Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Coronavirus

A New Round of COVID-19 Restrictions Drives Illinois Eateries to Rebellion

Who could have predicted that intolerable rules won’t be tolerated?

J.D. Tuccille | 10.28.2020 10:00 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
stagecoach | Lockport Stagecoach/Facebook
(Lockport Stagecoach/Facebook)

With their survival on the line amidst a new round of government restrictions targeted at slowing the spread of COVID-19, many Illinois restaurants and bars are refusing to comply. It's the sort of defiance that erupted during the early days of the pandemic, but more widespread and better organized by business owners who say they have nothing to lose, since their only other option is disaster.

This is a rebellion that could have been foreseen by anybody who understands how people necessarily respond when their backs are against the wall. In fact, it was predicted, repeatedly. That needs to be taken into account by government officials already imposing new lockdowns and poised to inflict yet more pain on a public growing increasingly unwilling to submit.

"Unless the state of Illinois takes a more reasonable approach to mitigation, thousands of restaurants are at risk of permanent closure," the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA) warned last week. "To be clear—the IRA is not advising for operators to disobey any state orders while we strongly advocate for necessary changes to the state's mitigation plan."

But restaurateurs don't need advice on how to respond as they grapple with orders that ban indoor dining, restrict outdoor seating, limit operating hours, and implicitly promise doom.

"Stagecoach WILL be open for INDOOR dining/carry out/and delivery until further notice," the Lockport Stagecoach of Lockport, Illinois, notes on its Facebook page. "We have over 30 employees (most of whom live in Lockport with children) that depend on Stagecoach for their livelihoods."

"We are NOT trying to be rebellious or are anti-masks, anti-people's health or any of the other nonsense. This is a decision out of survival," the post adds.

More than 30 bars and restaurants in Winnebago County have been written up for ignoring pandemic restrictions, according to the Chicago Tribune. In Kankakee County, "70 area business owners met Thursday night and agreed to keep serving customers inside their establishments, despite the state's order that some counties stop indoor service to slow the coronavirus," reports Chicago's NBC affiliate.

In response, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker threatens retaliation against the eatery insurgency. "If we need to close down restaurants and bars, or take away their liquor licenses, take away their gaming licenses, we will do that," he huffed during a daily briefing.

That may not be terribly persuasive to businesses that face closure, anyway, if they aren't allowed to serve customers. And why should they sacrifice themselves when Pritzker—among other political figures—has happily exempted himself and his family from inconvenient pandemic rules?

Even if people for some reason trusted Pritzker and the rest of officialdom, another round of lockdowns is exhausting when authorities keep moving the goalposts on how long restrictions are supposed to last—well beyond the 15 days we were promised back in March.

"Shutting down the economy and society for an unspecified period of time can have large economic and psychological costs," note Guglielmo Briscese, Nicola Lacetera, Mario Macis, Mirco Tonin for VOXEU, an economics website. "Extending the lockdown after creating the expectation that it would end by a certain date, however, might reduce people's acceptance, trust in public authorities, and ultimately reduce compliance with the rules."

Realistically, those large economic and psychological costs can't continue indefinitely. Eventually, they deplete even the most patient people's savings, attenuate relationships with customers, and erode the ability to endure hardship.

"A more stringent lockdown deepens the recession which implies that poorer parts of society find it harder to subsist," Ricardo Hausmann and Ulrich Schetter find in a working paper for the Center for International Development at Harvard University which looks at less-developed countries but is applicable to any society. "This reduces their compliance with the lockdown, and may cause deprivation of the very poor, giving rise to an excruciating trade-off between saving lives from the pandemic and from deprivation."

As we see, many people, including a large number of restaurant and bar owners in Illinois, are done with suffering government-ordered deprivation as a means of combating the pandemic. And their fears are far from exaggerated.

Yelp reported in September that restriction-related business closures are up across the country, with a majority of those closures permanent. "The restaurant industry continues to be among the most impacted with an increasing number of closures—totaling 32,109 closures as of August 31, with 19,590 of these business closures indicated to be permanent (61%)."

It's not difficult to imagine the desperation of struggling entrepreneurs contemplating a similar fate for their own livelihoods.

And fatigue with seemingly endless impositions is hardly confined to Illinois. Germans, Italians, and Spaniards took to the streets this week to protest against new limits on their lives in the name of public health.

"Protests against a fresh round of coronavirus restrictions hit about a dozen cities in Italy on Monday evening amid a surge in infection numbers across the country and the continent," according to NBC News. "Dozens of demonstrators in Turin in northern Italy threw huge firecrackers and bottles at the regional government's headquarters. Police responded with volleys of tear gas as they tried to restore order in the city."

By contrast, a multitude of eateries serving burgers and beer to paying customers in defiance of intrusive rules seems wonderfully restrained, no matter how much it upsets Pritzker.

As suggested by the Lockport Stagecoach's Facebook post, those businesses aren't just ignoring health risks. The Illinois Restaurant Association calls for "a pragmatic, tiered approach" that allows for indoor dining with reduced capacity. Many of the rebellious restaurant owners give press interviews while wearing face masks and boasting of their hygiene procedures. And, of course, they cater only to customers who voluntarily enter their premises. By all appearances, they're willing to make an effort—but not to be forced into destitution.

Officials might not agree with members of the public on how best to limit the spread of COVID-19. But letting people make their own decisions and voluntarily do business with like-minded others makes a lot more sense than pursuing an unwinnable enforcement campaign against a fed-up population.

The Rattler is a weekly newsletter from J.D. Tuccille. If you care about government overreach and tangible threats to everyday liberty, this is for you.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Mark Zuckerberg to Congress: Please Regulate Us (Wink, Wink)

J.D. Tuccille is a contributing editor at Reason.

CoronavirusPublic HealthRestaurantsCivil DisobedienceIllinois
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (206)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Don't look at me!   5 years ago

    That’s it. Everyone in Illinois is going to be dead.

    1. mad.casual   5 years ago

      It's a democratic plot to increase their voter pool.

      1. D-Pizzle   5 years ago

        Well done.

    2. MT-Man   5 years ago

      You're conjuring Tony with that statement.

      1. Lizza   5 years ago

        I am making over $ 17485 a month working low maintenance online from home. I continued hearing others disclose to me how much cash they can make on the web so I chose to investigate it.TRf I was so honored I unearthed this program and has completely changed my life.last month her check was 14770 simply dealing with the PC for a couple of hours in my available time every week.

