There is an interesting fight unfolding at Edgewood College in Wisconsin over mask mandates. English Professor Susan Rustick is autistic and the mask causes trauma and a sense of claustrophobia. The college however denied an exemption and offered instead the option of teaching behind a plastic barrier. Rustick was told that such a barrier is useless in controlling spread and can actually increase the chances of contracting the virus. The result could be another lawsuit by a professor over university mandates. Usually, these fights have centered on vaccinations but mask mandates could raise medical objections. Rustick was placed on leave by the college.
Rustick claims to be on the autism spectrum and that status does qualify as a disability under the American Disabilities Act. That is what makes this fight so interesting. Rustick asked to teach virtually but the school refused. Many schools are fighting to return to in-person classes as opposed to remote learning. There are strong financial and pedagogical reasons for such policies.
However, like vaccine mandates, there should be exceptions for medical conditions and disabilities. Rustick told the Wisconsin State Journal that she feels like she is “suffocating” when wearing a mask and “it’s intolerable.”
The college does not appear to challenge her autistic status or that masks can be traumatic for such individuals. Notably, the college claimed that allowing virtual classes would constitute an “undue burden.” That language is notably similar to the “undue hardship” defense under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). See 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5)(A) (noting that disability discrimination includes “not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless such covered entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of such covered entity“) (emphasis added); see also U.S. Airways, Inc. v. Barnett, 535 U.S. 391, 402 (2002) (“Once the plaintiff has made this showing [that an accommodation seems reasonable on its face], the defendant/employer then must show special (typically case-specific) circumstances that demonstrate undue hardship in the particular circumstances.”).
The accommodation offered by the college was teaching behind plastic. Yet, news coverage on such options has questioned the effectiveness of the barriers, which can make a room more dangerous by slowing down air flow. If that is true, it would hardly be a reasonable accommodation. It would not, as required by the Department of Labor, “mak[e] it possible for an employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment.”
Since Rustick declined the plastic barrier, the college wrote that, “[b]ecause you and we have not been able to identify any other options, Edgewood will excuse you from all obligations under your appointment letter and considers it to be null and void.”
I am not sure why other obvious options would not apply. At GWU, I teach without a mask so long as I stay six feet from any students. We are all tested every two weeks and we offer remote options for anyone feeling poorly or testing positive for Covid-19. If that is not acceptable, I am not sure why remote learning is not possible for faculty with an established physical or mental condition.
In other words, Rustick may have a case.
Thousands of children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities are being DENIED ADEQUATE SUPPORT STAFF in hospitals due to illogical, unreasonable and unnecessary requirements to be vaccinated or show testing. The REALITY is many support staff that accompany people with autism and other disabilities DO NOT HAVE TIME to get a test that makes them WAIT 48 or 72 hours, okay? WAKE UP TO REALITY PEOPLE!!! People with autism depend on their support staff to protect and advocate for them in hospital settings that are notorious for neglecting and abusing vulnerable patients with autism and other special needs. Therefore it’s a matter of health and safety to ALLOW support staff in the hospital to protect and help them! While it’s perfectly understandable to require support staff wear masks, wash hands and adhere to infection control protocols, it is NOT reasonable or rational to prevent ANY support staff for vulnerable patients to not enter hospital given these patients very lives DEPEND on their support staff who know them and can aid hospital staff in helping and protecting these patients. Therefore, in the interest of public safety, in the interest of protecting our MOST VULNERABLE populations we must advocate that every state provide exemptions for home health SUPPORT STAFF that MUST accompany vulnerable patients with autism or down syndrome or any other developmental disability. ARE YOU AWARE that there are cases where hospitals have DENITED support staff entry to accompany an autistic patient and that patient was TOO MUCH for the hospital staff, and that patient ended up pulling off intubation tubes or jumping off the hospital bed or eating pillows or having seizures that went unnoticed by some RN’s in the hospital? Or how about vulnerable patients with special needs who are denied their support staff and end up having elevated behavioral issues in the hospital and then have to get unnecessarily physically or