Look At It This Way (#LAITW)

Distillers that stopped or slowed the production of very profitable alcohol products to make cheap hand sanitizer for all of us during the dem-panic are now getting a bill from the feds. No good deed goes unpunished if the government has anything to say about it.

Looking for a New Year’s Resolution? Try this: watch a handful of PragerU videos in 2021. Binge all five in one day, or spread out all year. Here’s one to get you started: Science or God: Do You Have to Pick One?

Excellent summary of the capricious and irrational government overreach. We are doing all we possibly can to support local businesses that are being crushed by this nonsense. The “backed by science” claim is pure B.S. It’s “backed by scientists who agree with us.”

Kayla Alysse
October 24, 2020 (Facebook)

As I walk into the grocery store with 30 other people at the same time, I think about my restaurant which allows parties of 6 total, and meticulously spaces out reservations by 10 minutes ensuring guests that aren’t from the same party do not arrive at the same time.
As I take a cart, that has had just the handle sanitized, I think about my restaurant which invested thousands of dollars (so far) on ink and paper to print disposable menus to ensure no two guests touch the same menu.
As I walk over to the produce aisle with 15-20 other people around me, I’m reminded of the strict “no mingling / no walking around the restaurant other than to use the washroom or enter/exit” policy we have in place and the 6ft distance between tables which has cut our capacity in half.
As I watch the woman next to me pick up apples with her hand, check them over closely and then put them back on the open pile and repeats this until she finds the perfect apples — the same thing that all other people that day who want an apple will then do and then put those apples into their mouths, I think about the two step sanitation process in place at my restaurant for all cutlery and dishes and glassware in between every single guest, and the sanitation of every surface guests touch (tables, chairs, salt and pepper shakers, etc).
As I watch the man in the next aisle over ignore or not notice the directional arrows on the ground, I think about my restaurant and the constant redirecting our staff does of guests – by locking certain doors, blocking areas off and the work my team does to simply not allow guests to walk where they are not supposed to.
As I walk down the cereal aisle, I see a person with their mask off so they can talk on the phone, and I’m reminded of my restaurant where our masking policy has lost us so much business as we will not allow guests who do not cover their nose mouth and chin while not sitting at their designated seat as per the by-law in place for our region.
As I check out at the cashier, I use my debit card to pay and see the plastic film covering the terminal. It was not sanitized after the person before me used it. I am reminded of the sanitizer used on the debit terminals in between each guest every time at my restaurant.
As I stand at a crowded exit trying to leave, I’m reminded of the detailed contact tracing in place at my restaurant that records the name, phone number, table number, arrival and exit time, as well as the server and section the guest sat in that is in place at my restaurant— not one of those pieces of information was taken from any customer here.
As I get into my car and watch all these people leave the store, I wonder which person will visit my establishment after contracting covid at this grocery store, and I wonder why on earth my restaurant will be blamed as the source.
Restaurants are being targeted as the “source” of Covid infections because we are one of the ONLY industries required to provide contact tracing. Someone with Covid could have gone to Ikea, Home Depot, the Mall food court, Shoppers, Any grocery store etc yet it’s the restaurant that took their detailed information that will be forced to close and deemed responsible for the infection.
You want to blame restaurants for the spread after thousands of dollars investing in equipment, training and stricter policies than ANYWHERE ELSE?!
PROVE 👏🏻 IT 👏🏻
#saverestaurants

So, in L.A. you can decapitate 2 of your kids, make the other 2 see the bodies for days, and not risk the death penalty or even “life without parole.” The people in charge out there simply do not care about justice and are now flaunting that without fear of pushback. I’d say “get out while you can.” Oh wait, I did.

FYI… I’m backing out of “Big Tech” (as much as possible). Just dropped Twitter and will begin dropping others as I can (some are harder than others). Eventually, the biggies will go, too, like Facebook, Google, and YouTube. I will continue to use those for some clients I have, but all personal use will stop. If you want to stay in touch, make sure you have my email address or phone. I’ve been gathering info about how to do this for a couple of months now; if you’re interested in such let me know.

Update, 3/31/2021:

Done:
Twitter account deleted, no replacement
Instagram account deleted, no replacement
DuckDuckGo.com (Google replacement)
Brave.com (Chrome replacement)
MeWe.com (FB replacement)
Thunderbird (email reader, Gmail replacement)

Options:
Minds
Signal
Telegram
Amazon – use their search but go to the actual business to buy it
likewise “use” Google Play
DuckDuckGo or SwissCows.com
PreSearch.org
Brave (browser)
ProtonMail
Any.do (calendar)

HereWeGo (mapping)
OpenStreetMap
Bing Maps
Simple Calendar
Lbry.TV (for YouTube)
DLive (for streaming)
OpenOffice (for Docs/MS)
Sync.com cloud storage (for Google Drive)
PackageDisabler.com (keep android at bay) a bit hard to use but worth it
Linux (will be hard to get off Windows)
Gab.com (twitter-like)
Parler.com (twittery)

NordVPN

https://lineageos.org/ (potential android alternative)
https://creativegood.com/blog/alternatives-to-big-tech/

My Alternatives to Big Tech

https://gizmodo.com/7-conservative-alternatives-to-the-internets-most-popul-1614074423
https://davidcearlock.com/alternatives-to-big-tech/
https://www.pcmag.com/news/dump-chrome-7-alternative-web-browsers

Alternatives to Google Products – The Big List (2024)

https://jeffersonwhite.com/destroying-big-tech/
https://lbry.tv/@RichardHarrisCoaching:4/Getting-off-Big-Tech:2

10 Best Private and Secure Email Services for 2024

Another unsung hero category from this mess is the ISPs (Internet Service Providers). Many thought everything going online could overwhelm the internet, I included. But it didn’t. In fact, the ISPs have performed well.