        This is my specialty........... Home Profit System

    3. IceTrey   5 years ago

      Yeah COVID only has an overall survival rate of 99.95%!

      1. D-Pizzle   5 years ago

        And it's so virulent that most people who get it don't even know they ever had it, but whatever.

    4. decebo7733   5 years ago

      I am Earning $81,100 so Far this year working online and I am a full time college student and just working for 3 to 4 hours a day I've made such great money.........USA PART TIME JOB.

      1. Truthteller1   5 years ago

        What is it with Reason and bots? It is the worst I have ever encountered.

    5. Truthteller1   5 years ago

      We must protect our children.

  2. loveconstitution1789   5 years ago

    Georgia restaurants are open. No mask or distancing requirements by the state.

    When going out to eat, we sit in booths right next to other customers with no barriers or other hysterical Kungflu nonsense.

    1. Longtobefree   5 years ago

      So how many times have you died so far?

      1. sarcasmic   5 years ago

        Not enough, obviously.

        1. Lord of Strazele   5 years ago

          Lol

          1. Darien   5 years ago

            Hi Shreek!

      2. loveconstitution1789   5 years ago

        Im listed as one of the 220,000 Americans who died like 3 times.

        1. sarcasmic   5 years ago

          I believe he meant CDC records, not how many times you voted.

          1. Wearenotperfect   5 years ago

            Trump supporters are pretty tone-deaf. Just look at the rally Trump is having in Arizona today at an airport that has a Boeing facility on it. It's Boeing laying off 7000 more employees soon?

            1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

              Was there a point here, or were you just randomly sperging?

              1. loveconstitution1789   5 years ago

                Lefties and their apologists are upset because they are slowly figuring out what is coming.

                Trump being reelected and is unstoppable.

          2. Tionico   5 years ago

            but he's been voting far more often now that he's been dead a few times. See how that works?

      3. Chipper Morning Wood--------------------------------------------------------------------------   5 years ago

        He was already brain-dead to begin with.

        1. Darien   5 years ago

          Really, your fake Chipper is terrible.

          1. Nardz   5 years ago

            So is the original

  3. Knutsack   5 years ago

    As someone who like to waste money on good food in the city, I follow a lot of the restaurants on IG. I remember reading posts from the restaurants praising JB for imposing regulations and shutdowns on businesses and restaurants.

    At the time, I thought those posts were stupid, knowing full well that you can't let a politician have that much control. Of course, a lot of those restaurant owners are left-leaning or progressive, so they couldn't see the predictable outcome. And now, here we are, months and months later. Restaurants all over the area still face reduced capacity, or complete bans on dine-in, and the cold is creeping in. Outdoor dining is going to be out of the question.

    Will the owners learn a lesson from this?

    We all know the answer, but for some owners, it's too late.

    1. mad.casual   5 years ago

      Yeah, I remember watching as the president of the Illinois Restaurant Association stood next to Pritzger when he made the announcement and thinking "They're fucked. Even the restaurants that aren't a part of the IRA."

      1. Gaear Grimsrud   5 years ago

        To be fair outdoor dining is still allowed. In Illinois. In November. A place that has already had snow in October. Twice.
        But outdoor dining is allowed in a tent. If the tent has only 2 sides. If the tent has 4 sides it is considered indoor dining. Outside.

        https://www.nrn.com/operations/chicago-outlines-rules-cold-weather-outdoor-dining-covid-era

    2. Ron   5 years ago

      those left leaning owners are blaming Trump for not shutting everything down. they are not learning the lesson of overbearing government.

      1. Truthteller1   5 years ago

        If they are that fucking stupid they deserve whatever comes their way.

    3. Kevin Smith   5 years ago

      Its because those restaurants wanted to voluntarily shut down, but couldn't feasibly do so unless the government forced their competition to shut down as well.

      It no different than with banning smoking, or carrying a concealed firearm in restaurants. The restaurants that want to do it voluntarily need the government to force their competition to do it too, to level the playing field

    4. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

      I can't think of a better way to kill off small businesses and consolidate consumer spending in a few large megacorps, such as Walmart, Amazon, or fast food franchises, than by forcing everyone to follow the same one-size-fits-all restrictions. We've had at least two restaurants in my town that were long-time institutions have to close their doors forever because the lockdowns and restrictions killed whatever slim margins they had. These places tend to rely on a small, but dedicated clientele to keep their doors open, and choking off that revenue stream is a guaranteed way to kill those businesses.

      Democrats say that they're for the little guy, but this pandemic has shown that they're willing to sacrifice small businesses if it means increasing their own power and getting bigger donations from global megacorps.

      1. MT-Man   5 years ago

        Is this how we got to the mega Costco in Idiocracy?

        1. ElvisIsReal   5 years ago

          More like "In the future, all restaurants are Taco Bell."

        2. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

          Along with slack-jawed idiots consooooooooming while sitting on a toilet-chair, only they're watching "Last Week Tonight" instead of "Ow My Balls."

      2. migrant log picker   5 years ago

        Feature, not bug.

    5. mpercy   5 years ago

      Now in NYC they're building "outdoor" dining, which will be completely enclosed tents with heaters. But heaven forbid anyone you know, eat indoors!

  4. Sometimes Bad Is Bad   5 years ago

    Stop voting for democrats.

  5. Wearenotperfect   5 years ago

    Americans, by nature, don't like authority. At least most don't.

    1. Ron   5 years ago

      I'm not sure of that anymore to many voting and clamouring for more shut downs

    2. Juice   5 years ago

      Uh. I live in a place where people really seem to like it.

    3. Rat on a train   5 years ago

      American individualism is dying and being replaced by American collectivism.

      1. Chipper Morning Wood--------------------------------------------------------------------------   5 years ago

        Starting with "patriotic" churches.

        1. H. Farnham   5 years ago

          Patriotic churches, and church attendance/membership in general, has been declining since the 80's, precipitously in the last 10-15 years.

        2. Nardz   5 years ago

          And eunuch is here to demonstrate the leftist hivemind

    4. Kevin Smith   5 years ago

      Unfortunately I don't think that's true anymore, at least not in principle. Everyone now just seems to be seeking the proverbial "benevolent" dictator

    5. CLM1227   5 years ago

      That's stupid.

      People have always wanted more government.