chemically restrained because they were DENIED their support staff? The need for support staff to accompany our most vulnerable patients in the community—patients who can suffer preventable harm without support staff— far outweighs the risk of covid in the community. Children and adults with special needs have been secretly HARMED and abused on hospital settings when their SUPPORT staff is denied entrance into hospitals due to irrational and unreasonable covid policies. Some support staff have testified they were denied entrance into hospitals to protect their home health patients because they were “unvaccinated’ yet support staff that were allowed in and were FULLY VACCINATED later got covid and were never tested or denied entrance. The solution is make an exemption for ANY SUPPORT STAFF to enter a hospital during this so called pandemic and be ExEMPT from any testing or vaccine requirement because the pervasive and critical need for support staff to PROTECT the health and safety of our most vulnerable citizens far exceeds the ever changing acute ambiguous guidelines for covid. So long as we don’t have support staff refusing to comply with masks and infection control as in washing hands coming into hospitals they should be ALLOWED to come in since we were told masks and hand washing and basic infection control will stop the spread. Any support staff that refuse to wear masks should be barred. Therefore, if the support staff for vulnerable patients adhere and agree to masks hand sanitation should be allowed to protect vulnerable patients. That’s fair, reasonable and rational, given we all know by now that people who ARE VAcciNATED are still getting and spreading covid. Wear the mask. Do proper hand sanitation.
None of the bizarre events in the universities seem to make sense when looking through the lenses of common sense and logic. Using new lenses, this is a coordinated attack on personal freedom being applied in Blitzkrieg fashion. There are too many coincidences for these to be random events.
The world has either lost its collective mind or we are under attack. By whom? Why?
Yes, we are under attack by the Authoritarian Class; doesn’t matter if outside forces are participating. Their goal is unified: a two-class economic system. The politically-connected elite class vs everyone else. They’ve (the elitists) have forgotten the French Revolution including ‘why’ and ‘who’ lost. The US is heading in that direction and they (again, the elitists, including their smug media friends) do not see it coming. They also fail to remember the US Revolutionary War was won with only 12-15% of the population involved in the effort. The ‘lessers’ will unite against their ‘bettors’ once again. The outcome will be the same. The only question is: when?
EM: China and Russia are taking active measures to destabilize the West. This often takes the form of propaganda. By spreading the ludicrous propaganda that the US is a racist country, holding it, and it alone, accountable for the global phenomenon of slavery, it divides the country. Class warfare doesn’t really catch on here, as most millionaires are self made. But racial identity politics has taken root in the Left.
Capitalism lifts more people out of poverty than any other economic system. Socialism impoverishes people and leads to human rights abuses every time it’s been tried. (Scandinavia is capitalist. Don’t even start.) By spreading propaganda that capitalism is evil, racist, and colonialist, and that socialism is good, this guarantees the US will destroy its own prosperity from within.
Both China and Russia engage with American academics to foster this far Left destructive ideology. Both countries are well aware that socialism runs out of money quickly, as both had to resort to capitalism to survive.
The Russia Hoax was also propaganda that successfully undermined, divided, and weakened the US from within.
https://thinkprogress.org/vladimir-yakunin-sanctioned-russian-oligarchs-think-tank-might-expand-to-the-u-s-c2b95d6c2de0/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26326426?seq=19#metadata_info_tab_contents
Here is an article that connects the KGB with the PLO. This propaganda program was so efficient that anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian rhetoric is normalized among the Democrat Party’s Left of Center members, as well as on university campuses across America. It was a very successful Soviet long game to undermine a Westernized democracy.
http://www.inform.nu/Articles/Vol22/ISJv22p157-182Cohen6127.pdf
I agree with Professor Turley’s suggestion that Professor Rustick’s situation may be deemed a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Autism is a neurological developmental disability with an estimated prevalence of one to two percent of the American and worldwide population. The diversity of the disability means that each person’s individual experience of autism and needs for supports and services can vary widely.
It is important to note that in the context of the ADA, “disability” is a legal term, not a medical one. Because it has a legal definition, the ADA’s definition of disability is different from how disability is defined under some other laws, such as for Social Security Disability related benefits.
