“Mask Wearers of the World, Unite!”
August 8, 2021 Leave a comment
“In everyone there is some willingness to merge with the anonymous crowd and to flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudo-life. This is much more than a simple conflict between two identities. It is something far worse: it is a challenge to the very notion of identity itself.” ― Václav Havel
This past year-and-a half, did you “merge with the anonymous crowd” and “flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudo-life”? Did you follow the flotilla of Pied pipers mesmerizing you with “the science”?
Did you socially distance, put on a mask, and have your business and office and church shut down? Did you believe that the PCR tests are accurate (Guess why there are so few cases of the flu reported)? Did you submit your body to be a lab experiment for the mRNA vaccines?
Did you go along with “the science” to get along? Did you go along with “the anonymous crowd” because, per the head mocker of the Biden regime, “if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were,”.
Do you now equate the loss of freedom and choice as a loss of your identity as a human? Or, are you still wanting “to flow comfortably along with it (the loss of your identity) down the river of pseudo-life”? Are you OK with diktats and lacking individual will? Are you OK supporting the automatism of a totalitarian system?
Now, you may say to me “it was out of fear of COVID that I persuaded myself to follow the mandates”, or, “It was out of fear of giving someone COVID that I submitted to the mandates’, or, “it was out of fear of litigation that I shut down my business, my church.”
Or, was it out of fear of thinking for yourself, acting individually, and rebuffing the diktats coming down from the bio-medical regime through the state media?
*****
The alignment of the power – globalists, oligarchs, techno-utopians, politicians, the media, the Pope, and the forces of evil – against the powerless has been the impetus for my dissenting posts over the past year and-a half. I have opposed the schizophrenic CDC guidelines. I have opposed authoritarian mandates. I have opposed tyranny – including medical tyranny. I have opposed the lies being fed us. I have opposed the sowing of fear. And, I will oppose the Great Reset mandates – from the powerful to the powerless – coming our way.
What is coming our way is a thousand times more tyrannical than what we’ve seen the past year. The “river of pseudo-life” will flow with blood. If my words have seemed harsh, critical and uncompassionate, if it appears that I am calling out people for their past behavior, then please understand. This post is meant to be a wakeup call. It is meant to shake you out of a COVID-induced paralysis to face the growing nightmare.
*****
As a nation, we didn’t start out stupefied and powerless. But over time we gave in to soft tyranny (Tocqueville). Out of fear, we have exchanged our freedom (and our identity) for false security.
Last century, for example, we accepted the New Deal and the tyranny of centralized planning – the welfare state and overreaching government. Wasn’t New Deal tyranny acceptance based on (economic) fear? Wasn’t New Deal tyranny acceptance also a “well-meaning” acceptance by the people?
Today, fearful and well-meaning people, have become OK with the hard-core tyranny of censorship. Those behind the Great Reset love these people. Behind the fascia of Build Back Better is (1984’s) Room 101: Besmirch Bludgeon Begone.
As we have seen, much of the country has fallen prostrate before mandates and “guidelines” out of fear of a so-called “public-health crisis”. Yet, COVID19 is a variation of the common cold and has a recovery rate of over 99.8 % for most people. Early outpatient treatment is recommended.
The American Journal of Medicine now (Jan. 2021) now (finally!) recommends Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Zinc for the treatment of Covid 19 outpatients. Had this been the protocol used in Jan. 2020, many lives could have been saved. But the powerful – Anthony Fauci, the CDC, Francis Collins and the NIH, Bill Gates, and big pharma – had other plans for the American people.
There has also been fear of litigation if not abiding by the mandates and “guidelines”. Behind all the fear is the fear of disobeying the powerful alignment that stands against the powerless.
To assuage fears, there are those who have chosen to “merge with the anonymous crowd” and have chosen to live the (COVIDian) lies given them. They have chosen “to flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudo-life”.
The COVIDian lies include the following:
Mask wearing is effective to stop the spread of COVID; not wearing a mask puts yourself and others at risk; children must wear a mask to school.
A group of physicians from Germany, Poland and Austria, concluded that the wearing of nose and mouth coverings by children leads to an increase in carbon dioxide levels in both inhaled and exhaled air while wearing a mask.
“We suggest that decision-makers weigh the hard evidence produced by these experimental measurements accordingly, which suggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.”
Social distancing works to stop the spread of COVID; shutting down businesses and churches stops the spread of COVID.
(Idiotic. Distance yourself from the CDC.)
You need the vaccine to protect you from COVID. It is safe and effective.
You need the vaccine to protect yourself even if you have acquired immunity.
(The CDC and Big Pharma won’t talk about acquired immunity. They have a vaccine to sell.)
You need the vaccine to protect yourself. Other protocols don’t work.