      Man's natural inclination is to be ruled. Question is, what/who do you want to be ruled by?

    6. renad   5 years ago

      what Americans have you been talking to recently? All the ones I know are pretty much all in on this path of destruction.

  6. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   5 years ago

    Trump Lung is more contagious than the riffraff knows. Luckily it’s not as deadly as it was.

    1. Don't look at me!   5 years ago

      So it’s time to stop the bullshit?

      1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   5 years ago

        Past time to stop it. I’m a Darwinist. If you’re afraid of contracting it stay the fuck inside and leave everyone else alone.

        1. Lord of Strazele   5 years ago

          But wear a mask, wash your hands, socially distance within reason depending on the circumstances and don't pretend like 225k dead Americans is normal.

          1. sarcasmic   5 years ago

            Do you really trust the numbers? I don’t.

            1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   5 years ago

              No. My state only a couple of months ago stopped counting everyone who died with a positive test as a Corona death. So suicides, murders, car wrecks etc. were removed from the list. However, they admitted they were still counting anyone who died of medical reasons as a CV19 death and had a 'phase ii' plan to start sorting those out, but I don't know how much headway they've made.

              So (as far as I know), if you died of a heart attack or pancreatic cancer but tested positive for CV19, you are a corona death, full stop.

              Until they finish implementing phase ii, I have very little trust in the numbers.

              1. Rat on a train   5 years ago

                The numbers are different depending on if you are measuring people who died due to COVID, died with COVID, or died during COVID.

                1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   5 years ago

                  My state's health department seems to be claiming they'll suss that out with ratings such as possible, probable, confirmed etc.

                  They seem to at least recognize that an 87 year old woman on death's door from pancreatic cancer who catches the coronavirus might not be a slam dunk.

                  1. Compelled Speechless   5 years ago

                    For a larger Medicare reimbursement, the hospital is willing to consider it a slam dunk.

              2. ElvisIsReal   5 years ago

                Same here in WA (maybe that's where you are?)

                They removed the most obvious not-covid deaths but left everything else in, and there's no indication at all they are interested in investigating further.

            2. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

              At this point, how could we? They've been categorizing so many various deaths as coof-related, the only way to discern for sure which ones are actually caused by COVID would be to get copies of the reports from every single hospital and dig through them case-by-case.

              No journalist these days is going to have that kind of work ethic, nor have the incentive, to just sit down and dig through the data because they're afraid what they'd find would force them to admit that they were wrong this whole time. The fact that 70 percent of people with COVID have reported that they wore masks "all the time," and 93% of those who've died with it had an average of 2.5 underlying conditions, and the dramatic drop in reported influenza cases, indicates to me that this bug isn't the whole reason people are getting sick and dying.

            3. Chipper Morning Wood--------------------------------------------------------------------------   5 years ago

              The true number is probably about 100,000 higher if you look at the excess deaths in 2020.

              1. Zeb   5 years ago

                How much of that can be put down to extra ODs, suicides, heart attacks and strokes brought on by the government overreaction to the virus? Or perhaps there is something else going on that we missed because all attention was focused on Rona. I don't think it is fair to assume at this point that all or most of the excess deaths this year are from that single cause.

                1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

                  Ironically, that's what the CDC said in its report, which CMW tellingly read nothing more than the headline.

                2. Paul 3   5 years ago

                  And there will be more excess deaths due to unscreened cancers. In the People's Republic of NJ, Dictator Murphy banned "elective" procedures for two months (shortly after he got an elective procedure, of course).

              2. Darien   5 years ago

                Except they're fudging Flu numbers so it's actually lower.

                Womp womp.

              3. Squirrelloid   5 years ago

                Covid isn't the only source of excess deaths - i'm going to guess suicides are up, cancer diagnoses are happening later, missed treatments are up for a variety of conditions, and stress-related or -triggered medical conditions are up. Disentangling all of that is going to be hard.

                Lockdowns have a cost measured in bodies too. And none of the data suggests lockdowns have done a thing to slow the virus down.

              4. JesseAz   5 years ago

                Chipper with his usual ignorance. Excess death rates are being driven by other factors due to the lockdowns and fear over Covid. Virtually ever leftist rag you read has even had an article on this.

                https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200528-why-most-covid-19-deaths-wont-be-from-the-virus

              5. Tionico   5 years ago

                stats I've seen have total deaths from all causes VERY close to last year's totals, atthis time last year.
                In other words, there "may" be a large number of WuFlu 'deaths", but deaths from all the other normal causes are way down... sort of pushing the meme that many deaths from "some other cause" are now listed as WuFlu, so the total has not changed, only the categories listed each with their totals.

                AND nearly all the recent "noise" about "there are SO MANY NEW CASES" is another rotten lie.... it is known that the current tests everyine is getting are NOT reliable, some incredible high number of false positives. Mostly because it is not specific to the SARS CoViD 19, but to ALL corona virus that might be out there... the common cold and most seasonal flus are Cornoa viruses. Further, if you were exposed, like I have been, and your body has succcessfully fought off the rotters and you never had even enough viral load to be contabions OR symptomatic, you would still test positive for corona..... another blatant falsification on the numbers racket they're playing.

                And again, positive tests are not CASES. Those are people who have syptoms AND a positive test. But since there are so many out there, not infected, asymptomatic, non-contagious that never had any reason to be tested before, thus were never "discovered", now with so much more testing these non-cases are resulitng in positive tests, and "new cases' are racking up to the danger point better get out that ripping saw and get out those planks for your coffins, cause "YIPPIE we're all gonna die (and that's a lie)"

              6. Set Us Up The Chipper   5 years ago

                Those 100k excess deaths are lockdown deaths that would not have happened w/o the lockdowns.

          2. mad.casual   5 years ago

            don’t pretend like 225k dead Americans is normal

            The number of dead Americans has outnumbered the number of living Americans since 1776. At this point, the ratio is probably somewhere between 100 and 1000:1. 600K people died of cancer last year, which is pretty normal. Various pandemics through American history have killed more people both more quickly and more protractedly.

          3. loveconstitution1789   5 years ago

            650,000 Americans die every year of heart disease (per CDC stats).

            1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   5 years ago

              Yeah, but how many of those 650,000 tested positive for corona by the coroner after death?

              1. mad.casual   5 years ago

                COVID 19 or any coronavirus?

                1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   5 years ago

                  Yes.

