Smoke from wildfires in Canada is hovering over the United States, mostly over the northeast but is now spreading to the midwest and as far south as the Carolinas. The air quality in New York City has been rated the worst it has ever been and Philadelphia and Washington are also suffering from toxic air pollution. If you live in any of these affected areas, it’s advised that you’re to wear a face mask when going outside. But if you can help it, don’t go outside.
I asked my Amazon Alexa device about the air quality in my area, and it told me it was good. I looked at the government site, and it wasn’t much help. Then I looked out my window, and despite a forecast of sunshine, I can’t see the sun. So, yesterday, I wore a face mask.
First, I had to find my face masks. I have two boxes of surgical masks around here, one black and one blue, I have several others I purchased because I like the designs, I have some that readers made and sent to me, and then I have a package of N95 masks which is what’s suggested. After searching for a while, I found them…next to eleven bottles of hand sanitizer (I bought that stuff every time I found it, just like toilet paper).
I wore an N95 while walking to the print shop to pick up a print a reader purchased, and people in cars were turning their heads. It’s been a while since anyone’s been seen around here wearing a face mask, though I still see people on trains and airplanes wearing them. Then I walked to the post office to mail the print (woke cows cartoon. Three prints of this cartoon have been sold). When I entered the print shop and the post office, I took the mask off.
During the pandemic, it was safe to walk outside without a face mask, but not so much indoors. It’s reversed this time.
Honestly, I never did like wearing a face mask. Of course, I’m not one of those crazy MAGAts who will tell you it never worked or that it was a violation of one’s freedom. I supported mandates and the decisions by businesses to require face coverings. I just never liked the feel of a face mask. I had to wear them in stores, on trains, buses, airplanes, etc, etc. It sucked. And when the face mask mandate was removed by a Trump judge, I didn’t like the ruling but I stopped wearing the mask for the most part. For a while, I would still wear it on crowded transportation and one day on a city bus, I got a “Let’s go, Brandon” shouted at me. People are dicks.
Do you remember when the pandemic started and MAGAts were crying about being forced to wear a face mask and said it was all about freedom? And do you remember when they started hurling insults at people who chose to wear face masks even though it didn’t affect them at all? My photo on a couple of social media sites included a face mask, and MAGAts would comment on that calling me a “snowflake,” and a “sheeple,” which I think is supposed to be plural but whatever. They’re MAGAts.
So while I will have to get used to breathing in a face mask again and trying not to fog up my glasses, I may also have to get used to fucknuts shouting at me. But if anyone is going to argue with the science of wearing a face mask when they can actually see the hazard floating above their heads, then screw them. Let them go without facemasks.
At least this time, what may harm them won’t be contagious. The shit that will get in their lungs from all this Canadian smoke will probably stay in their lungs.
As for the rest of us, if you’re on the east coast, wear a face mask.
Music note: I listened to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
Watch me draw:
CLAYTOONZ 
“…and a ‘sheeple,’ which I think is supposed to be plural but whatever.”
Maybe the singular is “sheeperson”?
The problem is trying to combine a word in which the singular and plural forms are identical with another word which has an irregular plural.
My degree involved advanced English grammar studies, so I tend to overthink these things.
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I worked 8-10 hours a day in a clean-room environment for over 10 years (smock, mask, bouffant cap, shoe covers 100% air exchange every 5 minutes), so the only effect Snowflake MAGA whining had on me was a derisive snort.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Hey, ‘my body, my choice’? … I know what I’ll do!! … “At least this time, what may harm them won’t be contagious. The shit that will get in their lungs from all this Canadian smoke will probably stay in their lungs.
As for the rest of us, if you’re on the east coast, wear a face mask.”
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We’re really sorry our air up here is affecting you down there, but while the obvious cause is wildfires which we have a lot of right now, the real cause is climate change. We are not getting any rain in an area that slways gets rain. And we are getting elevated temperatures higher than what you are getting down there. We live in the North. We are told we are suppised to be cold. This year we are hot, and dry! The perfect combination for wildfires.
We are not the only ones responsible for climate change. The whole world is. But the USA is responsible for a lot of it, so you are reaping what you sowed.
And it is only going to get worse. The trees and forests that are being destroyed will no longer be wble to remove carbon from the air, and replace it with oxygen. We all need oxygen. Whst happens when we run out if that?
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You are so right … what is happening now will continue to get even worse because we sat on our arses for decades, refusing to acknowledge that humans are destroying the atmosphere. Funny, too, that the U.S. media barely even reported on the Canadian wildfires until the smoke crossed the border and became inconvenient/dangerous … then they sat up and took notice.
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Funny about that. It verifies my earlier opinion of most Americans before I met you, et al. Too many Americans only care about America! (See my recent reply to Nan on my Thursday post!)
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Indeed, Americans are a self-centered lot, in general, though there are exceptions. I’ll check out your Thursday post soon … saw it last night but was just too tired to read anymore!
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I was at two medical clinics this week; in both, I had to REQUEST that whoever was working with me wear a mask. ‘But the mask mandate is over,’ I was told. ‘What does THAT have to do with anything?’ I replied. ‘This is FLOR-I-DUH and COVID is still rampant. I’ve spent more than three years staying home as much as possible, and I’m not having that effort wasted just ’cause YOU think it’s all okay now.’
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As a Canadian, we say Sorry for the Smoke, because that’s what we do. If it is bad in your area, oh well, you should be on this side of the border. I’ve seen climate change, caused by female firefighters and not raking our forests, all from the Far Right MAGAt side, probably all of them couldn’t point Canada out on a map, let alone Quebec. Until the weather changes and rain appears where it always rains, the 640 square miles of burnt forest in one province will get bigger, and wear your mask or don’t complain about smoke, everyone should be on INDITMENT Watch. Cheers
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All I have to do is look at the ‘stuff’ on the surface of my car, realize that ‘stuff’ could also be going into my already-decimated lungs, and I’ve got my mask on! Mostly, I’m just staying indoors!
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The lungs are highly vascularized organs. Micro debris inflames lung tissue but some, also, get absorbed into the bloodstream. (That is why cigarette and pot smoking provide a buzz.) Lots of bad burned stuff goes airborne … plastics, chemicals, paint, etc. Then there are the typical effects of concentrated smoke inhalation. The N95 good choice. I spent the last few days wearing scuba gear and changing out air tanks.
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I have a high-school friend living in Connecticut who today was in a walk-in clinic to deal with her coughing and spasms from the smoke, even tho she’d worn a mask outdoors. I suppose that, as with COVID, oxygen has to be administered? And/Or some antihistamine?
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Antihistamines won’t do anything for simple irritation unless she has an allergy to elements in the smoke. The histamine reaction is not in response to particulates per se, but to chemical substances that provoke a bodily reaction.
For example, some people might cough when exposed to cigarette smoke because of the particulates, but that is just because their lungs are irritated. I, however, am allergic to nicotine, so my reaction to tobacco smoke is severe congestion and an athsma attack beyond the simple irritation. This made growing up in a family where I was the only non-smoker a challenge. It’s like the difference between having a mild itch to breaking out in hives.
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She was given prednisone and an inhaler.
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