(UK Researchers: Cheap Cholesterol Drug Reduces Covid-19 Infection by 70% (thegatewaypundit.com))
You need the CDC to tell you how to think about COVID.
You need Vitamins C and D, the mineral Zinc, exercise, sunshine and a good CDC-free doctor.
Do you realize that you now spend every waking hour thinking about what government wants and how it effects your freedom?
*****
December, 1989. Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia. On New Year’s Day, 1990, he gave his first “state-of-the-nation” address to the country on national television.
“New Year’s Address to the Nation,’ January 1, 1990
“For forty years on this day, you heard, from my predecessors, variations on the same theme: how our country was flourishing, how many millions of tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspective were unfolding before us.
I assume do did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you.
Our country is not flourishing. . ..
But all this is not the main problem. The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we got used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore each other, to care only for ourselves. Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility, and forgiveness lost their depth and dimensions. . .. The previous regime . . . reduced man to a force of production and nature to a tool of production. . .. It reduced gifted an autonomous people to nuts and bolts in some monstrously huge, noisy, and stinking machine, whose real purpose was not clear to anyone. . ..
As I have observed the growing fascism under the alignment of the powerful with the Biden regime and its invocation of dystopia and dehumanization akin to what Havel described in his address, the title of Václav Havel’s 1978 essay, The Power of the Powerless, intrigued me.
The essay, among others found in The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe, explain the features of Soviet-type totalitarian systems of power as compared to the West (A comparison soon to be invalid if people continue “to flow comfortably along . . . down the river of pseudo-life).
Havel’s description of “the post-totalitarian system” he is witness to is shockingly similar to current state of affairs in the U.S.:
“The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his or her ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.”
Havel’s “post-totalitarian state” of 70’s Communist Eastern Europe was totalitarian but radically different from the totalitarian dictatorships of Hitler and Mao. Havel’s biographer, John Keane, described Havel’s “post-totalitarian state” this way:
Within the system, every individual is trapped within a dense network of the state’s governing instruments. . .themselves legitimated by a flexible but comprehensive ideology, a “secularized religion”. . . .it is therefore necessary to see, argued Havel, that power relations. . .are best described as a labyrinth of influence, repression, fear and self-censorship which swallows up everyone within it, at the very least by rendering them silent, stultified and marked by some undesirable prejudices of the powerful.
Keane’s description brings us back to the epigram of this post. The “willingness to merge” statement is from The Power of the Powerless. It follows from the shop-keeper example and questions Havel poses:
The manager of a fruit-and-vegetable shop places in his window, among the onions and carrots, the slogan: “Workers of the world, unite!” Why does he do it? What is he trying to communicate to the world? Is he genuinely enthusiastic about the idea of unity among the workers of the world? Is his enthusiasm so great that he feels an irrepressible impulse to acquaint the public with his ideals? Has he really given much thought to how such a unification might occur and what it could mean?
What if the shopkeeper takes down his sign (takes off his mask) and begins to speak up?
Havel explores the potential of the “powerless” with an examination of the nature of power. Havel speaks of a profound crisis of human identity brought about by “living within a lie.” He speaks of political import: the individual’s moral choice for truth and in the creation of an independent life – a sphere of truth – for society even as every individual is trapped within a dense network of the state’s governing instruments. (I would add: The center of power is not the center of truth.)
(This essay has much to consider at this moment in time. It is available for download below.)
“If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth. This is why it must be suppressed more severely than anything else.”
― Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless
*****
“In an era when metaphysical and existential certainties are in a state of crisis, when people are being uprooted and alienated and are losing their sense of what this world means, this ideology inevitably has a certain hypnotic charm. To wandering humankind it offers an immediately available home: all one has to do is accept it, and suddenly everything becomes clear once more, life takes on new meaning, and all mysteries, unanswered questions, anxiety, and loneliness vanish. Of course, one pays dearly for this low-rent home: the price is abdication of one’ s own reason, conscience, and responsibility, for an essential aspect of this ideology is the consignment of reason and conscience to a higher authority. The principle involved here is that the center of power is identical with the center of truth.”
― Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe
“Truth must be integrated with love; morality is not whole without it. Love is the greatest strength of the powerless. Unity founded on love will never be coercion; power guided by love will never be violence. Love is all-powerful and will even overcome hatred. And only love can do this!”
― Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe
*****
This week I received the following message from my Illinois state representative:
Yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker issued a statewide mask mandate for K-12 students. In doing so, he superseded the decisions being made at the local level, and silenced the voices of students, parents, educators and administrators.
This authoritarian mandate is the latest attack on truth and humanity. As most people now know, masks are ineffective against the spread of COVID. Worse, as detailed above, masks are dangerous for children to wear. Do not send your children to school in masks. Masks are physically and emotionally harmful for children to wear. Defy the lie.