          4. Ron   5 years ago

            in my county more people have died of overdose than from covid 20 from overdose and 2 from covid. there is some bad stuff going around.

            1. Zeb   5 years ago

              But if it saves just one life it's all worth it.

          5. Darien   5 years ago

            Why are you replying to yourself Shreek?

          6. JesseAz   5 years ago

            It is completely normal. 3 million die every year.

            1. Jeff L.   5 years ago

              It's now still a bit above normal.

              Yes wash hands, stay home if at all sick or exposed, and maybe wear a mask (I do); all of that might or might not save you.

              “Deaths involving pneumonia with or without COVID-1, excluding flu deaths” are 217,959 as of today, per the CDC.

              Out of those deaths, a whopping 91% (200,470) are people age 55 and up.

              79% (171,784) of deaths are people age 65+--really old people, that is. It's been that percentage, plus or minus 1, since March when I started watching the numbers.

              Excess deaths are down to maybe 6%. At the peak in April, they were as much as 40%.

              If you are young and healthy, you don’t have a lot of worry about. For ages up to 24, only 821 people have died out of almost 218,000.

              If you are old and/or infirmed, stay isolated. And maybe get the hell out of places like NY where people were forced into Cuomo camps to die.

          7. renad   5 years ago

            That assumes the numbers are correct. We all know they aren't. And I don't mean there are MORE deaths, either.

        2. Sevo   5 years ago

          "...I’m a Darwinist..."

          It's spelled i-g-n-o-r-a-m-u-s, turd.

    2. mad.casual   5 years ago

      Luckily it’s not as deadly as it was.

      Even Trump Lung's ill effects are better than predicted. If we impeach Trump Lung, do we end up with a cure for cancer?

    3. Darien   5 years ago

      "Luckily it’s not as deadly as it was."

      Could you try making sense Strazele?

  7. Brandybuck   5 years ago

    Good for them. Over in Italy they're having riots because the went and tightened their controls again. Italy, which was the model for lockdown compliance back in the beginning.

    What the politicians don't realize is that while people will pull together for a crisis, they won't pull together just because a politicians says so. Especially when the cost is high. It's been nine months since the crisis started. We were told to hang tight for three months. By six months we should have been loosening the shackles. But here we are in the ninth month cracking down even harder.

    The goal was to "flatten the curve". It was a good goal. Don't overwhelm the hospitals and medical system. Let the virus run it's course at a low level, rather than run rampant through the cities and countryside. We achieved that goal. We achieved it back in month three. But the media/government complex changed the goal. Now the goal is "zero cases", which is impossible.

    What we need to do is the sensible move. Wear masks outdoors, sensibly social distance, take sensible precautions. Businesses will continue to be hurt, there's no reason around that. But no reason to send the cops in to close down businesses just because some politician has delusions of grandeur. Bar capacity will have to plummet, but bars can open. Theater seating density will have to drastically shrink, but theaters can open. Schools can open. Stores can open. Barbers can come back out of hiding.

    An effective vaccine is still months off. And when we get on it will take up to half a year to distribute. In the meantime lockdown fatigue is running rampant. The people aren't going to stay mild and submissive for much longer.

    1. Idle Hands   5 years ago

      We achieved it in most places day one.

      1. Brandybuck   5 years ago

        Yes. We were just trying to prevent the New York City fiasco from happening in other cities. And we did that. Mostly due to a culture that wasn't obsessed with crowding everyone into tight and unsanitary subways.

        1. Idle Hands   5 years ago

          they intubated a ton of people unnecessarily and let it run rampant in the nursing homes as it turns out. There's a big reason the cries for more respirators from Cuomo stopped a month in.

        2. ElvisIsReal   5 years ago

          And since intelligent people wouldn't speed up their curve by infecting ALL the at-risk at once, we never really had to worry about that.

    2. mad.casual   5 years ago

      We were told to hang tight for three months.

      Originally, it was two weeks.

      Wear masks outdoors

      Incorrect. Wear masks indoors, if at all. Outdoors with a stiff breeze, two people can stand a foot apart and not breathe each other's air. There used to be a time when everyone knew which way was 'upwind' and which way was 'downwind'.

      The place masks are most/least effective is indoors when eating and drinking, but nobody outside an ICU/NICU "eats" with a mask on.

      1. John   5 years ago

        Wearing masks outdoors is like wearing a sign saying you are retarded.

        1. Ron   5 years ago

          I need a sign that says
          "if you are wearing a mask in your car you are the problem not covid"

        2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   5 years ago

          I see people, driving solo in their cars with masks on.

          1. John   5 years ago

            So do I every day. What the fuck is wrong with these people? I think it just shows that he mask is a sign of being in the Democratic nanny state tribe. I can't believe anyone, not even Brandybuck here, is really so stupid they think they are stopping the spread of the virus by wearing a mask in their cars.

            1. Bill Godshall   5 years ago

              Truly loyal Democrats wear masks when they have sex, when they sleep, and even when they shower or take a swim.

            2. Dillinger   5 years ago

              my brother is on Nantucket they have Masks Outside or Fine! laws.

              the worst are the idiots who hang the chin diapers from their rearviews.

              1. ejsmith   5 years ago

                No. The worst is the virtue signalling by people who wear masks in their Facebook and Linkedin profile pictures. Wearing while driving alone comes a close second.

                1. Dillinger   5 years ago

                  i haven't seen those bc i don't facebook but if those people exist then yes they are worse.

                2. Zeb   5 years ago

                  Yeah, those are the worst. What the fuck is the point of having a picture if people can't see what you look like?

                  1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   5 years ago

                    In this house, we wear masks when alone, naked, in the bathroom, with the lights off.

                    1. CLM1227   5 years ago

                      Kinky.

                3. Don Nico   5 years ago

                  We had a student today wearing a mask for a zoom meeting. Talk about virtue signaling

              2. Ron   5 years ago

                actually hanging the mask form teh mirror exposes it to heat form the sun thus speeding up the destruction of any covid cells on it. plus where else are you going to put it to keep it out of the dorritos on the floor

                1. migrant log picker   5 years ago

                  My dash works fine for leaving masks to fry in the sun for Kungflu proofing. Since it was 6 below Sunday I may have to use another technique.

            3. Brandybuck   5 years ago

              I mistyped. I meant to say wear a mask indoors.

              Although my neighbor does wear hers in her car. But she's a politician and can't help it.

