Death Virus installed and serviced.

So hurray for the Chinese Communists. Not only do they release a virus into the wild, keep a secret, allow (maybe encourage?) travel from the hotspot of Wuhan, and otherwise make sure it gets everywhere in the world before they make the slightest acknowledgment of the danger, but now they can make some dough off it as well. 

Bought this box of face masks while waiting in the checkout line, because I was getting low and wanted a box for the car. Because this is New York, and our friendly governor Sonny Corleone, the man who puts the dic in dictator, will probably issue an executive order soon that we have to wear masks into our own bathrooms. Meanwhile, you can't go to any store without one.  

But enough about Cuomo, Mr. Leadership himself, who is currently hawking a book around telling us how brilliant he is. What about the Chinese? Here was the Certificate of Approval inside the box of masks, which of course was made in China:

They're A-OK! They'll protect your life! Except they're "Not intended for medical or clinical use," so how are they supposed to actually protect people from a medical problem? I understand we don't all need surgical N95 masks, but isn't protecting one another from the virus a "medical use"? And if it is, should we have different masks? Are these useful at all? Maybe to stop unwanted kissing or to protect your mouth while painting the ceiling.

Furthermore, although sealed in plastic within the box, they expire in two years. What happens to them in two years? The paper degrades? This is all very confusing.

And of course the big question is: Are the masks even helping? 

In Europe, where people are usually more acquiescent to government bureaucracies than we are, people have had it. John McGuirk in Ireland writes, "Across Europe, the picture is the same: Near universal mask wearing, and near universal record-setting in terms of the number of new cases." He questions the assertion that masks have kept this COVID crap crisis from getting much worse, and notes that COVID fatigue is causing people to be less careful now than they were in spring (which I have certainly observed around here). Is it the carelessness that's causing a huge spike in infections in Europe, or is it just that the masks aren't doing the job?

To ask the question is to invite a firestorm of anger, as with so many other things that should be examined rather than accepted dumbly. 

Meanwhile, Chinese industry sells us masks and other products, like the Sani Trendz hand sanitizer on my kitchen windowsill. I'm not accusing the Communist government of starting the pandemic just to sell some more lousy products, although I do accuse it of purposely making sure the infection spread outside the nation just so that the Chinese would not suffer alone and look like sad, incompetent fools. I do think too that, like all good power-hungry bastards, they never let a crisis go to waste. 

Out: "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." In: "We will put the Capitalists' heads in the noose, and then sell them the scissors to cut their way out."

Personally, I will totally stop wearing a mask tomorrow if places will stop barring people from entering without them. To hell with it; give me the Chinese Death Virus and freedom. But in the meanwhile, for practical purposes I have to wear the stupid things to go grocery shopping. Hey, a guy's gotta eat. But I'm playing this game under protest.