> Repeat after me: The government arbitrarily classifying your business as essential or non-essential is the DEFINITION of a non-market condition

 
Shit happens and businesses fail all the time. Sorry you were open during a pandemic, but the government doesn't owe you jack shit and they certainly don't need to let you stay open when you're a threat to public health.
 
Life ain't fair. Deal.

 

> Are you giving information contradictory to the PA department of health or the CDC? Are you saying a bandana, gator, or steelers-print cloth mask prevent you from catching or transmitting covid?

 
Recommending gaiters, cloth masks, etc was a stopgap measure meant to prevent runs on N95 and surgical masks and the CDC was quite open about that.

 
> If it was so hands-off and reasonable, why have they stopped? Why are there no mask mandates?

 
Because people like you wouldn't stop throwing massive fucking tantrums. So the government gave in. You guys won. There are zero covid restrictions anywhere in the United States and 250K+ people are going to die from Covid-19 every year for the foreseeable future. The very concept of public health in America is dead going forward, and we're going to continue to see precipitous declines in life expectancy of the sort you usually only see in failing societies.

 
Despite winning, you're still all pissed off about imaginary lockdowns that never happened. Just take your victory lap and move on.

Repeat after me: The government arbitrarily classifying your business as essential or non-essential is the DEFINITION of a non-market condition.

And guess what? The government, at least in PA, only targeted or enforced their mandates on businesses granted special licenses to operate by the state. Bars, restaurants, salons - if you didn't need a license to operate from the health department, you could say "fuck off" to Tom Wolf. The hardware store in the town near me never closed, never required masks, and never limited occupancy. The hair salon next door? Closed for months under threat of losing their license.

>Both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been approved through regular channels at this point.

At this point? how about in 2021 when the government was trying to mandate them? And if your answer is yes, then why aren't ALL vaccines approved and rolled out in under a year?

>This is the sort of crackpot shit I'm talking about.

Are you giving information contradictory to the PA department of health or the CDC? Are you saying a bandana, gator, or steelers-print cloth mask prevent you from catching or transmitting covid?

>had we just ignored the pandemic and done nothing at all, things would have turned out better.

Uh, yeah... they would have turned out better because the things the government did didn't work. So doing nothing would have had the same results without the drawbacks of the government interference.

>The great majority of Pennsylvanians saw no more onerous government restrictions than restaurants being closed for a few months and kids learning from home. Comparing your "plight" to interment is some incredible self-satire.

If it was so hands-off and reasonable, why have they stopped? Why are there no mask mandates? Why did they change "fully vaccinated" from the first two shots, to the first two shots plus up to date on boosters, back to just the first two shots? Why, with only about a 20% uptake of the bi-valent booster aren't there vaccine and booster mandates, today? According to google, 569 people have died in the US from covid in the past 7 days. At this rate, it'll be another 9/11 before Easter!

The nod to Isaly's!

Ohio Valley Hospital in Mckees Rocks. Several independent cardios affiliated there. Nice place.

> Shutting down businesses, fining business owners who stayed open,

 

Repeat after me: "No business carries a guarantee of a return regardless of market conditions."
 
If a business causes a threat to public health, it's well within the rights of state government to shut them down for the duration of an emergency.

 
> requiring an emergency vaccination that did not go through the standard channels for approval,

 
Both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been approved through regular channels at this point. You're just crying over something the government has had the power to do for over a century now, mandate vaccination.

 

> limiting travel based on vaccination status,
 

If you've ever flown out of the country you'd know this happens all the time, pandemic or no.

 
> requiring PPE that was proven to not work,

 
This is the sort of crackpot shit I'm talking about.

 
> printing trillions of dollars to smooth over the damage done by the previously listed policies..

 
"It wasn't the pandemic that caused the problem, it was the response!" is more crackpot shit that rests on the assumption that had we just ignored the pandemic and done nothing at all, things would have turned out better. Magical thinking with no basis in reality.
 
> yep, totally the same as not eating at Applebees

 
The great majority of Pennsylvanians saw no more onerous government restrictions than restaurants being closed for a few months and kids learning from home. Comparing your "plight" to interment is some incredible self-satire.

 
You people live in an oppositional defiance fantasy world where you're always the victims.

That’s what you get when you ask an opera singer to do the weather.

>I’m just trying to avoid Party City and shop more locally or DIY-friendly.

No, you're not. You already said places in Lawrenceville were too expensive. You want cheap helium balloons.

​

>Inflated with helium? Which dollar store?

ahem

I'm perfectly content being the crackpot.

Shutting down businesses, fining business owners who stayed open, requiring an emergency vaccination that did not go through the standard channels for approval, limiting travel based on vaccination status, requiring PPE that was proven to not work, printing trillions of dollars to smooth over the damage done by the previously listed policies... yep, totally the same as not eating at Applebees.

My grandmother's cardiologist was at mon valley hospital, and I feel like they took pretty good care of her

Yes, the government interring Japanese Americans during WW2 is exactly the same thing as you not being allowed to eat in the Applebee's dining room for three months. 🙄

 
Listen to how absurd you are.
 
Public health is a basic function of government going back millennia. If you sincerely believe that the government has no place guarding the public health, you're the crackpot here.

>I’d love to support one of the local shops in Lawrenceville but

Next time, when you've got "Best" in your title and you follow it with the above, just say "cheapest" and save everyone the trouble.

They also interred Japanese Americans during WWII. Just because the government did it before doesn't make it right, then, nor does it make it right, now.

Kinda says a lot about "state power" when millions of us just ignored them.

Check out the workshops (and other events) at White Whale in Bloomfield!

I have a helium canister only “lightly” used…

...What unprecedented overreach? The US government has used state power to control disease outbreaks many, many times in the history of this country. Many times within your lifetime, as a matter of fact.

 
You people have made up an alternate reality in your head that you live in full time.

Hey, if you want to minimize an unprecedented overreach of the government in the face of mild adversity, be my guest

I know helium balloons are fun but it is insane that we use them in balloons we are running out and it is needed in MRI machine helium balloons should be illegal

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Unionized workers almost always make more even after paying union dues. Some unions provide a lot of training so dues are high but that’s not going to be an issue for upmc employees

I’ve worked out there for over a year and still discover new decor with regularity

I’m just guessing on numbers and not trying to ignore all the stops in between new Kensington and downtown. I used $100,000 per rider capital cost as a benchmark from other projects that have been funded. So if it’s $250 million maybe it will be worth it if gets at least 2500 riders. I think it sounds reasonable but I would still be curious what PRT thinks ridership and costs would be.

If you don’t like her dress tou can just say it

Dollar Tree is definitely the place to go. They don’t have a massive selection like Party City, but at $1.25, you can’t beat the price.

I will give you that, I wanted to discontinue CNN after the blatant scare tactics, but really though, fox was allowed to spew vitriol nonetheless so where is there a winning situation there? People were great, sans maga attention seeking idiots. But I think the average citizen rose above their respective situations and began to prioritize their perspective a bit better. What's not spoken of is mass starvation or true epidemic conditions of disease spread because restrictions were placed. We didn't quite know what mutation was coming from China Europe Asia or Africa and we found out in a matter of months so if anything things weren't emphasized quickly enough, which I believe to be the case.

Reminds me of the time everyone was complaining about "drug dealing" in Market Square so they took the chairs and tables away, which meant that a group of older black men who played chess down there every morning couldn't play chess anymore. Problem solved from the commuter point of view, I guess.