              1. Darien   5 years ago

                Sure you did fucktard.

              2. D-Pizzle   5 years ago

                "in" is two letters, while "out" is three and the two words share no letters, but you "mistyped." Sure.

            4. Roberta   5 years ago

              Just forgetful. I've gotten behind the wheel with my mask still on. So has my friend Bob. Usually I don't make it as far as my car, but people who just forgot could easily account for your seeing solo car occupants masked.

              1. Darien   5 years ago

                Fuck off SQRLSY.

                1. Zeb   5 years ago

                  ? Robert(a) is a consistently rational and polite commenter. How the hell do you figure that he is part of the sock puppet army that lives in your head?

              2. Zeb   5 years ago

                Mine is off before I'm out the door of whatever place makes me put it on.

            5. Idle Hands   5 years ago

              They are the type of people who wore condoms alone in bed during the aids crisis we just people just didn't notice because it was the 80's and they were all out fucking and doing rails.

            6. Echospinner   5 years ago

              They do it because it is easier than taking it off then putting it back on if you are running quick errands.

          2. Jerry B.   5 years ago

            Probably driving a couple of blocks from one store that requires masks to another. It’s more hassle to take it off and put it back on again, especially if you finally have it fitted so it doesn’t fog your glasses.

      2. Brandybuck   5 years ago

        Yes, that's what I meant. Wear masks indoors. Outdoors it doesn't matter unless you're at a close gathering (funeral, etc).

        1. Darien   5 years ago

          Sure you did fucktard.

    3. Brian   5 years ago

      Hear hear.

      I predict the Biden administration will require all healthcare workers, teachers, etc. to take the rushed-to-market vaccine as a requirement to work, as well as anyone who wants to board an airplane (private jets exempt, of course).

      I hope everyone’s comfortable with that.

      1. Don't look at me!   5 years ago

        ...all healthcare workers, teachers, etc. to take the rushed-to-market Chinese made vaccine as a requirement to work, ...

      2. Ron   5 years ago

        soon you will have to show your vaccine card to eat at a restuarant or even vote.

      3. CLM1227   5 years ago

        Considering its leftists that do mandates like this and they are all worried Trump is going to kill them with a vaccine, I suspect 4 more years of Trump will give us a reprieve from vaccine mandates.

    4. John   5 years ago

      Fuck you. Take your mask and shove it up your ass you worthless sheep. You are going to die someday. You need to grow the fuck up and come to terms with that. In the meantime just shut up and let actual adults live their lives.

      1. mad.casual   5 years ago

        You are going to die someday.

        More critically, IMO, you can rely on exogenous resources and support for your health, requiring ever more resources just to cope with the everyday occurences happening pretty much everywhere on the planet, or you can develop your own immune system, pass it on to your children, and make sure that future generations don't have to level forests producing masks to viruses that don't kill them.

        Even if you think you should be wearing a mask to prevent yourself from dying of this infectious disease, the idea that everyone should always wear a mask to prevent themselves from dying of any infectious disease isn't just ridiculous, it's harmful. Just like I said with the flu vaccine, it will only work until a viruse comes around that permeates the mask or is spread by contact. And then the mask just becomes a liability.

        1. migrant log picker   5 years ago

          So pretty much EVERY virus then.

    5. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

      When swine flu emerged several years ago, Forbes ran an article that categorized a pandemic that killed a million people as a "mild" one.

      BatCoof-related deaths passed the million mark in mid-October; amusingly, Forbes took down that article around the same time, and it's now a dead link. Fortunately, it was archived before they nuked it.

      1. John   5 years ago

        It is a very mild pandemic. I don't think I have hated a group of people more in my lifetime than I hate people like Brandybuck. These fuckers have taken away our way of life and our most basic freedoms. They are just fucking monsters all of them. The worst sort of monster, the monster who thinks they are doing good. If you don't hate them, you don't love freedom.

        1. Brandybuck   5 years ago

          I already said I mistyped, you fuck. Get off your obsession with me. It's creepy as fuck. Stop foaming at the mouth, it makes you look like you have rabies.

          1. Darien   5 years ago

            Sure you mistyped fucktard.

          2. Nardz   5 years ago

            It doesn't matter if you mistyped, brandybuck, your attitude is contemptible and you're a coward

        2. H. Farnham   5 years ago

          Damn dude. I live in small-town Kansas, and Brandybuck's public coercion views are very mild compared to a lot of people in town here. Aren't you in the DC area? I would have to guess that a vast majority of the people around there make Brandybuck look like Ron Paul by comparison.

          As to your last sentence: I try not to hate anybody, but I very much love freedom.

          1. Darien   5 years ago

            Damn Brandy you were so embarrased by your stupid fucking take that you busted out a sock to defend it.

            1. H. Farnham   5 years ago

              "busted out a sock"

              eeeewwwwwww

      2. Idle Hands   5 years ago

        that's amazing actually.

        1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

          I wish I could provide links to both, but Reason's web admins nuked my account's capability to embed them in my posts several months ago. It wasn't that big of a deal so I never bothered to try and correct it, but I'll try and find the headline later on tonight.

          1. Rat on a train   5 years ago

            This One?

            1. Zeb   5 years ago

              So they didn't take it down?

              That's pretty interesting (and sad) to read now. They really had the groundwork done for this disgusting fiasco years ago. Just waiting for the right time to try it all out.

              1. Idle Hands   5 years ago

                There have been some wanting to do this since Bush. I wish I was joking, but this whole protocol was established and originated by an Sandia scientist's 14 year old's science fair project.

                https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/politics/social-distancing-coronavirus.html

                1. Zeb   5 years ago

                  That would have been a good thing for a libertarian publication to do some extensive reporting and research on.

                  1. Nothing2CHere   5 years ago

                    Check out Jeffrey Tucker's work at AIER. He's been doing great research on it since the beginning.

            2. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

              Possibly, but I'm pretty sure it was a straight news article rather than an opinion piece. I'll know for sure once I get home, I have the archive link saved.

              That would be pretty funny if they nuked the news article but forgot about the op-ed.

              1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

                Correction, I was able to find the reference--the article is titled, "Why the WHO Faked a Pandemic," and it's from February 5, 2010. It's by the same author, though.

                Apparently the article was being passed around the interwebs a couple of weeks ago, so Forbes must have taken it down to avoid having its own words used against it.

