The bars of the mask-mandate cage are illusions.
The bars of the mask-mandate cage are illusions.
Social and physical attacks - initiated by fellow inmates who don’t want *any* businesses or *any* customers to fly free of the fear cult - are not illusions.
Back on Dec. 31, 2020, I sent an email to the State College Police Department:
I'm interested in getting arrested and imprisoned for noncompliance with Gov. Wolf's and Borough Council's orders, but don't want to inconvenience a retail clerk or manager of already-hammered local businesses by entering a business unmuzzled. I also want to make the process as easy as possible for you and the police department.
Would it work if I just came to the police station unmuzzled?
I'm not joking. I don't know how to resist the totalitarianism since freedom of speech and assembly have also been suspended.
A few hours later, I got a very polite, kind response from a State College police officer (emphasis added by me):
Gov. Wolf's order asks for voluntary compliance by individuals and does not have an enforcement section authorizing the arrest of anyone for violating the order. In short, we cannot arrest you for not following the order from Gov. Wolf. The latest information on the Commonwealth's response to Covid-19 can be found here:
Responding to COVID-19 | PA.GOV
Regarding individual violations of borough ordinance 2145, they can only result in a citation and only under certain circumstances. No in-custody arrests have been, or will be, made by any State College police officer.
You can find a copy of the ordinance here if you would like to reference it.
ORD-2145---COVID-19-Masking-and-Social-Distancing (statecollegepa.us)
I can appreciate your frustration with both measures and at the same time I appreciate your concern for our local businesses.
So I sent the officer a thank-you note:
Thank you for your reply. I figured as much.
They're "laws" that aren't really laws, enforced more by mass media, social conformity pressure and business owner fear than anything else.
Which doesn't do anything good for the public trust in the rule of law generally, among other horrible side effects.
Plus it's so vague, there's no clear person or government office or meeting at which to protest or demand reopening and repeal of mask mandates.
Judge Stickman in September found Wolf's unilateral executive orders (no evidence, endpoint, legislative debate or ratification) unconstitutional and it made no difference at all for implementation.
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pawd.266888/gov.uscourts.pawd.266888.79.0_1.pdf
If you know of any likeminded people trying to figure out how to overturn this insanity, please put me in contact with them. I can't find them because everyone I know is self-censoring for fear of being screamed at and assaulted by civilian lockdown, distancing and mask enforcers.
I would love to connect with them and come up with some effective means of fighting back. I would preferentially spend money at any business, restaurant or otherwise, willing to violate the rules, stay open, and allow patrons the option to freely choose to enter unmuzzled and stand closer than 6 feet. But again, I don't know how to connect with those brave business owners in a timely and effective way.
Again, thank you for the reply.
A few days before I sent that email, I went to Wegmans, wearing a mask but also wearing a placard hung around my neck. Written in Sharpie on the card:
Mask mandates are unconstitutional and dehumanizing.
Masks are ineffective public health measures for viral infection control. swprs.org/face-masks-evidence/
I comply only to spare retail workers the headache of enforcement burdens.
I do not consent.
The only person who read it was the check-out clerk, and she snarled “Have a healthy holiday” at me as I finished paying and left with my groceries.
I don’t blame her at all for her fear of Covid or anger at me for challenging the masking propaganda. But I also have been doing most of our household grocery shopping elsewhere since then, after many years of mostly shopping at Wegmans.
A few days after the New Year’s Eve exchange with the State College police officer, I stopped at Weis for a few things and didn’t wear a mask. After I had a couple items, a clerk came up to me in the aisle where I was standing, held out a mask from six feet away and said "Ma'am, I have to ask you to put this on."
I said, "And I refuse."
Then I walked away to the scanner checkout. I don't know what the clerk did after that, but I scanned my two items, paid in cash and left.
I reported myself to the State College police a few hours later, asking: “Are there any plans for the SCPD to ask Borough Council to repeal the masking/distancing/lockdown ordinance on constitutional and human rights grounds? Spanish police are joining with protestors against the totalitarianism.”
And provided the following link:
[Update 4/18/22 - The video showed Italian police protesting on the same side as freedom protestors.]
No reply to date.
The day after my rebellious mask-free foray into Weis to buy cheese and Vitamin D supplements, I drove down to York to a meeting of FreePA, which is a citizen group.
I’m not on Facebook, but they have a Facebook group you can join if you’re interested.
Anyway, at the meeting I learned that several bar and restaurant owners in the York area have defied Governor Wolf’s orders, by opening with no occupancy limits and mask-optional policies. Patrons who choose to enter are taking on the risks involved, and patrons who don’t want to enter an establishment that serves people who aren’t wearing masks and aren’t maintaining six-foot personal radii, obviously don’t have to enter.
As I understood the discussion, the PA Liquor Control Board challenged some of the bar and restaurant owners with revocation of their liquor licenses. The owners got attorneys and refused to back down, challenging the LCB to take the cases to trial, or administrative hearing, or whatever the jurisdiction happens to be.
And as I understood the outcome, the LCB backed down and dropped the cases, leaving the owners and patrons of the rebel establishments to continue transacting business together on mutually agreeable terms.
There may be a list of the mask-optional, full-occupancy businesses circulating somewhere, so that people interested in preferentially supporting those businesses know how to do so.
I’d love to see some courageous Centre County small business owners connect with FreePA to find out more about the process, as preparation for directly challenging Governor Wolf and State College Borough Council’s unconstitutional, illegal mask mandates, social distancing mandates, and occupancy limits.
It would be great to have a mix of businesses operating in Centre County: some for those who support Covid restrictions and some for those who oppose Covid restrictions, so that both groups can exercise their human rights and make their own cost-benefit decisions freely and without government interference.
