal round.
I also heard about an idiot in an amusement park cowboy show shooting himself with a blank. He put the gun up to his head and fired. “Hey, it’s a blank! No biggie!” The blast of hot gas hit hard enough to shatter the temporal bone. Instant Darwin Award!
On the HIPAA thing: Employer requires vaccination status of all employees. Unvaxxed (only, not vaxxed) are required to be tested weekly. Employer sends out a memo to the entire workforce stating, “The following employees must report to HR for their weekly COVID testing:” and lists names. HIPAA violation?
Saw a YouTube title about “Fauxi may have committed perjury”
That’s like saying Bernie Madoff may have misled some people.
Right?
Nobody cares about perjury anymore.
Well, I had a sort-of interview this morning at my old company. Sadly, even though they are now allowing guests to not wear a muzzle, all stuff must be muzzled at virtually all times, no exceptions. I asked how they handled medical exemptions and was told that masking “has been deemed safe, so no exceptions at all”.
So, they’ll give me a call if the employer mandate changes and they’re still looking.
Have to say, it was incredibly depressing. It’s a casino/hotel property and for a noontime Friday it was dead, incredibly empty and quiet. It also seemed incredibly dark to me, which I think is more my psychological reading of the place than actual light levels, and the physical plant was in need of some TLC. So even if they hadn’t required masks of employees, I wouldn’t want to go back there right now anyway. I’d like to keep what mental health I have left. 😀
Gah.
I’m one of the MANY hearing impaired people who don’t sign. The masks have made communication nearly impossible. I have to ask for my MEDICAL people to please take off their masks, so I can understand them.
Truly, they have not a CLUE just how hard it is to function with this barrier between us.
If you need to get a sense of how awful this has been for us, try having a conversation with both people clamping their own hands over their mouths (you’ll get the equivalent of the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons – sounds with no meaning).
For crying out loud, I’ve had people talk on the phone, with masks on! And, get irritated when I keep telling them I don’t understand what they are saying.
I wrote about the struggle here – http://www.libertystorch.info/2021/03/27/its-not-just-about-freedom/
Same. All waiters are in masks, and I have NO clue what they’re saying.
send me that link. First and second initial, last name at hotmail. I’d like to insty it, because I have the exact same issue.
I have to remove the mask for anyone to understand me. All it takes is once. I remove the mask and remake the request. No one has complained. Yet.
c4c