Open (More or Less) Post on Covid 14

[ecosophia]

The semi-open posts  I've hosted here on the Covid-19 narrative, the inadequately tested experimental drugs for it, and the whole cascading mess surrounding them have continued to field a very high number of comments, so I'm opening yet another space for discussion. The rules are the same as before: 

1. If you plan on parroting the party line of the medical industry and its paid shills, please go away. This is a place for people to talk openly, honestly, and freely about their concerns that the party line in question is dangerously flawed and that actions being pushed by the medical industry et al. are causing injury and death. It is not a place for you to dismiss those concerns. Anyone who wants to hear the official story and the arguments in favor of it can find those on hundreds of thousands of websites.

2. If you plan on insisting that the current situation is the result of a deliberate plot by some villainous group of people or other, please go away. There are tens of thousands of websites currently rehashing various conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 outbreak and the vaccines. This is not one of them. What we're exploring is the likelihood that what's going on is the product of the same arrogance, incompetence, and corruption that the medical industry and its tame politicians have displayed so abundantly in recent decades. That possibility deserves a space of its own for discussion, and that's what we're doing here. 
 
3. If you plan on using rent-a-troll derailing or disruption tactics, please go away. I'm quite familiar with the standard tactics used by troll farms to disrupt online forums, and am ready, willing, and able -- and in fact quite eager -- to ban people permanently for engaging in them here. Oh, and I also lurk on other Covid-19 vaccine skeptic blogs, so I'm likely to notice when the same posts are showing up on more than one venue. 

4. If you don't believe in treating people with common courtesy, please go away. I have, and enforce, a strict courtesy policy on my blogs and online forums, and this is no exception. The sort of schoolyard bullying that takes place on so many other internet forums will get you deleted and banned here. No, I don't care if you disagree with that: my journal, my rules. 

With that said, as rumors fly that the governor of California has been crippled by one of the "rare" side effects of Covid vaccination, and the mainstream media is busy trying to insist that cardiac arrest in children is perfectly normal, the floor is open for discussion. 

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh. You have my sympathies.

My request for a religious accommodation was at least acknowledged today, mostly by telling me I filled out the wrong form. Of course, I followed the instructions, and sent in the two forms that were attached to the instructions, when I submitted my request two weeks ago. And the form they sent today looks a lot like the one I remember filling out, so I'm not sure what the difference is. But, hey, it's the Government!

I have until Monday to send in the new form, which means my claim process will be delayed. Which is fine with me. I'm wondering if that's the point? They are trying to buy some time? I'm pretty sure they are overwhelmed by the number of requests.

We had an "All Employee" meeting yesterday to answer our questions. Of course they managed to fill up over half the time with a bunch of Blah Blah Blah ("we respect you", "we know this is a tough decision", blah blah blah). In the end, I think they actually answered about 6 questions. Some really good. ones were piling up in the "chat", but of course, they ran out of time to answer those.

It sounds like unlike you, my case will be decided by a single person rather than a committee. I'm not sure if that's better.

I also got the feeling (they were very careful with their word choice) that they will be very permissive with what counts as a valid religious reason for exemption. I've long thought that if they were smart, they would rubber stamp every single application to avoid losing 10-20% of their workforce and still save face. As I've said, I don't trust them to do the smart thing. But now it occurs to me that they would very much like to do that, but they don't actually know what "reasonable accommodation" will be. Just ignore it, and treat vexed and unvexed the same? Make the unvexed work from home? Make the vexed test regularly at government expense? I don't think they know and none of the three options I just listed is very good (I like the first one, but a lot of vexed will be too afraid).

It also seemed really clear that the Forest Service really hates this, and wouldn't be doing it if we weren't legally required to do so as part of the Executive Branch. The President has spoken! Apparently no one can, or is willing to stand up to him, even if it destroys their Agency. There was a lot of sentiment clearly coming from the vexed worried about how we'll get anything done if we lose a bunch of people. We are already pretty bare bones staffing levels. Are we expected to just do more? Or will we just expect to get a whole lot less done?

Firefighters are particularly reluctant to get vexed. I'm hearing we could lose half of them. There's no way they can recruit and train that many people before next fire season, so that should be interesting. I wonder what the excuse will be.

I'm getting off topic, but I wanted to say stand in solidarity with you! I'm sorry it's humiliating (adding insult to injury, as it were). Hang tight. You are not alone.

Best Wishes,
-Slink

[(Anonymous)]

OP here. I wish I could be as optimistic as you are, but my feeling in this corner is that they're willing to throw absolutely everyone who doesn't comply to the wolves regardless of what it does to departments, companies, industries and public services. They don't care.

I initially thought as you did, that they would be permissive with what counts as an exemption to keep people on board, but this doesn't seem to be the case. The low level enforcers seem to be more enthusiastic to assert their authority than the higher-ups who make the policy. I'm sure we've seen this phenomenon before...

I, too, wish you the best of luck. Perhaps those of us have taken our gracious host's advice over the years and collapsed early can lean on secondary sources of income that don't rely on obedience to arbitrary corporate and government mandates.

[(Anonymous)]

>Of course, I followed the instructions, and sent in the two forms that were attached to the instructions, when I submitted my request two weeks ago. And the form they sent today looks a lot like the one I remember filling out, so I'm not sure what the difference is.

This time keep a copy of what you sent in, so you'll be ready for future delaying tactics. They could always claim never to have received it, and if you kept a copy you can write a letter saying "Well, I sent it, here is a copy"--etc.