Tuesday, January 18, 2022

You Do You. Don't Expect Others To Do You.

Whose responsibility is it to protect you from the 'rona?  Yours:

The usual sources of outrage are all atwitter over the fact that Justice Sotomayor isn’t a queen with the authority to demand that other justices wear face gags at her behest. Apparently, the overweight and diabetic Sotomayor wants everyone around her to take extra precautions to care for her after she didn’t care for herself, which puts her in a higher risk category for COVID complications. While her Type 1 diabetes was not avoidable, Sotomayor’s weight problem is surely manageable through diet and exercise. She isn’t hiring a personal trainer or going on a diet; oh no, that would require personal responsibility. Instead, she is demanding that everyone around her wear masks or she will stay in her office and zoom into hearings...

Anyone at this point, when there are vaccines and therapeutics available to deal with COVID, who is still demanding that you do something to keep them safe should be given a hard “no.” Justice Gorsuch has done just that and is refusing to wear a mask. Good. Let the hypochondriacs live a life confined inside, alone, separated from all society, and ordering from Grubhub. The rest of us have things to do.

Life is risk, your highness...

Why is the media making a big deal about this, calling it “absolutely shameful” that Gorsuch won’t wear a mask? Why aren’t they asking why Justice Sotomayor won’t go on a diet and start an exercise regimen? Why is it Gorsuch’s problem that Sotomayor doesn’t look after herself?...

The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire makes a good point. “Gorsuch’s refusal to wear a mask didn’t ‘force’ Sotomayor to work remotely. Sotomayor can also: 1. Quit or 2. Have remotely sane risk tolerance practices.” Hear, hear...

Scott Morefield opined, “If triple-vaxxed Sotomayor is still frightened, she has the freedom to wear four masks and a HAZMAT suit. It’s time to stop catering to tyrannical hypochondriacs. Neil Gorsuch is a hero.” 

I cannot disagree with any of this--and I'm several dozen pounds over what I should weigh. 

Update:  An unnamed FoxNews source says the original story is completely bogus, adding:

According to Bream’s source, “there has been no blanket admonition or request from Chief Justice Roberts that the other Justices begin wearing masks to arguments. The source further stated Justice Sotomayor did not make any such request to Justice Gorsuch.”

Thus, “given that fact, there was also no refusal by Justice Gorsuch.”

Bream concluded by pointing out that every justice is vaccinated, boosted, and that they get tested before gathering for arguments.

The original story came from Nina Totenberg, so who knows?  My one encounter with Nina did not show her to be a very fair person.

Update #2, 1/19/22:  FoxNews points out NPR's fake news:

Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor issued a joint statement Wednesday disputing a recent NPR report as "false" after the liberal media organization claimed the conservative justice refused to wear a mask on the bench despite requests to do so. 

"Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends," Gorsuch and Sotomayor said in a joint statement to the media.

"I did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other Justice to wear a mask on the bench," Chief Justice John Roberts said in a separate statement...

NPR’s report, which was published on Tuesday morning, was addressed on that evening’s edition of "Special Report with Bret Baier," when Fox News chief legal correspondent and "FOX News @ Night" anchor Shannon Bream’s sources shot down the report before the justices called it false themselves.


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