Tag: nanny state

The Science and Law of Refusing to Wear Masks: Texts and Arguments in Support of Civil Disobedience

In fact, the only medical benefit — and even that is only a ‘likely advantage’ — of the use of masks by healthy people in the general public listed by the WHO is the ‘reduced potential exposure risk from infected persons before they develop symptoms.’ It’s important to clarify that this is a risk that I take, not that I represent, of potential exposure to infection from someone else who, presumably, has COVID-19 and breathes, sneezes or coughs on me in sufficiently close proximity for airborne particles or tiny droplets potentially carrying the virus to enter my nose, mouth or eyes. However, if I want to take that risk of potential exposure, that’s up to me, just as I also risk being run down by a car when I cross the road. It’s not the role of the police — and it most certainly isn’t within their legal powers — to compel me to avoid that risk. That’s my right, without which any and every possible or putative risk to my or anyone else’s safety can be used to justify controlling every aspect of my life.

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Arizona child welfare workers fired after posing in ‘Professional Kidnapper’ shirts

On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that multiple employees with the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) were terminated last month after posing for a photo wearing shirts that said “Professional Kidnapper” on the front.

The shirts also said “Do you know where your children are?” on the back, reported Blake Montgomery.

“When children are taken into state custody, parents and critics of the agency have been known to accuse Child Safety personnel of being ‘kidnappers,’” said the report. “The staffers are said to have worn the shirts during work hours. Christina Sanders, a former DCS unit supervisor, saw a picture of staffers in the parking lot of the Prescott, Arizona DCS bureau wearing the shirt and emailed the branch’s supervisor.”

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