*****
Other lies we are told to accept:
Critical Race Theory (CRT)
America is a racist country.
If you are white you are racist.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. ((DEI) is meaningless virtue signaling of Woke ‘virtues.’ Consider that Chicago elected a DEI intersectional black-gay-woman as mayor. Chicago is referred to nationally by the shooting and killings that take place in its city limits. Chicago’s mayor Lightfoot, in her DEI capacity, absolves herself of any responsibility by saying “All roads lead to COVID.” Others like her say, “All roads lead to climate change.”
DEI is a tyrannical imposition on people and business and, for the most part, is racist in its application.)
The hugely priced Infrastructure Bill is about physical infrastructure. (The bill contains massive amounts of tax-payer money for social engineering. Its passage will place America’s children and grandchildren under a huge burden of debt, devalue the dollar and will expose America to its number one enemy – China.) Also, are you OK with having your mileage taxed?
*****
*****
*****
Mass Psychosis:
Mask Psychosis:
Mask Psychosis: NYT Confirms The Liberal Mask Cult Is Here to Stay – Revolver
“Corona Unmasked” by Sucharit Bhakdi and Karina Reiss | Algora Blog
Informed Dissent:
Israeli scientist says COVID-19 could be treated for under $1/day – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
If They Want to See A COVID “Passport” – Show them This! – Granite Grok
Back-to-school plans in DC, Maryland and Virginia: Where masks are required | WTOP
UK Researchers: Cheap Cholesterol Drug Reduces Covid-19 Infection by 70% (thegatewaypundit.com)
Dr. Ryan Cole — What the Vaccine spike protein does to the body… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS
*****
Cindy Wity 
Half Life
February 13, 2022 Leave a comment
From the beginning, Peter had the determination of three boys his age. Out of earshot, some called him “stubborn” and “bull headed”. Others called him “a little terror”. And others, teachers mostly, said he needed medication just to be around. His parents, a minister and his wife, called their gift from God “Mr. Resolute”.
When little Peter decided something, he would plead endlessly with “Now!” He wouldn’t take “No” or “Not now” for an answer. The first of five children, Peter often wore his parents down with the strength of his will. And though Peter could badger them non-stop, Peter kept on himself even more to complete a task.
When focused on an activity – his parents came up with problem solving activities – Peter found it hard to give it up or move away until he accomplished the objective. His parents saw potential in Peter’s persistent ways – he could become a high achiever who followed his passions.
So, they chastened and channeled the stubborn streak. With sternness and loving care, Peter’s parents applied the proverb The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
They responded to Peter’s repeated demands with “I hear you. Can you come up with a solution?” When Peter became frustrated, they urged him on saying “You can do hard things” and “Sometimes we make mistakes, and that is how we learn.” When Peter worked through his frustration and completed a hard task, they recognized the effort with “How’d you do that?” and “You have what it takes. You have grit.”
The only time his parents saw five-year-old Peter temper his assertiveness was when folks from the church watched Peter on a date night. Peter played doctor with their daughter who was two years older than Peter. Her self-assuredness captured Peter’s attention. “This is what a doctor would do” she would tell Peter.
One Sunday, years later, Peter’s father preached a sermon titled Making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Peter decided to make a decision to follow Jesus that day. Almost immediately impure thoughts and desires became glaringly obvious at this new intersection. There were two directions he faced: towards Laurie, a high school junior, who had been flirting with him non-stop and who was “easy” according to his friends and toward Jesus who wasn’t defined as “easy”.
The summer before his freshmen year, the high school’s track coach saw the tall gaunt Peter running along a road. The coach pulled his car up, opened the window and talked with Peter as he ran. He said that Peter should give cross-country a try and then drove off.
Peter joined the team and began running 5K races. What Peter soon realized was that the long-distance running – the regular practices and the meets – were a means to direct the fire within him. His daily pattern of run-eat-school-run-eat-study- sleep kept him burning the fuel that would otherwise consume him. He told himself that the only lines he would cross were the starting line and the finish line of a race worthy to run.
During high school Peter mastered his school work and was selected to become a member of the National Honor Society. And during those four years he had several part-time jobs and summer jobs that kept him focused.
After high school graduation, Peter looked for ways to channel his stick-to-itiveness. His minister father suggested that his never-back-down attitude would serve him in the army. Peter could sign up and get up to full college tuition, as well as money for housing and books through the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
The minister knew that Peter’s resolve and wisdom would be tested in the army. Would he hold up, his mother feared. She prayed that Peter would return sound in mind and body. On his eighteenth birthday Peter entered the army. He went through rigorous training and learned to obey orders.
