CIRCUMVENTING VIRGINIA
By now all Virginians know that today our Governor Northam implemented new executive orders mandating wearing masks in all businesses. Graciously, he said if you were eating you could take it off. And you don't need to wear it if you have "health reasons."
It includes no criminal or civil violation which means police and law enforcement have nothing to do with this. Business owners must insure compliance and if they don't, the ultimate enforcement agency is the health department, which can revoke licenses for the business to operate. That's the cudgel.
My constitutional attorney friends who wanted to challenge the order on constitutional grounds (freedom of expression, warrantless seizure of "secure in their persons," etc.) but realized the governor was clever to not make any punishable violations. That means nobody could sue on constitutional grounds because you only have legal standing if you've been cited for a criminal violation.
But my friends devised an ingenious loophole. It's the Health Information Protection Act (HIPA) which mandates medical confidentiality and includes punitive fines of $75,000 for violators. What's a violation? If someone demands health information from you, that's a violation.
So you walk into a place of business without a mask. An employee accosts you for noncompliance. You simply say "I can't wear the mask for health reasons." If the employee asks what they are, proof, or anything AT ALL, it's a violation of HIPA and punishable by a fine up to $75,000. If wearing it causes mental stress, that's certainly a valid health reason. If wearing it makes me worry, or reduces by blood oxygen, or makes me fearful, those are all valid health reasons.
Interestingly, the Virginia Chief of Police Association is vehemently opposed to the governor's order due to putting store owners in confrontational situations in a setting that will make identifying individuals impossible. The very notion that bureaucrats sat around a table deciding it was okay to make businesses antagonize their customers with constant confrontations shows these officials have no respect for business, common decency, or social order.
If an employee physically attacks a customer to remove him from the premises, of course, assault and battery charges can be brought against that individual. Can you imagine being a store owner and being put in this situation? If I'm soft on noncompliance, I'm subject to bureaucrat extortion and if I'm hard on it, I'll spend all day every day irritating customers. It's the nuttiest situation you can imagine.
Where are the people pushing for diversity? For freedom of expression? For
my body, my choice?" Crickets. Remember these credentialed public experts told us to use hydrogenated vegetable oil, DDT, anti-microbial soap, eat the food pyramid with Twinkies and Cheerios on the foundation, embrace GMOs and now welcome nano-particles into our bloodstream. Do you believe them?
What's the end game? Mandatory vaccination? Folks, the virus is out here; it's in the microscopic soup. Putting your faith in a mask and vaccine is a false hope. Why can't we attack poor immune systems with the same evangelistic fervor we're mandating placebos? This is getting squirrely.
I've been called a murderer all my life, so being called that now is nothing new. Forty years ago the government officials asked me which half of the world I wanted to die due to the inefficiencies of my kind of farming. Then powerful officials asked why I wanted to kill children by not endorsing highly productive Genetically Modified Organisms. Then they wondered why I wanted to increase heart attacks by selling meat. And now they wonder why I want to destroy the planet by having a cow. Being labeled a murderer is nothing new, but it does often define the innovative heretics who dare to seek, find, and believe something different.
If you're in Virginia, will you comply?