    6. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   5 years ago

      We will achieve a vaccine, a warp drive, and cold fusion all in the same week

  8. Turgut   5 years ago

    I get paid more than $120 to $130 per hour for working online.....Visit here to earn thousands of dollars

  9. Unicorn Abattoir   5 years ago

    "To be clear—the IRA is not advising for operators to disobey any state orders while we strongly advocate for necessary changes to the state's mitigation plan."

    Wow. The IRA has really let itself go.

    1. Ron   5 years ago

      no shit where are all the hot red headed female bombers i see in all the movies about the IRA

    2. Dillinger   5 years ago

      lol same sentiment directly below.

  10. Dillinger   5 years ago

    >>"To be clear—the IRA is not advising for operators to disobey any state orders ...

    unfortunately not following its namesake

  11. Echospinner   5 years ago

    I hardly ever go to bars or restaurants but I feel for the people who make their living from them.

    The local tavern will deliver cocktails now which is a plus. Around here they have those limited seating rules but already they are talking about taking even that away because more cases here.

    1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

      The New Mexico governor did a speech recently panic-mongering by saying the virus was on course to being "uncontrollable" if they didn't "do something (there's that phrase again)" to slow down the spread.

      The corollary to that is, if BatCoof became "uncontrollable," then there's literally nothing that can be done to slow it down, much less stop it. It's going to run through the whole population whether you lock down or not, whether you wear masks or not, whether you congregate in crowds or not. These fools are operating under the pretense that you can "stop" a coronavirus or any infectious illness with government-imposed social controls, when that's never worked in the entire history of the human race.

      That's why that fool with DHHS a couple weeks ago said wearing a mask was more effective than a vaccine--we're witnessing what happens when a government bureaucracy falls into a moral collapse when its long-established control mechanisms fail to bring about the expected result.

      1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

        That's also why Japan is weathering this pandemic better than most--they haven't deluded themselves into thinking that a virus can be stopped by government fiat. It helps that a lot of the restrictive measures and contact tracing efforts taken by other first world countries, particular the US, aren't possible in Japan because it's literally illegal there to do so.

        1. John   5 years ago

          In an ideal world, this whole thing would result in a massive rethinking and restricting of public health laws. Somehow public health laws have become a trap door by which the entire Bill of Rights drops out of the Constitution. That needs to end and end now. If there is one thing that needs to come out of this it is "never again". Public health powers need to be radically restricting. Basically, unless they can make a showing to a judge that someone is sick and contagious and needs to be quarantined, the government at any level should have no health powers. They clearly can't be trusted with them.

          1. Zeb   5 years ago

            Indeed. In a saner world, that should be the major issue of this election.

          2. Nardz   5 years ago

            It's ok.
            The chain corps, now free of competition from smaller businesses, will enforce measures so government doesn't have to.
            Masks, for example.

      2. John   5 years ago

        On the one hand they keep claiming all of these insane measures are necessary to control the virus. On the other hand, they keep pointing to the continued increase in positive tests. If the virus is continuing to spread, and the tests show that it is, then their measures don't stop it from spreading. It is that simple. They can't accept or admit that. So, they fall back to the old fallacy of "it would have been worse had we not done this".

        1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

          Or, "if we don't do this, it's going to get worse."

          They've inculcated a mindset that if the government doesn't step in and "do something," cases, and subsequent deaths, will rise exponentially and kill millions in this country alone. That's already been disproven because we've gone through two bumps since March with varying levels of controls in place. This one is going to drop as well, and it's mainly come about because people are staying indoors more with the advent of fall, which already increases the chances of you getting sick. If more control = fewer cases, the states that have "listened to the science" wouldn't be going through their own bumps right now.

          It doesn't help that states have shut down a lot of fall sports that would assist in keeping students active, healthy, and outdoors, which would increase the ability of the body to recover. Cam Newton got over the coof in what, a week? How is a teenager running cross country or playing football going to be any different? And if they're asymptomatic, who gives a shit? That's a mild strain that you WANT to get because it's not actually deadly, and will help build social resistance (not herd immunity, because that's impossible with a coronavirus) to the broader illness.

          A smart government official would tell people, "get outside, get exercise, and social distance" and this current bump would drop a lot quicker.

          1. Zeb   5 years ago

            Yup, this "bump" is going to look like the seasonal bumps that you always see with flu-like illnesses at this time of year. It will not be an exponetially rising curve.

            1. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

              The fact that flu infections have supposedly dropped by 98% pretty much confirms it.

        2. Kevin Smith   5 years ago

          When you start from the position that the government can do no wrong, the only conclusion you can come to is that the government didn't do enough

  12. Bill Godshall   5 years ago

    "Who could have predicted that intolerable rules won’t be tolerated?"

    Everyone except reporters and editors at Reason who endorsed or otherwise tolerated the unscientific, unconstitutional and disastrous lockdowns during the past seven months.

    1. John   5 years ago

      Ron Bailey hardest hit.

  13. Liberals Are People Too   5 years ago

    Maybe I should move to Illinois. I see people walking around and driving around my state with no mask on happy as can be, and it makes me want to scream. Sounds like their governor has a good head on his shoulders.

    1. Don't look at me!   5 years ago

      ... ...happy as can be, and it makes me want to scream.
      I think we found the problem.

    2. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   5 years ago

      This has to be a parody account

      1. Procyon Rotor   5 years ago

        I've believed that since its first post.

  14. Jackand Ace   5 years ago

    So, in Kansas the Governor issued a mask mandate. About 80 counties rejected the mandate outright. About 20 decided to adhere to it. Kansa University did a recent study on how those counties fared in the recent surge of Covid in Kansas.

    Adherence to the governor’s mask mandate in Johnson County is associated with 6.5 to 8.5 fewer cases per day for every 100,000 population, she said.

    “Cases in counties with a mask mandate stopped increasing. They didn’t go away. They stopped increasing,” Ginther said. “And, cases in counties without a mandate, starting in mid-August, just kind of went crazy.”