Then one day, three years later, the staff sergeant told his squad “Vaccine – get ‘er done!” Peter didn’t submit to the order. Though he was twenty-one and felt indestructible, his gut – or was it the Holy Spirit? – told him to stay away. The sacred space and spiritual fortitude which steeled him would not be gutted by an experimental vaccine.
His parents had raised him on reason and revelation. The mandated vaccine didn’t fall into either category. Wasn’t he training to go into battle to defend and secure freedom and democracy? “Uncle Jab wants you,” is the vacant stare that came down from the top.
Like many soldiers, Peter submitted a religious exemption. Aborted fetal cells, used in the production of the vaccine, precluded taking the vaccine. Others submitted medical exemptions. All of the vaccine detractors, talking amongst themselves, became aware of the mounting adverse effects and casualties caused by the vaccine.
But the military hierarchy ignored medical and religious exemptions. The military demanded unquestioning obedience to the COVID vaccine and to the new Critical race Theory and Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs. Those programs never included religious convictions, as Peter witnessed firsthand.
Some in his squad were saying “The army has become a clown show” and “The army cares more about superficiality than substance, culture than character”. The army discharged Peter and over 3000 other soldiers for not taking the unholy clot shot.
When he returned home, Peter’s father said “You were right to reject the military on those terms. You signed up to serve your country and see the world. Now go see the heartland on your own terms.”
*****
From the beginning, Lena had a knack for nurturing. She played veterinarian with her dog and neighborhood pets. She played house and doctor with the young boy living next door. During high school she helped care for her grandmother who suffered from dementia and spent a couple of hours each weekend at a hospital.
Her Swedish parents, both medical professionals, were hospitable people. They encouraged Lena to interact with their many guests – medical staff of Doctors Without Borders. Lena kept a diary of who she met and what was talked about. They each encouraged her to go into medicine. She made an entry after talking to one nurse:
You can’t buy time. Choose wisely.
After high school Lena set out on a course in nursing. When she stepped into those shoes, she took an oath to practice and uphold the standards of her profession faithfully. Nursing was a perfect match for Lena’s desire to provide care for others.
Six years into working as an ICU nurse, though, Lena left her job at a hospital in Indiana. She told her parents that “policies were being rolled out at the hospital that would ultimately initiate the segregation of its staff on who was vaccinated versus who was unvaccinated.
I was uncomfortable with that and unwilling to cooperate with that kind of treatment. I had seen this treatment play out on my patients as well where doctors and some nurses that I worked with were bullying and harassing my patients for making a medical decision on their own. They were treating people like dementia patients – like they were unable to think for themselves.
Hospitals began mandating vaccinations. I knew I wouldn’t take the COVID vaccine. I pushed back because hospitals have an absolute commitment to follow the data. Ignoring natural immunity in a vaccine discussion is just criminal.
Over a hundred of us resigned from the hospital due to the vaccine requirement. We can’t tell the patients what risks or adverse effects could occur with the vaccine. It’s criminal. This kind of health care is against everything I stand for. Dementia patients are running the public health programs.”
****
Peter turned on the radio.
All in for the Win, Illinois. Getting vaccinated protects you from catching or spreading COVID-19 — and it’s our best shot at beating this pandemic and getting back to living our full lives. And now, getting the vaccine gives you a shot at winning up to $1 million. As an Illinois resident, if you’ve been vaccinated or are about to get vaccinated, you’re automatically entered in for a chance at part of our $10 million vaccine sweepstakes. Let’s go all in for the win Illinois.
Peter turned the radio dial.
. . . I tried a laxative that is both fast and effective . . .
Peter turned the radio dial.
What’s Your Warrior? Travel, Career Opportunities, Education. . . find your inner warrior . . . Army . . .”
“Yeah, I found my inner warrior. I’ll travel and educate myself.” Peter turned the radio dial.
In 2019 Illinois Democrats elected a fat-cat governor to represent their lottery dreams and Chicago Democrats elected a Woke NFT – a bug-eyed gay black female to represent the law and order of intersectionality.
In 2020 and 2021, the obese governor locked down and masked any opposition to his mandates. State licensing was the gun to the head.
In 2022, “well-meaning” Democrat state representatives decided a medical apartheid in Illinois was necessary. So, they created a vaccine registry and a quarantine town. The southern Illinois quarantine town is called New COVID.
While unvaccinated illegal aliens cross the southern border by the thousands, Illinois citizens are being herded into New COVID because of their vax resistance and claim of natural immunity.
As mRNA COVID vaccines fenagle the operating system of Americans, so illegal immigrants fenagle America’s operating system. Both experiments disregard the integrity of the host’s system . . .
Peter turned off the radio. He had reached the US 65 Whitesville exit. He took the exit and after two right turns he reached the fulfillment center. From the cab he called the traffic manager’s office to let them know he had arrived. He was told to wait in line. Ten trucks were ahead of him.
