Pirate's Cove

This has seemed to make USA Today opinion writer Connie Schultz very upset, despite this happening back in early September. I say, this is a funny, and a great way for someone to take advantage of the system (it’s behind the paywall, you can read it by saving to Pocket or by adding 12ft.io/ to it, getting here)

Ohio mom becomes a minister in a minute, then signs religious exemptions for anti-mask families

On Sept. 3, the day after her children’s school district mandated that students wear face masks, Kristen Grant became an ordained minister.

She did this through the online site, Universal Life Church. The process takes less than a minute, I discovered. Two clicks, and I was one step away from becoming Rev. Connie. I declined.

The 37-year-old mother of four in Germantown, Ohio, says she sought the online ordination for one reason. She wanted to support anti-mask parents seeking religious exemptions for their children.

Valley View School District’s religious exemption form requires a signed statement from a “religious official.” Grant, a self-described “Constitutional Christian,” was happy to oblige.

“I haven’t broken any rules,” she said. “I haven’t broken any laws. I did what I was told I had to do.”

No, she didn’t, and this makes the Mask Cult upset (that photo is from the article, but, not Grant. None of her at the piece)

On this, she’s right. Several school officials bemoaned to me Grant’s willingness to exploit a loophole, but the district set no qualifications for religious leaders. And so here we are.

Can you hear the pissed off in that “and so here we are”?

The letter goes on to recites what is becoming boilerplate language of the anti-mask anti-vax crowd. It ends with a Bible verse from 2 Corinthians, which, with its reference to “unveiled faces,” has become another go-to passage for those opposed to masks.

As a new minister, Grant has not hesitated to apply her signature to the bottom of those letters: 169 students have been granted a religious exemption from wearing masks even as the pandemic surges, again. School officials stress that this represents around 100 families, in a district of roughly 1,800 students. That caveat will be small comfort to any family of a child who ends up infected with Covid.

But, we were told that masks protect us from getting COVID. No?

Grant is certainly not the first “religious leader” eager to use a self-styed version of religion to defy government attempts to keep children and families safe during this pandemic.

How dare Grant defy Government! That’s so horrible! The Founders and all those who fought for independence would be very upset, right? Right?

So, why bother talking to Kristen Grant? Why give people like her any attention?

To me, the answer is obvious. She’s having an impact, just like other so-called leaders who are waging wars against science across the country. We can ignore them, and some enjoy mocking them. But we underestimate their growing influence at our peril.

Because those in the media would rather dox and denigrate average citizens who are engaged in Wrongthink than actually do the job for which they were give a Bill of Rights protection, namely, investigating government and government officials. Holding their feet to fire. Adding some sunshine to government operations. They want to protect Democrats. Look around at the news media: they’re barely covering Joe Biden. The NY Times, CNN, and so many others barely have anything on him. When Trump was president there would be at least 5-10 articles about him. Now? You barely know Joe is president. It’s easier to go after a private citizen who has no platform to fight back.

And, in fairness, I do think Grant is loopy, and it’s silly for a religious exemption for masks, but, I don’t make the rules. Also, quite frankly, Government seems to want to give religious exemptions for just about every other religion, even for military standards, so, this isn’t that much. I just like that Grant used the rules against the Mask Cult dictators, which makes them Very Upset

With Help From a Beer Maker, There’s a New Front Opening in the Battle Over School Masks

Shannon Jensen was diligent about making sure her sons wore masks to school when classes resumed in September. Other parents in Waukesha, Wis., weren’t. And three weeks after school opened, Jensen’s eldest son, who was seated next to an unmasked classmate who had COVID-19 symptoms, fell ill with the virus.

Soon, another of her boys had tested positive, according to a lawsuit that marks a new twist in the ongoing battle over what schools should be doing to protect children from the coronavirus. While parents across the country have filed lawsuits against states and school districts to protest mask mandates, Jensen, with backing from a local beer maker, is suing to force all of Wisconsin’s school districts to require masks and other safety measures in classrooms.

So, this says that masks do not work. And they mostly don’t. Study after study after study shows that, at best, they provide 10% protection. But, Jensen is happy to attempt to force all these kids to Obey her beliefs.