The ADA defines a person with a disability as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability. It also includes individuals who do not have a disability but are regarded as having a disability. The ADA also makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person based on that person’s association with a person with a disability.
Professor Rustick’s situation may be deemed a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”
It is important to note that in the context of the ADA, “disability” is a legal term, not a medical one. Because it has a legal definition, the ADA’s definition of disability is different from how disability is defined under some other laws,
Great post. For those inclined to dismiss the Professor, this clarification quickly disabuses of that notion. My bet is, those that disagree with the Prof, do not intersect with the group that loves the ADA legislation, on a Ven Diagram. (that brought a smile to my face.)
Autism is no excuse.
You got it. It is a medical issue disabling the patient from one or more major life activity.
I have asthma. Wearing a mask for long periods of time makes it physically more difficult for me to breathe. I’ve been diligent about wearing them, but I only have to do so for short periods of time, such as going into a store. There is no way I could wear one all day. I got very light headed and almost fainted when I left my mask on while loading up heavy sacks of horse feed into the back of my truck. I didn’t know what was wrong and tore the mask off. With the fresh air, I could breathe just fine and felt better immediately.
Being either vaccinated, or having naturally acquired immunity from recovery from Covid, offers the best protection from the virus.
Although I support wearing a mask in situations where it’s warranted, people do have a point that there has been some studies indicating they don’t help, mainly because people are not wearing them correctly, not changing them regularly, or not cleaning them. Keep in mind that in a clean field, masks are discarded and replaced regularly. That’s not feasible in day to day life, when you wear them all day in school or at work. There is also valid criticism that it’s unhealthy, especially for kids, to exercise in masks, that it can exacerbate acne or infections, especially in humid climates, can cause CO2 buildup, and can make it harder to breathe. It makes no scientific sense, and is frankly dangerous, to force 2 year olds to wear a mask.
When Covid first hit, I didn’t understand what the big deal was about wearing them. But listening to people talk about concerns, especially in regards to kids, and experiencing some effects myself, made me realize that there are legitimate concerns for prolonged mask wearing.
You’re not alone.
https://www.city-journal.org/do-masks-work-a-review-of-the-evidence
Casual Observer:
I was very pro-mask in the beginning of the pandemic, but it’s hard to argue with the studies that have regularly come out questioning their efficacy. Your article sums it up nicely.
One of the problems seems to be that cloth reusable masks just collect bacteria and viruses all day, held right in front of your nose and mouth. Many people touch surfaces, and then their masks as they adjust the fit. This makes contagion worse. There have been multiple studies showing extremely high contamination of the masks on school children, and it’s not just Covid collecting on those masks. Parents have also had their kids’ masks tested, with sobering results. The masks tested positive for pathogens that cause tuberculosis, pneumonia, meningitis, Staphylococcus pyogenes serotype M3, among others.
These studies and lab analysis really has made me rethink my original position on masking. I’m especially concerned about my son wearing a mask all day at school. Regular testing would seem like a better way to lessen the transmission rate. Some schools in my area even made the kids wear masks when outside playing. My friend’s son had a mask tan line. Exercising in masks has been shown to be dangerous. Luckily, my son’s school only makes them wear a mask while inside.
I think it’s not only ludicrous, but dangerous, to force children as young as 2 to mask on planes or in daycare. Anything that makes breathing harder for a 2 year old is dangerous. When a young child cries, their nose stuffs up. Covering their mouth and nose with light fitting fabric cover is just going to make it harder to breathe, especially when they’ve been crying. Having a caregiver forcefully cover their mouth and nose, disregarding their pleas that they feel smothered, or claustrophobic, might have psychological effects, as well. Children so young are not at risk of Covid complications, and show very low transmission rates, so forcibly masking them at age 2 is only causing harm and distress. In addition, children that young are going to blow their nose all over that mask and then keep wearing it. They’re going to drop it on the floor of the bathroom, and then put it back on their face. They’re going to switch masks with their best friend who has a junky cough.