With the rig idling, Peter walked over to the dock door and went in. The bathroom and the vending machines were to the right. Truckers were coming in and out. Peter headed into the vending machine room and dropped some coins for some black brew. He sat down and waited for his phone to ring.
Outside the vending room, forklifts zipped back and forth with pallets. The drivers were loading and unloading the trailers. Peter had seen this a thousand times before. What he hadn’t seen before was a blonde pony-tailed-hard-hat wearing woman with a yellow and blue plaid shirt zipping by on a forklift. When the yellow and blue plaid spun by again, Peter was able to catch a glimpse of the driver’s kind smiling eyes.
****
After leaving the ICU nursing position, Lena found work at a distribution center in Whitestown, Indiana. She had a student loan to repay. And though for the moment it didn’t look promising, Lena hoped that when the courts ended the COVID mandate madness, she would be back nursing again. She put her resume online. In the meantime, Lena earned eighteen bucks an hour over a 36-hour pay period. She loaded and unloaded semi-trailers.
It was during one shift that she caught a glimpse of a tall scrawny guy with steel-blue eyes. He was talking on the phone in the vending room. On her return trip past the vending room, he was gone.
A trailer backed into bay 7. Before reaching the bay’s bumpers, the driver jumped out of the cab and opened the trailer doors. The driver then backed the truck up to the bumpers up and set the brake. Lena pulled the loading dock release chain and the loading dock came up and unfolded. Then she put her weight on it to have it come down on the bed of the trailer. It came down with a loud “clunk”.
A trucker driver came through the dock door and was heading over to Bay 7. Lena, driving up in a forklift, noticed him walking and looking at his watch. She pulled the forklift up next to him and told him “I’ll get ‘er done!” Peter raised his eyes and said “Yes, ma’am. You will. I am five hours behind schedule.”
Peter handed her the shipment receipt. “I’m Bill . . . Bill Lading.”
Lena laughed. If you’re “Bill Lading, I’m Kari Awai. Go have some coffee and I’ll get this done fer you.”
Peter watched her unload the first pallet. She maneuvered the forklift in, picked the load, and then backed out across the diamond plate. Then she headed off to some aisle in the warehouse. The blonde ponytail, the sky-blue eyes, the pixie smile – What maneuvers do I have? Peter asked himself as he headed back to the vending room. “I’m not much to look at. I’m so skinny I don’t even have a shadow.”
In the vending room Peter called his next stop to tell them that he was behind schedule. There weren’t enough people to unload trucks, he told them. “I’ll be there sometime after eight-o’clock.”
Forty-five minuets later, Lena came into the vending room. She handed Peter the signed bill of lading and a tin foil-wrapped package.
“What’s this”, Peter asked.
“It’s your bill, Bill, and some banana bread I made last night.”
“Well, that just dills my pickle”
“You from the south?”
“No ma’am. I just end up talking to southerners at the truck stops.”
“I see. Should I go on pretending your name is Bill Lading? My name is Lena.”
“No ma’am. Name’s Peter. And thanks for the banana bread. I need something beside this varnish remover I’ve been drinking.” Peter pushed aside the paper cup of vending machine coffee.
“Are you back this way again?” Lena raised her eyebrows.
“Yes ma’am. I’ll be here next Tuesday. I drive a circuit: Whitestown to Edwardsville, Illinois to Nashville and then back here. How about you? You work on Tuesday’s?”
“I do. My circuit is this warehouse 36 hours a week.”
“Well ma’am. I hope our paths cross again. I look forward to that. I gotta get back on the road.” Peter tipped his hat. “Miss Lena, thanks for unloading and loading me up. You are the bee’s knees.”
“See you, Peter. Safe travels” Lena responded and then watched him walk out to his rig.
****
Week after week Peter and Lena crossed paths at the warehouse. Their conversations, though constrained by work, offered more and more insight into each other’s life. From the beginning there seemed to be a purpose for their relationship. Then, one Tuesday, Peter didn’t show up.
Then another week went by and then another. Six weeks passed and no Peter. Though nothing had been formalized between them, the loss of a friend had Lena beside herself.”
Week seven and Peter’s rig appeared in the driveway. Lena met him at the dock door.
“What happened to you?” Lena asked wide-eyed.
“I was put in COVID jail. I drove into Illinois a few weeks ago. The State police stopped me at a weigh station at Marshall. They said I wasn’t in the vaccine registry. So, they hauled me off to the quarantine townNew COVID. That’s where I have been this whole time. I had heard about New COVID on the radio but I thought that was all just talk – nothing like that could happen in the U.S. But I was wrong.”
