The Morning Briefing: Return of the Mask Nazis Won't Inspire People to Get Vaccinated

Stephen Kruiser | 3:07 AM on August 25, 2021

Top O’ the Briefing

Mask or Vax—Pick One, Tyrants

Happy Wednesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. You don’t really want to know what the secret ingredient is. Ever.

It might be best if we go off in a different direction today. Yes, Afghanistan and the ongoing elder abuse that is the Biden presidency are still the dominant news items of the week, but a hump day departure felt in order.

I hope that I will thank myself later.

I spent a lot of time out with family last weekend. Some of it was in public, some at a private function that was attended by 30 or 40 people. There were no mask signs or rules at any of the public places, but some people were wearing them. Same for the private gathering. Everyone got along just fine and the world went on without mandates.

Just as it should be everywhere.

We’ve been wide open and playing it that way here in Arizona for quite some time now and we’re in the bottom third of the country when it comes to hospitalizations. Just an observation.

Unfortunately for freedom-lovers in bluer states, the mask freaks are making a comeback, and in a big, mandate-y way.

Just as I predicted, the new governor in New York really isn’t much of an upgrade from the one who just unceremoniously skedaddled from office. Gov. Kathy Hochul wasted little time stepping into the role of petty tyrant, which Landon Mion wrote about at Townhall:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Tuesday she would implement new school coronavirus safety measures across the state, including mask and vaccine requirements, during her first day as governor following the resignation of Andrew Cuomo.

Just hours after being sworn in as governor, Hochul told New Yorkers she would instruct state health officials to mandate masks for anyone wishing to enter a public or private school. She also expressed her desire to require school faculty and staff to be vaccinated or receive weekly coronavirus testing.

She’s gonna be a true delight.

I wrote yesterday about Oregon Gov. Kate Brown redefining overreach by bringing back an outdoor mask mandate, even for those who are vaccinated.

As I discussed in that post — and many others have been saying for months — the mask fetishists aren’t helping the vaccination cause. Given that those who want to bring the masks back are also the same people who have been haranguing us about vaccines, it’s difficult to understand why they keep shooting themselves in the foot like this. I didn’t get vaccinated as soon as I could just to be told to wear a mask four months later.

Or ever.

I don’t know many people who are not vaccinated, but they all point to the renewed obsession with mask mandates as the prime reason not to get the shot.

What is it that the rabidly pro-vaccination crowd doesn’t get about how counterproductive this messaging is? All they seem to have accomplished in the last month or two is making people go from anti-vax to vehemently anti-vax.

If they’d just shut up about the masks for a few weeks they might stand a chance of winning over at least a few people here and there during this Delta variant surge. They can’t though. They’ve become so addicted to the scolding and — in the case of elected officials — the power, that they just want to harass people about anything they can. I don’t think it’s going to play out the way they want it to in the long run:

Good. More people need to be like this. https://t.co/KlMPrNAZ0H

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) August 25, 2021

What this public health crisis has needed all along is some coherence and honesty from the people tasked with managing it.

A lot of us figured out a long time ago that we’re never going to get either.

Everything Isn’t Awful

SOUND ON!

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Bee Me

Dangerous New Freedom Variant Causing People To Ignore Government And Live Their Lives https://t.co/RBdrrM2CNx

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) August 24, 2021

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Kabana Gallery

Naples, 1915 #americanart #mauriceprendergast pic.twitter.com/zzG3duD9jg

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Kabana Space

Looks like half the drive between Tucson and Los Angeles

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— The Hill (@thehill) August 24, 2021

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PJ Media senior columnist and associate editor Stephen Kruiser is a professional stand-up comic, writer, and recovering political activist who edits and writes PJ's Morning Briefing, aka The Greatest Political Newsletter in America. His latest book, Straight Outta Feelings, is a humorous exploration of how the 2016 election made him enjoy politics more than he ever had before. When not being a reclusive writer, Kruiser has had the honor of entertaining U.S. troops all over the world. Follow on: X, MeWe, GETTR.