The long term effects of Covid, masking, shutdowns, and long-term social isolation will be studied for years to come. Hopefully, the silver lining of this global pandemic will be learning best practices, what worked and what didn’t. What caused more poverty, and what didn’t. What caused spikes in suicides and drug abuse. And for God’s sake can we take another look at what kind of research we’re funding, and the dangers of what other countries are doing in their labs? There can be no isolationism when it comes to research. What goes on in labs around the world can affect us all.
We need more debate and discussion, not more censorship by Big Tech oligarchs.
Everything you said is true. It saddens me that otherwise rational, reasonable people are demanding we muzzle our kids for this infection after medical and science experts have told us, using their own data, how rarely it actually affects them. It saddens me even more to see how many people have been and are being further Pavlov’d by their government and media – never ever questioning if what’s being said is actually true or even in their own best interest. They’re ready to shout talking points they’ve seen and heard without a second thought, ad nauseum until they’re blue in the face, yet have trouble explaining ‘why’ they believe it eventually leading to name-calling on their part so they can finally claim their ‘moral high ground’. Regurgitate, repeat. Regurgitate, repeat. “JEFFFERBRAINS!!”
The author’s name escapes me at this moment, but the quote below is as observably true as it is just plain sad because it’s true.
“The current inverted mutation of liberalism is all about constricting economic and personal rights and forcing individuals into collective boxes where their individuality is subsumed into an easily exploited and manipulated conformist whole. Want to test out this hypothesis? Go up to some self-described liberal or progressive in your life and see if you can find one iota of deviation from any of the approved liberal dogma. Good luck. You won’t find a smidgeon of nonconformity. You won’t detect a molecule of dissent. These people are the Borg – if the Borg worked in a giant space coffee house, had Bernie stickers on their spaceships, and could not do a push-up. You can’t reason with them – appealing to reason is futile.”
On a lighter note, and worth repeating if you’ve already seen it, here’s George Carlin’s take on germs, infections and immune systems.
He was good in Art. He is artistic.
“. . . concerns, especially in regards to kids . . .”
Belgium is more sane on this issue than we are:
“‘The face mask requirement at school is bad for children’s general well-being and should be abolished,’ 70 doctors wrote in an open letter to Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts.”
“”In recent months, the general well-being of children and young people has come under severe pressure,’ the letter’s authors said. ‘We see in our practices an increasing number of children and young people with complaints due to the rules of conduct that have been imposed on them.’”
“The doctors mentioned anxiety and sleep problems as well as behavioural disorders and germaphobia, which is a pathological fear of germs. They are also seeing an increase in domestic violence, isolation and deprivation.
“Mandatory face masks in schools are a major threat to their development. It ignores the essential needs of the growing child.”
https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/belgium-all-news/health/130480/face-mask-obligation-in-school-major-threat-to-childrens-development-doctors-say/
Gillibrand says she wants a Data Protection Agency which is Newspeak for Ministry of Truth.
https://mobile.twitter.com/gillibrandny/status/1445451624005001217
Your papers please.
Edgewood College in Wisconsin is private property over which no governmental level holds any power to “claim or exercise” dominion.
No governmental level is provided “emergency powers” by the Constitution; Congress may suspend habeas corpus only in a condition of rebellion or invasion.
No person is compelled to enter onto or contract with this private property, and do so freely and voluntarily.
Any legislated “Act” is inferior, unconstitutional and illegitimate when it denies individuals their absolute (i.e. not qualified by the Constitution) 5th Amendment right to private property.
The absolute 5th Amendment right to private property is superior.
The point of the Constitution and Bill of Rights is to maximize the freedom of individuals and severely limit and restrict government.
All public institutions must assure the implementation of the “manifest tenor” of all applicable rights, freedoms, privileges and immunities provided by the Constitution and Bill of rights.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“[Private property is] that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.”
– James Madison
I’m thinking if they accept any form of government funds/aid that is not the case.
Congress has no power to deny or otherwise nullify rights, freedoms, privileges or immunities provided to individuals by the Constitution.
Congress commits an unconstitutional act when it provides a quid pro quo.
Congress has no power to tax for education.
Congress may tax for only “…general Welfare…,” omitting and, thereby, excluding any power to tax for specific welfare, individual welfare, redistribution of wealth or charity.