“Jeepers. Are you OK?”
“Yeah, I had COVID a long while back. I have immunity. But that wasn’t good enough for those COVID crusaders. What is not OK is my route. I asked to change my route. I will not go back into Illinois. I will not download their COVID tracking app. I will not deliver to any Blue state. Enough is enough. I will only drive through free states. I dunno what will happen. I may not have a job soon.”
Listen, I came straight here from New COVID to see you. I have nothing to unload. When your shift is done, do you want have dinner in town? We can talk.”
“OK, Peter. Let’s have dinner and talk. I clock out at 4:30. Leave your rig in the back lot and I’ll drive us over to the café in town.”
“Sounds good, Lena. Right now, I’m gonna head over to Love’s Travel Stop across the way and see if I can find me a clean shirt.”
****
At the Most Café, Peter and Lena each ordered a bowl of soup and a half sandwich. Lena started the conversation by asking Peter what got him into trucking. Peter was ready to talk.
“After being discharged from the service for not getting vaxxed, I was depressed. I had enlisted ready to give my life for my country. After giving up almost two years of my life to the Army, the first skirmish I got into was over the experimental vaccine. I didn’t enlist to be experimented on.
“Lena, I gave almost two years of my life to the Army and you need at least two years of active duty to qualify for the education benefits. The whole situation made me angry and depressed.
“I came home, went into my bedroom, and shut the door. My father knocked on the door after I hadn’t come out for a while. I think I told you my dad’s a minster.”
Lena nodded. Peter asked the waitress for more water and then continued.
“My dad knew that I was miserable. He must have figured out that I was dealing with my depression and anger by looking at stuff online. My room was dark except for the computer screen. Anyway, he came in and told me that I had to get my act together. “You can handle the hard stuff”, he said. Then he told me that a friend was out front asking for me.
“That was Rick, a high school buddy of mine. He told me about trucking. He helped me get my CDL and I began long hauling. So, instead of seeing the world with the Army, I began seeing the countryside. My father gave me his blessing and a flip phone to use if I was in trouble. He told me “Best stay away from those porn shops along the highway exits. You weren’t compromised by the unholy vaccine. Don’t become compromised with pornography.”
“Lena, Wow! Just wow! I never said that to anyone before. I . . . wow! . . . I talk about this stuff because . . . well, you . . . you are not like anyone I know. I feel safe with you. “
Lena grabbed Peter’s hand. “I love it that you are being so open with me, Peter. Please go on.”
Peter took a bite of his sandwich and put it down.
“The commanding officers wanted us grunts to compromise our bodies with an experimental unholy vaccine. They wanted to compromise our reason by telling us that being white is being racist and the country we serve is racist.
“The base was made to watch a video portraying American history as racist since 1619. I am a de facto white supremacist per a Critical Race Theory video. It’s crazy! I was bunking with a black guy. I am best buddies with him and with Jose the Hispanic guy in the next bunk.
“You know, I enlisted voluntarily. I didn’t enlist to become a showcase for an unholy vaccine. I didn’t enlist to give up my mind and soul – my inner warriors. I volunteered my time in return for an education. I didn’t sign up to be converted from alpha male into a check-your-privilege-soyboy-beta-bot . . . there’s another word for that on the base.
“I enlisted into the army and not a culture club. With the Army’s diversity, equity, and inclusion program we’d end up equally dead — but safely ‘vaxxed’. No wonder recruitment and retention are down.
“So, here I am – driving a rig, making good money and saving to go to school. How about you, Lena?” Peter gulped down some water.
“Well, I’m driving a forklift,” Lena began, “because I left an ICU nursing position. I worked so hard last year. I mean, I was there through thick and thin when we had no help… it was horrible. The people that put forth the rules and kicked one-hundred and twenty of us to the curb, they weren’t there. They weren’t even in the building to be seen for months. They were staying at home while we were doing all the work.
“Before the mandates had been rolled out, the hospital wasn’t forcing us to take the vaccine or be fired, but they were rolling out policies that gave different treatment to vaccinated people versus unvaccinated people. I couldn’t believe it. I was there to treat patients, not just the chosen patients. When did healthcare become choosing winners and losers? The Nursing Code of Ethics that I’m supposed to adhere to includes a patient’s autonomy and right to self- determination.
“The hospital then rolled out a mandatory vaccination program with products marked for “emergency use”. We were told to treat the EUA product as fully authorized.
“I chose to forego the emergency use authorization vaccine because I possessed natural immunity after contracting the coronavirus. “I had COVID last summer, I don’t need that vaccine,” I told the hospital but natural immunity was not an option at all. I was escorted out the door by security.
“I’m driving a forklift because I have a school loan to repay. I won’t take that experimental vaccine, I won’t abide medical apartheid, and I won’t take government money to make the loan go away.
