Greets and saluts from the NYC metro. We’re about to embark on yet another heat wave, which will help dry out those areas that are dealing with flooding. But that’s not what has me pissed off.

It’s that there’s a GOPer running for governor in NJ who thinks Gov. Murphy’s mandates for vaccinations for teachers somehow gives students the right to opt out of masking.

The dumbassery and fact-free bulkshit from GOP is never ending. Students under 12 can’t get vaccinations, so their only protection against covid comes from others being vaccinated and masking. There’s no other way. Getting tested regularly means you’re willing to get your kid jabbed with needles or swabs deep into their nasal passages on a weekly/biweekly basis? It’s easier to just mask. Sheesh.

Teachers can opt to vaccinate or get regular testing.

NYC teachers don’t have that option. They have to get vaccinated. Teachers can still get tested regularly, and one teacher I know made an interesting observation. They don’t necessarily want their superiors to know their vaccination status, and it’s important to know if you’re covid free by testing, especially since he has kids at home who can’t get vaccinated. So, he’ll be vaccinated, and get tested regularly, just to be sure that he’s not exposing anyone else to covid (including casa lawhawk).

All of these fuckers on the right braying about their rights being undermined seem to ignore everyone’s freedom to avoid getting covid, and that part of being in a civil society means doing things for the greater good. The greatest good we can hope for is getting everyone vaccinated to stomp out covid and to ease burden on hospitals and health care workers, and that will do more to supercharge the economy than rushing back before people are vaccinated and when people aren’t masking.

The states with the highest covid outbreaks are the GOP states that have done the least to contain covid. They’re actively trying to kill people. There’s no other way around it. And they just don’t fucking care.