Congress may not tax for quid pro quo payments, or for “…government funds/aid…,” per Article 1, Section 8.
Congress may amend the Constitution through the amendment process defined in the Constitution.
Congress may not amend the Constitution by providing funds to any entity or through any other method or process.
The judicial branch is solely charged with assuring that acts comport with statutory law and fundamental law, and the judicial branch has no power to legislate, modify legislation or modify legislation through “interpretation.”
The singular American failure has been, since 1860, and continues to be the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
That elected officials are corrupt, does not provide them the power to use taxation as a political weapon.
Elected officials cannot do what their powers do not authorize, and what their powers forbid.
________________________________________________________________________
“…courts…must…declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.”
“…men…do…what their powers do not authorize, [and] what they forbid.”
“[A] limited Constitution … can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing … To deny this would be to affirm … that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”
– Alexander Hamilton
Giuliani is suspended from practicing law. Why? He’s a liar who deceives the public. Right?
Bill Clinton hid in the White House claiming he was unaware of the holocaust in Rwanda. 800,000 innocent men, women and children were hacked to death, decapitated with shovels and murdered with axes.
Bill Clinton lied. He was fuly informed about the mass killings and chose, deliberately, not to do a think.
America herself is on trial and it is getting dark
Dream on.
Bill Clinton is responsible for the murders of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. He is guilty of lying to the entire world regarding what he knew and why he betrayed humanity. He has torn apart the fabric of justice and the confidence the world once had in the shinning goodness of America.
He deserves prison. Until America acknowledges and apologizes for mass murder, (and the slaughter of innocent peasants in Southeast Asia) our collapsing integrity will continue to swing wide the doors for every tyrant, terrorist and dictator seeking to replace us. We’ve never developed so much wealth in all of history, nor owed so much money, and hated one another as much as we do right now.
Perhaps it was just a dream
Even New Zealand has finally understood that covid zero was never attainable. They are now quietly trying to disentangle themselves from all of their previous positions and protocols. Without looking like total idiots. We have a surge happening right now in the NE. The highest vaccinated populations in the US.
It is clear the vaccinated are the ones spreading the virus right now. Those with Natural immunity are the safest, and have been ignored by “scientist”. It is is not a give away to big pharma, you are going to have to come up with some other motivation for ignoring centuries of experience in dealing with viral spread.
Yes, natural immunity has been established as more robust and durable than vaccinated immunity, and that 99%+ of people… persons (in all cohorts including seniors in the conditional population) will experience infection that does not force a progressive condition with either unassisted, proactive, or early treatment.
Antihistamines and azithromycin as a treatment for COVID-19 on primary health care – A retrospective observational study in elderly patients
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7833340/
Between March and April 2020, 84 elderly patients
They key finding was not to control transmission, but early treatment with affordable, available, safe nutritional and medical treatments to complement immune function and mitigate disease progression. Planned parent/hood was/is neither an exclusive nor a good choice.
Nosocomial outbreak caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in a highly vaccinated population, Israel, July 2021
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.39.2100822
all transmissions between patients and staff occurred between masked and vaccinated individuals, as experienced in an outbreak from Finland
This is the state of science, since the early 80s on masks (e.g. no source control, no statistical or random benefit), since the 20th century on non-sterilizing vaccines (e.g. high viral titer and silent spread). People… persons who are at risk should physically isolate, or wear respirators with protective clothing. They should be attended to by individuals who have seroconverted following infection (natural immunity).
humetrix.com/powerpoint-vaccine.html
via https://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=243789
The Government has been analyzing CMS data. Not a shock; they have every person over 65’s medical records, in real time, as everyone over 65, statistically speaking, is on Medicare and the government pays for it. They therefore have the records.
The US Government has been analyzing this data through Project Salus.
…
71% of the Covid-19 cases occurred in these fully-vaccinated people and roughly 80% of the population >65 is vaccinated. In other words they know the vaccines do not stop you from getting Covid.
…
The nuclear lie: As of August 7th 60% of hospitalizations were among fully-vaccinated individuals. You have heard repeatedly that this is now a “disease of the unvaccinated.” That is a damned, knowing lie and they knew it all the way back to the first of August.
Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-021-00808-7
This tracks with the data from Israel, Britain, and America, too.
Think of how much money Pfizer stands to make if everyone has to get a booster every 7-12 months. How much money will Pfizer and the other companies pay to lobbyists to make sure everyone continuously gets shots? I am not saying the shots are bad, but one should be looking at the incentives. Natural immunity should give better over all protection for longer periods of time. If that person never takes a shot, how much profit can disappear?
Think how many lives they’ve saved. Saving lives is a great motive. Think of all those who would die while developing natural immunity. You can invest in them and profit from their expertise and hard work. Other companies can manufacture boosters. They spent enormous amounts of money building a business that helps millions and millions of people all over the earth.
Saving lives is a great motive. Think of all those who would die while developing natural immunity.
Your post converts the debate into a all or nothing gambit.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, has called for the banning of the mRNA “vaccine”*
*cdc has changed the definition of vaccine to include mRNA technology into the category of vaccine, and out of the category of therapeutic.
We had a dream, I didn’t comment on the benefits or risks of the vaccine and said so in my comment, so I am not sure what your point is.
The UNSEEN (Bastiat) is the economic ruin and lives destroyed by all the money and time that went into our focus on a virus that still has not been stopped and might be with us for the rest of our lives. Think how that money could have been used.
Again, I am not arguing whether or not the vaccines were good or bad. My argument has to do with comparing the SEEN with the UNSEEN.
The vacines are saving the lives of millions.
“…the economic ruin and lives destroyed by all the money and time…”
How much in dollars is “all the money”? and how many lives were destroyed? How many were saved? how much “time” exactly was wasted? What would you recommend that would have been a wiser approach?
We had a dream,
I do not recognize a single method of approaching this disease. There was too much politics, and that has destroyed our ability to use American data appropriately. I think to rely on data, one has to look at other countries.
In earlier postings, I stated what I thought was an approach to the disease. The unseen is very elusive, but comparisons help, yet we don’t see comparisons being made. Some of our deadly winter influenza seasons might provide a way to grasp better the effects of what viruses do and how they act.
In the more deadly flu seasons, we saw higher percentages of death among the less than 65 group (one can substantially raise that number) than we see with Covid. To me, that provides an approach. Multiple people have said on the blog, time and time again, that respiratory viruses cannot be controlled, especially when they may not be detected early on. During one of the deadlier fun seasons under Obama, the numbers kept rising, and I believe what the Obama administration did was stop counting, recognizing counting wasn’t helpful.
Take a look at how this virus has sapped our strength in the world of political intrigue. Our enemies have used the virus against us. They now know that if they create a new virus, they might destroy our abilities without firing a shot.
Today my emphasis on spending vaccinating people dwindles because reality tells me that the challenge is therapeutics that can handle new viruses, whether natural or created as a bioweapon in a lab.
I’ll stop here as this subject requires a book or several to provide an adequate response to your question.
AIDS isn’t the killer it once was. Neither is the flu. Rabbies, polio, etc. Thank God for men and women with an entrepreneurial spirit willing to plunge into ventures unknown. Thank God for America which gives financial incentives to those willing to roll the dice.
Yes, thank God for American ingenuity which was based on American liberty now being stolen away. I drew no conclusions but it is best to not restrict your view to one side of a coin.
Look at the history of AIDS. Leftist identity caused a massive bump in the quick spread of the disease.
The “scientist” have political motives.
“. . . covid zero was never attainable.”
Whatever happened to “flattening the curve” and “herd immunity?”
Common sense is something yet to be discovered at many institutions of higher learning.
“English Professor Susan Rustick is autistic and the mask causes trauma and a sense of claustrophobia. The college however denied an exemption and offered instead the option of teaching behind a plastic barrier.”
The college went the extra effort to accommodate Rustick and gave her an option, I don’t think Rustick has a legal leg to stand on. Rustick should take the option offered her by the College.
“Rustick was told that such a barrier is useless in controlling spread and can actually increase the chances of contracting the virus.”