“So, here I am – driving a forklift, making OK money and sending my resume out.”
“Wow,” Peter wiped his mouth, “This world has gone mad. I’ve got friends in Illinois who have a gun to their head. Three of them had their business license taken away for violating Covid emergency public health mandates that seem to come out of someone’s ass – Oops, sorry for the language.”
“Peter, I work around truckers all day,” Lena replied.
“It’s getting late. I guess we better head out.” Peter paid the check and left a tip.
Lena drove Peter over to his rig, where he’d spend the night. Before getting out he asked Lena for her phone number. She gave it to him and a kiss on the cheek. Peter’s smile bunched his bushy mustache.
“You know, us truckers have to hurry up and wait. We have to get to our destination on time and then wait to be unloaded. When I saw you that first time on your forklift waiting became a lovely day. That day went down in my log book and tonight will too. I’ll be calling you Lena. Count on it.”
Peter got out and Lena drove home.
The next morning, Peter bought some jumpy juice at Love’s and headed to Tennessee. He was looking to buy a truck route that would keep him out of COVID jail and for a place to settle down.
****
Five months passed. The evening phone conversations between Lena and Peter turned toward the future. They talked of children and adopting. They talked logistics.
Peter told Lena that he’d gotten a route that kept him in Tennessee. “I’m living in a townhome not far from a hospital and the truck’s terminal,” her told her. He also mentioned that he was going to school on the weekend taking EMT classes. He invited Lena down to take a look.
Using a one-week vacation, Lena came down to Tennessee with her mother Alma. Lena wanted her parent’s blessing on marriage to Peter. Lena also wanted to get back to nursing.
Lena submitted her resume to a clinic outside Nashville. The clinic assisted women and couples facing unexpected pregnancies, offering them life- affirming, free, and confidential medical services including pregnancy testing and ultrasounds. The OB/GYN who ran the clinic hired Lena. She was told that she could start in six weeks to allow for the move to Tennessee. Lena broke the news to her mother and to Peter. That same day and with Alma’s blessing, Peter proposed to Lena. The trio went out to celebrate.
A month later Peter left Chattanooga, drove north to Nashville, and parked his rig. He then drove his car north to Carmel Indiana for the six-o’clock wedding rehearsal. Peter, his eyes burning from driving his rig from Chattanooga to Nashville and then up north through constant sleet in southern Indiana, closed his eyes for a moment.
Peter’s father received a call at seven-thirty. Peter hit an overpass and died on the scene.
©Jennifer Ann Johnson, Kingdom Venturers, 2022, All Rights Reserved
****
(While a student at Moody Bible Institute, I had a close friend named Denny. Denny had a Culbertson Hall roommate named Steve. The three of us were in the concert band. During out-of-state concert tours we spent a lot of time together.
Steve was the nicest guy in the world. You could tell that he loved Jesus. He liked working with kids during his PCW assignments.
During a winter break Steve left Chicago and drove back to Kansas for his wedding.
We learned later that Steve, back in Kansas, drove to his wedding rehearsal in blinding snow. High winds whipped the snow across the open highway. The family said that after the long drive from Chicago, Steve may have closed his eyes for a second. He hit an overpass and died that night on a Kansas road.)
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Informed Dissent:
Dissident Covid Report #3: Why are Myocarditis Rates Surging in Europe? (substack.com)
The US Public Health Response has been a Colossal Failure (substack.com)
“Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”
Judge blocks schools from enforcing Pritzker’s mask, vaccine mandates, refers to policies as ‘type of evil’ | Illinois | thecentersquare.com
Hospital Director in Israel Says 80% of Serious COVID-19 Cases Had Received at Least Three Shots of COVID Vaccines (VIDEO) (thegatewaypundit.com)
CDC Makes Major Admission About Rushed Vaccine Timeline and Heart Inflammation (townhall.com)
Tragic: 6-Year-Old Child Develops Myocarditis Two Days After Receiving COVID-19
Devastating Presentation “Exposing Military Corruption During COVID-19” Sent to Members of Congress (thegatewaypundit.com)
EU Investigates Reports of Menstrual Disorders Following Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 Vaccinations — As We First Reported Last Year (thegatewaypundit.com)
Steve Kirsch Blockbuster — Embalmer Richard Hirschman finds ‘novel, bizarre clotting’ in 65% of deaths… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS
O Canada:
Must See Video: Justin Trudeau Gets Outed by His Own Brother Kyle as Pawn of New World Order Taking Orders from Bilderberg and the Council on Foreign Relations (thegatewaypundit.com)
Judge orders Ottawa police to return all fuel they seized from Truckers… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS
Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski Arrested Again at His Home by Armed Police on Alleged “Mischief” Offense (thegatewaypundit.com)
Mask Not What Your Country Can Do for You:
‘Free’ and contaminated: Look what happened to Biden’s taxpayer-funded N95 shipment (substack.com)
Democrats are Obsessed with power and control (as of 4-7-2022):
As of February 1st, only nine states, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, require residents to wear masks indoors regardless of whether or not they’ve been vaccinated.
