The Lawsuit by 7 school boards fighting Youngkin’s EO on optional masks in schools may be made moot by one Democrat listening to parents and doctors.
I’ve met with Sen Petersen while lobbying for menhaden regulation and firearms laws, and felt he was one who listened and spoke honestly even when we disagreed on the issues. Perhaps he will prove to be yet another Democrat who sees his party moving away from reality.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Perhaps.
And maybe McConnell’s comments yesterday will start a return of the GOP to reality. I doubt it, but I applaud Magic Mitch for his statement.
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McConnell is adept at reading the tea leaves. Pence told The Federalist that Trump was wrong. Many GOP legislators are probably fed up with their party’s self-imposed toxic allegiance to the ex-president. Especially the ones who have “no comment” to every outrage coming to the forefront.
As evidence emerges about a planned autogolpe and more operatives are outed, I feel optimistic that there may be some actual patriots among Republicans.
IMO
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Looks like it’s moot now. Not only did Petersen join in but several more democrats joined in as well to pass the senate. On to the house and then the gov.
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I just wonder why representatives who espouse less government intervention and allowing local decisions makers to make the decisions best for their localities want to take that away for them?
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Parents are more ‘local’ than school boards, who are in fear of the mask-obsessed Karens who seek to force their will on others.
Government’s primary function is to protect our rights, usually from government.
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For someone who deplores democracy, you are giving praise for the value of the “mob” versus elected officials.
Board members have been threatened. So might as well scrap the elective representation and go straight to the voters.
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How can individual parents be a ‘mob?’
There is no evidence that masks, as used in schools, have any effect on transmission. Omicron spreads just as well in schools with mask mandates as without.
So, absent any ‘defense of others’ argument it becomes a matter to be decided by the individual child’s parents.
Too many people have become addicted to fear. It becomes the driving force in their lives and they cling to it.
COVID is still a dangerous disease, but as the supply of therapeutics builds, it becomes manageable and not something to rule your life.
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Parents are the unelected citizenry. That is why I put mob in quotes. Getting monthly opinions from local parents as voters would be pure democracy. Boards are the representative form of political participation.
That is what I found to be ironic. You don’t trust people to make democratic decisions in a government, but you do trust people do do so in these cases.
Yes, there is a difference in scale.
Still…
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Not a difference in scale, a difference in kind.
I support the rights of the parents across the street to make decisions for their child, but not for mine, so long as their decisions do not harm mine.
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Not really. If you want to change the policy, lobby the board, recall them in an election or elect new ones.
If I believe your unmasked child is a threat to my child undergoing chemo, do I have a voice?
You want a national popular vote on gun control? Or would you rather go through the representatives we elected?
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I don’t want any vote on gun control at all, rights are not subject to the whim of the majority.
People believe any number of foolish things. Some people believe old ladies who grow herbs are witches, that doesn’t give them the right to gather a mob and burn them.
If you want to intercede in my authority over my child(the youngest of which is 42, but in theory…) it is your burden to prove there is substantial reason and that there is no other remedy.
You can’t meet either test. If you have an exceptionally vulnerable child, you have the option of private of home schooling. And you have no actual evidence that masks as used in schools make a serious difference.
Simply because you have an unsupported belief that it matters doesn’t empower you any more than you can burn a witch.
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I get what you are saying. But my point was the irony.
Either democracy or a representative democracy are what the issue is.
Let motorcyclists determine helmet laws by voice vote or let them work democratic elections to get their representatives in office. Same thing.
We are 19th in the world on COVID per capita death rates. The only ones worse are 2nd tier industrial and third world nations. Every surge has stretched our healthcare to the breaking point in many regions. People have attacked vaccination workers in some instances. Masks cause fights. MSM darling FOX has done all it could to sabotage our efforts.
This school issue, resolvable in saner days and places, is just another flop. Death threats to school board members. Yeah, that is so wonderful. 2nd Amendment solution #315 or so.
So let’s just keep up the fighting and let’s see how that will work. So far it has not.
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Or, you could show motorcyclists a picture of Gary Bussy’s head after he skidded into a curb and let them decide if they want to wear a helmet.
No one has attacked a vaccination worker I know of. And people don’t get mad a school boards who aren’t employing the force of government where it does not belong.
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…” mask-obsessed Karens who seek to force their will on others.”
So the Karens that protests masks are just fine in forcing THEIR will on others?
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They aren’t.
No one is saying you can’t mask YOUR child. They’re saying you cannot force masks on their children in the absence of evidence of harm to others.
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How does one know if their actions are harmful to another? Len used the child undergoing chemo as a good example.
And when my child (my youngest is 31, but you used yours) wears a mask and your doesn’t and then ridicules mine for doing so, where do we go? Most anti-mask parents won’t take the time to tell little Johnny to leave little Tony alone because his family has chosen to mask up. From what I have seen and heard recently, the parents will jump right in with the ridicule.
You can’t legislate morality; you can legislate against stupidity.
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If my child ridicules yours for wearing a mask, he will get a stern lecture on respecting the rights of other to make their own choices. Will the mask Karens do the same with their children?
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Good for you. In fct, I would hope that you would teach your children to not ridicule those who are different and that the reprimand wouldn’t be needed.
HOWEVER, not all people are as generous in the teaching of your children. I use the example of the lady who threatened to bring guns to school to ensure her children are not forced to wear a mask. Is she teaching her children to accept others, or is she teaching her children my way or the highway?
I have yet to hear of parents in favor of masks threatening to bring guns to schools to ensure their children are allowed to wear a mask.
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I am unaware of anyone suggesting a child NOT BE allowed to wear a mask.
The issue is forcing children to wear one against their parents’ judgment.
But the mask mandates are the equivalent of employing the government to bring the guns.
If something is wrong for you to do as an individual, it is wrong for you to do it through government.
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