    “The KU researchers demonstrated Kansas counties without the mask order experienced a surge in coronavirus infection rates that climbed from about 10 cases per 100,0000 in July to nearly 40 cases per 100,000 in October. The number of cases for counties covered by the mask order plateaued since July at around 20 cases per 100,000.”

    https://shawneemissionpost.com/2020/10/25/ku-study-concludes-county-mask-mandates-in-kansas-have-stalled-major-rise-in-covid-19-104860/

    1. Jackand Ace   5 years ago

      To show how bad it’s gotten in Kansas:

      October is now the deadliest month of the pandemic in the Kansas City metropolitan area. This month, 176 residents in the area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri, as well as Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, have died from COVID-19. The number of monthly deaths jumped this fall. In August, the metro recorded 80 deaths. In September, there were 172.“

      “Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department, said the situation is unlikely to improve. We would predict that November will be worse than October,” he told The Star. “December’s going to be worse than November and January’s going to be worse than December. We will continue to set records.”

      https://www.kansascity.com/news/coronavirus/article246748236.html

      1. Don't look at me!   5 years ago

        Since when are you concerned about flyover people?

        1. Dillinger   5 years ago

          Jack has never been to Kansas.

      2. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

        “Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department, said the situation is unlikely to improve. We would predict that November will be worse than October,” he told The Star. “December’s going to be worse than November and January’s going to be worse than December. We will continue to set records.”

        Yeah, no shit--because people get sick more in the wintertime. What a revelation!

        There's been a mask mandate in New Mexico for months and they're setting records in new case numbers.

        In Colorado, the highest number of cases in this current spike have been in Denver and Adams counties, which has mask mandates.

        If you're going to argue that the magical mask talisman will save you, it helps to not cherry-pick your data.

      3. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

        Also, fuckin LOL at arguing the mask mandate saved people in the counties that followed it, then immediately undermining your own thesis by citing an article that shows the Kansas City metro area setting records.

        Why isn't the magical mask talisman saving them from getting sick?

      4. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   5 years ago

        Hey butt plug is this the same Kansas study where they manipulated the data?

        1. Set Us Up The Chipper   5 years ago

          Kansas also uses a Ct of 40 ish for its pcr testing...so most of the tests are junk anyway.

    2. Bill Godshall   5 years ago

      PA's left wing dictator Gov Tom Wolf imposed a statewide mask mandate for every business, school, and other indoor (and many outdoor) public place six months ago.

      But new cases of Covid in PA tripled in June and July, then dropped by half in August, and have nearly quadrupled since (as PA reported its highest daily count two days ago at 2,314).

      The CDC published a study on Sept 11 that found 71% of those who tested positive for Covid reported ALWAYS wearing a mask in public places during the preceding two weeks, while another 14% reported OFTEN wearing masks in public places.
      https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6936a5.htm

      So masks aren't nearly as protective as mask mandators and left wing media outlets have insisted upon for the past six months.

    3. Dillinger   5 years ago

      >>to nearly 40 cases per 100,000

      dear lord! just shoot everybody now.

    4. I'm Not Sure   5 years ago

      “The KU researchers demonstrated Kansas counties without the mask order experienced a surge in coronavirus infection rates that climbed from about 10 cases per 100,0000 in July to nearly 40 cases per 100,000 in October. The number of cases for counties covered by the mask order plateaued since July at around 20 cases per 100,000.”

      From around 20 cases/100,000 to nearly 40 cases per 100,000? Sounds like the number of cases doubled.

      Pro tip- doubling a tiny number results in a tiny number.

      1. Echospinner   5 years ago

        Another pro tip. Viruses grow exponentially left uncontrolled. Look at the curve for France in the past 3 months.

        Actually this would be the time to get on top of it in Kansas. It is a small population. You would need to quarantine those cases and close contacts and do mass testing. That worked in South Korea and New Zealand.

        Our government with the idiots in charge delayed test development where other places have been able to get them out quickly.

  15. Bill Godshall   5 years ago

    "To be clear—the IRA is not advising for operators to disobey any state orders while we strongly advocate for necessary changes to the state's mitigation plan."

    Seems like the IRA supports Pritzker's lockdown (in order to destroy competitor small mom and pop restaurants that aren't members of the IRA), while wanting Pritzker to relax or end his lockdown soon (in order to allow more affluent IRA members to pick up new customers that used to patronize the closed down restaurants).

  16. Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland   5 years ago

    This author, like many disaffected malcontents, seems to be a fan of anti-social tantrums by belligerently ignorant, reckless, selfish misfits.

    1. Sometimes a Great Notion   5 years ago

      Hahaa.. if anyone knows anti-social tantrums its you Rev. God your insufferable.

    2. Darien   5 years ago

      OK Shreek.

    3. Red Rocks White Privilege   5 years ago

      What's this, NPC line #23?

  17. Foo_dd   5 years ago

    this is why all action should be voluntary. just breezing through the comments, you see what happens any time you try to force anyone to do anything. you get resistance. you tell people what they need to know, and let society take it from there. most places of business were taking as many precautions as they could with work from home options, enhanced cleaning, social distancing, mask requirements, etc., etc. long before any elected jack wagon sought to force their will on others..... and as soon as they began to do so, they created the "shove your mask up your ass" science haters.

    it is simple. everyone should try to do what they personally can to help keep the spread at a level manageable for our healthcare system. (zero is an impossible number at this point.) wear a mask in public, practice reasonable social distancing, and limit your exposure to mass gatherings as much as is practical. these are all decisions we can make on our own and that people were making before anyone mandated anything. do not involve the government. if the government had never gotten involved, this would have never gotten political... and fewer people would be reflexively rejecting it now. i would go so far as to say that talk of shutdowns and mandates has actively hindered getting everyone to do their part. people are having large gatherings and refusing to wear masks as an act of defiance because the government overstepped it's role.

    any time you try to force anyone to do anything, you will have people refuse to do it just because you tried to force them.

    1. ElvisIsReal   5 years ago

      Consent is the key.

    2. Don't look at me!   5 years ago

      Zero proof masks help anything.

    3. Echospinner   5 years ago

      The government leaders could also set a good example. Jo Jorgensen is doing that in her rallies. Compare that to Donald Trump and his rallies and gatherings. He mocks Biden for his precautions.

      Trumps infection and the others around him and in the central government are classic examples of preventable error. The president is the one person who should be protected from danger. He did fine but this bug can go either way and there is no predicting it.

      1. Foo_dd   5 years ago

        yeah, he certainly did not lead by good example.... not that that is much of a surprise.

      2. D-Pizzle   5 years ago

        "He did fine but this bug can go either way and there is no predicting it."