Some states are removing mask mandates. Illinois is removing masks but not from children. Gov. Pritzker wants to please the teacher’s union for their support in the upcoming election. It was never about science.
Illinois High School Students Told to Put on Masks or Leave — So They Walked Out (VIDEO) (thegatewaypundit.com)
Taking It to the Streets:
SCOTTSDALE SCHOOL BOARD | YOU’VE BEEN SERVED – CITIZEN FREE PRESS
How is this NOT Evil?
“This Is Us” Actress Milana Vayntrub Calls Killing Her Baby in an Abortion a “Beautiful” Experience – LifeNews.com
SUNY Professor advocates for sex between children and adults… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS
School Tells Kids to Stop Sending Valentines Featuring White or ‘Gender Normative’ People. (thenationalpulse.com)
Book banning in Texas schools: Titles are pulled off library shelves in record numbers (msn.com)
Illinois HB4244 Mandatory Vaccine Registry is Now in Subcommittee – Lawmaker Proposes HB4640 to Quarantine Exposed to Infectious Disease (thegatewaypundit.com)
Disney teaches kids about Microaggression… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS
Exclusive: Dr. Li-Meng Yan Reveals CCP Plans to Spread Hemorrhagic Fever Bioweapon Via Olympics, and She Shares the Cure (substack.com)
A direct attack on the First Amendment – You are a Domestic Terrorist if You Question the State:
If you have an opinion and/or fact that counters the government narrative about the election fraud and COVID-19 you are now considered a domestic terrorist. Who determines what is “unsubstantiated”, a “conspiracy theory” or a “misleading narrative”?
DHS: Here is a list of top COVID misinformation spreaders you should investigate ASAP (substack.com)
Illinois Expressway shootings:
Illinois Reported Expressway Shootings (arcgis.com)
The Left – Democrats, Progressives and the like – destroy everything they touch. Soon, “the end of days”:
“Year Zero” – Thread by @pmarca on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
COVID Relief Spending Your hard-earned money:
Is This How Walmart Works?
1) They contact city/county governments of potential store sites to make nearby localities compete with one another by offering Walmart free infrastructure (roads, sewage, drainage) and tax rebates (typical store gets $10M in tax rebates for their first few years)
2) They build a store using their national contractors, depriving most of the local tradesmen of any of the work to build the store
3) They offer wages above the prevailing market wage to lure employees away from other employers (don’t worry, these go back down later.)
4) They scout locally owned competitors for pricing, and undercut them
5) Let’s say that your town happened to have a Carhartt factory, Walmart Corporate starts demanding lower and lower wholesale prices. Because Walmart represents 50% of Carhartt’s sales, they can’t afford to say no. So they start making cheaper products. Then they start manufacturing overseas. Soon the plant closes. You’re still paying the same price for a Carhartt jacket, but now it’s poorly made, and your neighbor Jim, who worked at the plant, is out of a job.
6) Your local mom & pop retailer, having lost some of their employees and still having to pay normal Carhartt wholesale prices, can’t compete with Walmart. They go out of business. So now your neighbor Barbara is out of a job.
7) Your town is now devastated, with no manufacturing and no retail other than Walmart. As employees are treated poorly and quit, new employees, having nowhere else to turn, are forced to accept lower wages and part-time positions. They are forced to rely on welfare to feed their kids. Every year, everyone gets a little bit poorer as Walmart’s corporate profits & stock price go up, and the last bits of wealth are extracted from your town and sent to Chinese manufacturers and Wall Street Shareholders. Many people now leave your town to look for better opportunities, splitting up families. Young adults go off to the big city and lose touch with their roots. Others turn to drugs out of despair, fueling an overdose epidemic. All the while, they have no choice but to shop at Walmart, due to a lack of options or due to the financial blight that the Walmart itself has brought to them and their family.
Now repeat this story 3,000 times across the country. So no, I don’t care if people shoplift from Walmart. Walmart made the calculation that the cost of security plus the risk of a lawsuit wasn’t worth stopping shoplifters when they can just let them take whatever they want and charge you, the consumer, for it.
Walmart sold out Americans for profit.
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Filed under 2022 current events, Christianity, Culture, pandemic, Short Story, social commentary, Valentines Day Tagged with Canada, Christianity, COVID-19, Illinois, military, nursing, short story, truck convoy, trucking, vaccines, Valentine’s Day