That may be true, but unless Rustick and everyone in the classroom during that entire day are wearing an N95 masks or better, the mask is not going to protect anyone from being infected in an enclosed area for a prolong period of time. I’ve dealt with air purification on a professional level and the diffusion of particles in the air is rather quick when the area is enclosed and not in an intentional negative pressure, if you don’t believe me then go take a smelly dead skunk (or let loose a stinky fart) in a classroom and find out just how long it takes for everyone in the room to smell it.
There are reasonable risks and reasonable precautions to take during a pandemic and in enclosed “public” places, no precaution is going to be perfect including the use of N95 masks and vaccines. Do what’s reasonable for yourself and accept the risks of being in “public” places or stay home.
Theater wins again.
You really have to hand it to the Chinese to have figured out that after nearly 75 years, the best way to bring down America wasn’t with military might, but with a microscopic organism that would destroy not just lives, but the very fabric of American society–our liberties. Bravi.
Sorry but her right to not feel suffocated doesn’t trump the risk to others, in my opinion. And I feel for her because I suffer claustrophobia, as she does. As a consequence, she either needs to get used to it or find another line of work because the university offered her an alternative (and note, I agree with her a plastic divide is useless as teats on a boarhog for this purpose).
Look, it’s well established the vaccinated can pass this on. This means masking is de rigueur.
—
My 2¢
“Sorry but her right to not feel suffocated doesn’t trump the risk to others, in my opinion”
Exactly who is at risk? All the students are vaccinated. Even a breakthrough infection on a young vaccinated adult with no underlying health issues, is minimal effect.
We are at the point that the healthy need to be vaccinated and allowed to operate in pre pandemic mode. The vaccines are not vaccines. they do not protect like vaccines. Unless you insist on sentencing the entire population to perpetual mask wearing, its time to dump all the protocols for the healthy, and protect the vulnerable.
All the people that have or will loose their jobs because of the vaccine mandates dictated by the Biden administration (the government) and enforced by government proxies (businesses) should get together in a class action law suite and sue the government and every business that has mandated a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment. This is a violation of inalienable human rights and a violation of the United States Constitution where it states multiple times that “nor shall any person… be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law”; these vaccine mandates deprive people of their liberty!
Not only are vaccine mandates and subsequent mandating of vaccine passports anti inalienable human rights and anti-constitution they are literally persecuting healthy people.
Those mandating vaccines and vaccine passports (and those that support the mandates and passports) are extorting, intimidating & persecuting healthy people because of a personal medical decision. Vaccine passports are rapidly becoming the 21st century modern day Star of David on your outer garment.
The violating of inalienable human rights, violating of constitutional rights, and the extortion, intimidation & persecution of healthy people making a personal medical decision must stop!
Rats, I had a double hit on the “o” in lose.
The folks banging on about their rights seemingly forget the flip side of the coin is responsibility.
John Beech wrote, “The folks banging on about their rights seemingly forget the flip side of the coin is responsibility.”
Nope, haven’t forgotten about that at all John.
The only “responsibility” to get the vaccine is a non-binding civic responsibility; civic responsibilities do not override inalienable human rights or constitutionals rights.
Hate to tell you but there are absolutely zero “Constitutional Responsibilities”.
IF I am going to be held responsible for everyone else’s health then I am going to demand a few changes around here:
1) No smoking. Ever. Even pot.
2) No drinking of alcoholic beverages.
3) Everyone is mandated to get within 5% of their BMI. No exceptions.
4) No HFCS drinks.
5) Everyone has to walk at a brisk speed, fast enough that talking is difficult, 4 times a week, or
6) Participate in some kind of high speed cardio for at least 35 minutes, 4 times a week.
7) No eating of ultra-processed food stuff. Whole foods or minimally processed food. No exceptions. Fast food is banned.
8) Unless work related, no more than 2 hours of screen time a day.
9) Ban all social media.
10) Everyone is mandated to be nicer to their spouses, children, friends, neighbors, strangers, pets.
11) Everyone is mandated to laugh more.
12) And bring back Fire Fly!
Fire Fly!!! Love it.