        Yes, but the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of it going one way (the way it went for Trump, a paunchy 74 year-old with a notoriously crappy diet) than the other. Saying it can go either way is true in a strict sense, but is extremely misleading on its own. Also, one presidential candidate does not have to worry about catching or spreading the WuFlu anymore. Which one is that?

  18. Enjoy Every Sandwich   5 years ago

    Covid-19 has demonstrated for anybody who had any doubts that worship of Big Government is a religion, and a seriously cultish one at that. People really believe that a virus can eradicated simply by government officials ordering it to be so.

    It reminds me of hardcore drug warriors: "We're just being too soft on them! We need to crack down! Public executions, that's what we need! That'll teach 'em!"

    1. Eeyore   5 years ago

      Executing people who catch covid would technically reduce covid deaths to 0.

      I hear lots of victim blaming. It was her fault for not masking hard enough or not distancing hard enough.

      1. ejsmith   5 years ago

        Despite being executed, the death will still be counted as "with COVID."

        1. Eeyore   5 years ago

          Forgot about that 🙁

    2. I'm Not Sure   5 years ago

      The Judge Smails approach?

      "I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them."

  19. Union of Concerned Socks   5 years ago

    Officials might not agree with members of the public on how best to limit the spread of COVID-19. But letting people make their own decisions and voluntarily do business with like-minded others makes a lot more sense than pursuing an unwinnable enforcement campaign against a fed-up population.

    Eight fucking months late. Better than never, but not by much.

  20. I'm Not Sure   5 years ago

    "We are NOT trying to be rebellious or are anti-masks, anti-people's health or any of the other nonsense. This is a decision out of survival," the post adds.

    So you're not opposed to oppressive government regulation unless it negatively affects you?

    Got it.

  21. Rufus The Monocled   5 years ago

    I wish nothing but ill on these motherfucken politicians and public health officials.

  22. Rufus The Monocled   5 years ago

    Masks probably cause cancer. That's one way to get the sheep to pay attention because if there's one thing that scares people more than anything it's cancer.

    https://neverb4.net/is-your-mask-giving-you-lung-cancer/

    1. Echospinner   5 years ago

      Masks attract giant hairy spiders which are way more scary.

      https://images.app.goo.gl/hZ6uUV6mBkZxy2Ba7

  23. ValVerde1867   5 years ago

    These are the same establishments and businesses that government depends on to pay taxes for its revenue. What is this nonsense? Of course, Illinois being a Marxist state will just continue to raise taxes on everyone else and petition the Feds for a few truckloads of electronic pesos from Heaven to pay the bills. These politicians are insane...on their best day.

  24. Julia-reason   5 years ago

    Why does the government believe it can control viruses? It doesn't. But as long as they indefinitely "control the spread", they keep getting funded, paid to stay at home etc. Much easier to write all those "guidelines" and perform pseudo-science from home than solve real life problems. If the virus runs its course and goes away, they have to go back to work. The vacation is over.

  25. EWM   5 years ago

    The time to take advantage of the outrage is now. See "The Jones Plantation" @ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jones-plantation-feature-film?fbclid=IwAR2de8cALnXgZEBLtonRaoDJlo2GheIe1GO_1UADOoRRFlzwwSIxseQ6yWY#/

  26. Paul 3   5 years ago

    It shouldn't have taken this long for restaurants to fight back against this left-wing tyrant. This should be happening in other states, and not just from the restaurant industry, but from other businesses and the public. Yet the politicians, media, and medical establishment have succeeded in making so many people irrationally scared that some WANT another lockdown.

  27. Carter Mitchell   5 years ago

    F#@k Pritzker, I'm sure his fat ass isn't suffering any deprivation. I've never been active in politics but next election I will work tirelessly to through that obnoxious bastard out. Not that it would bother him and his billions, although remedies harkening back to the French Revolution would be more appropriate.

  28. Echospinner   5 years ago

    At the end of the day government authority is a thin veneer. You can’t force people to do what they don’t want to do if enough of them refuse.

    Government mandates and lockdowns just don’t work after a while. Most people have reached the Covid burnout limit. They will wear a mask at the grocery and places like that mostly but that is about it.

    I do place most of the blame on government for this failure. Too many mixed messages and politicizing of the issues. The time to get on top of this was right at the start and our government completely failed to do that.

  29. ejhickey   5 years ago

    I live in Illinois . If I go to a restaurant that is open for inside dining in violation of Governor Parade Balloon's orders , do I still have to follow the order to wear a mask (another of Fatty's edicts)? Asking for a friend

    1. Carter Mitchell   5 years ago

      @EJHickey: I think that will be up to the owner. I'm going to one tomorrow (in Illinois, at least a few towns are telling Fat Boy to stick it where the sun don't shine), I'll let you know. If so, I'll take my business up to Wisconsin where they don't have to put up with the bullshit.

  30. Truthteller1   5 years ago

    There will be a reckoning regardless of who wins the election. It's obvious to anyone outside the media and academia.

  31. CE   5 years ago

    LA just shuts off their power and water if they get uppity.

  32. Easter1141   5 years ago

    Google pays for every Person every hour online working from home job. I have received $23K in this month easily and I earns every weeks $5K to 8$K on the internet. A Every Person join this working easily by just just open this website and follow instructions..Visit here for full details

  33. Fromion   5 years ago

    There may be in some communities, but I have never personally been to a hospital or medical clinic that didn’t charge you something, even if you are low income and have no insurance. For that I use Medical treatment abroad https://icloudhospital.com/general_health . There are processes for hospitals to recover or write-off expenses with the indigent.

  34. ShelbyOneal   5 years ago

    Google is by and by paying $27485 to $29658 consistently for taking a shot at the web from home.Ahj I have joined this action 2 months back and I have earned $31547 in my first month from this action. I can say my life is improved completely! Take a gander at it what I do..... Visit Here

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

Trump Says the Courts Have No Business Questioning His Dubious Definition of 'Alien Enemies'

Jacob Sullum | 7.1.2025 5:40 PM

Medicaid Work Requirements Are a Short-Term Fix to a Long-Term Problem

Tosin Akintola | 7.1.2025 4:18 PM

The U.S. Is Closing Every Door on Afghan Allies

Beth Bailey | 7.1.2025 4:00 PM

Trump's Travel Ban Will Not Make Americans Safer

Benjamin Powell | 7.1.2025 3:15 PM

California Enacts Sweeping Exemption to Development-Killing Environmental Law

Christian Britschgi | 7.1.2025 1:10 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!