It was stated as a reply to my initial comment in this sub thread by one of our many internet trolls using the moniker “Anonymous” that…
All four of these sentences were false equivalency deflections from the point I made in my initial comment, that is an observed fact.
False equivalence is a logical fallacy in which an equivalence is drawn between two subjects based on flawed or false reasoning.
When I identified the false equivalencies the Anonymous commenter posted Anonymous took offense and stated categorically “I didn’t create ‘false equivalencies.'” This is a false claim by Anonymous probably made out of a lack of comprehension of what I initially wrote.
Allow me to explain.
My opinion is built around this thesis in the first sentence of my comment “vaccine mandates dictated by the Biden administration (the government) and enforced by government proxies (businesses)” and that thesis must be carried throughout the entire comment, it cannot be ignored. Ignoring that theme is exactly what Anonymous did when Anonymous fabricated the four false equivalencies.
The constitution is literally built around protecting individual rights by limiting the power of government to infringe upon those individual rights. The United States of America government ordering businesses across the USA to mandate that which the government cannot legally mandate upon individuals on its own is literally trying to bypass the constitution and turn businesses into illegal government proxies and stomp on individual rights by enforcing an illegal mandate directed at individuals by the government. The government of the United States of America has absolutely no legal authority to mandate that non-military private citizens take a medical treatment that the individual does not wish to take, period. The government of the USA cannot shift the legal responsibility away from itself by using a proxy to do its illegal bidding.
All of the four sentences written by Anonymous are false equivalencies because in the false equivalencies the government is not dictating to a business to be their proxy to stomp on individual rights. The military false equivalence is particularly ridiculous because those that choose to join the military freely give up the right to turn down things like vaccines if they are so ordered my the military leadership, they sign away their lives and follow orders; I spent eight years in the military and fully understood this from day one.
My opinion about the false equivalency comment was not an “ad hominem [or] false claims” it was my opinion based on what what I observed to be a fact.
By the way; what the USA government did by forcing businesses to be individual rights stomping illegal proxies of the federal government is the same kind of thing that totalitarian governments have done for many years around the world. People need to read and learn from history.
I can’t help but notice that the Anonymous commenter discussed in this comment still hasn’t intelligently contradicted anything I wrote.
I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning, and there’s no one more hypocritical and confused than a young, woke, ally, sheltered college kid. Except perhaps for the older folks that continually kowtow to them out of a fear of irrelevancy and insolvency. What an era we live in. 😐
What an era we live in is about right. Behold the President of the US making sounds but no sense whatsoever.
And the world is laughing at us. We deserve it for having allowed this to happen when history has been warning us for years.
Suze: “And the world is laughing at us.”
.
***
Some maybe, but those who think are deeply concerned. Having a visibly incompetent occupant in the White House makes America dangerously unpredictable. Our version of Lennie but with a mighty military instead of mindless brawn. The concern is divided between the thought that that that military will act when it shouldn’t and the thought that it won’t when it should.
What were the ‘geniuses’ thinking they were going to get when they stole the election? Not this, I think.
Young asks:
“What were the ‘geniuses’ thinking they were going to get when they stole the election?”
Does it ever concern you that Turley, whose opinion you Trumpists respect, has NEVER said that he thinks the election was stolen?
How is it possible that Turley can be so right in chastising the Left in every respect with which you agree, and yet be so contrary to your belief that the election was stolen?
Can you explain that discrepancy?
It’s true, Turley has never *publicly* said it was *not* stolen, but it stands to reason that he would have said it *was* if he believed it.
Suppose he does ultimately come out and say that it was all a big lie, will you Trumpists abandon him? Can you respect a commentator who does not accept your belief that it was stolen?
Do you think that Turley has remained closed mouth because he does not wish to alienate most of his followers and make himself persona non grata with Republicans?
Will you or anyone answer these questions?
This guy should be in assisted living.
The older woke folks should take a page from history. After the Cultural Revolution got rolling, the students turned on their handlers.
Edgewood is a Catholic college. What would Jesus do?
Teach her how to fish? She will either need to find another line of work, or teach somewhere that allows distance learning. Since there are plenty of online programs around, she should be able to find suitable employment.