Press "Enter" to skip to content

Freedom Outlaws in unexpected places

When I lived in civilization I used to like to go to plays and ballets and modern dance performances (Pilobolus! Alvin Ailey!) and even the occasional opera or symphony.

Those days are long past. Remote living + elective poverty + a growing loathing of cities and crowds washed away my connections to “culture.”

But now, although I’m no closer to or more fond of cities than ever, I have a new love (and old friend) in my life. I’ve been searching for a proper screen name for him and I think I’ll go for Rhett, after Rhett Butler. Rhett has both the means and the desire to indulge my whims and he occasionally enjoys a bit of culture himself.

So some weeks ago, when I spotted a poster in a window for a performance by a sensational arts company I’ve wanted to see forever, he got right on his computer and bought tickets.

Yes, it was in the big city. Yes, masks would be required. But some of the worst Covid restrictions had been lifted, so we of the vaxxless Pariah Class could still go and enjoy. And maybe even go out for dinner in the city afterwards. Whoohoo!

I went to the thrift store and paid a whole $8 for a slinky black dress and was happily accessorizing it when The Dreaded Email came into Rhett’s inbox.

Less than 72 hours before the performance, and less than two weekdays ahead … the venue had changed its rules. Omicron panic, of course, aided and abetted by a “progressive” city government and a similarly pearl-clutching arts elite. No entry without either a vaxx card + picture ID or a recent Covid test. If you were one of the dirty unvaxxed and couldn’t get a test on your own on short notice, you were invited to show up hours early at the venue to be tested there, at least until their limited number of test kits ran out.

The Dreaded Email came not from the venue itself, but from the performing group, which had had this sprung on them as rudely as we had and were trying to sound cheerful and optimistic about it.

“Let’s talk,” Rhett Signaled me.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I Signaled back.

“We cannot comply,” he emailed the performance organization. “Please refund the price of our tickets.”

Our tickets, we knew, were non-refundable and non-exchangeable. But these were Circumstances.

The staff emailed back an offer of a gift certificate for a future performance. Rhett declined on the perfectly reasonable grounds that who the bloody heck knows when, or if, crazy Covid restrictions will ever be lifted. (And for that matter, what if all public performances are outlawed again or what if all the bloody damned cities are aflame or under martial law or … but he of course didn’t say any of those things.)

Then came an odd turn.

“Just come. I will get you in,” wrote a staffer.

—–

Now, how the heck was that supposed to work? Who is this person? What is her authority? Is this complete BS, intended only to avoid giving a refund. What? This is a staffer for a respectable, globally acclaimed cultural organization offering to sneak a pair of strangers, just two of thousands of potential attendees, into a soaring major arts venue in a city in the throes of panic. Sneak us in like high school students creeping under the hometown bleachers to watch a football game. Too good to be true.

We didn’t believe her until we talked to her on the phone.

Well, even then we didn’t believe her, but we decided to make a leap of faith and show up on the appointed day.

—-

We arrived and stood just this side of the sign telling us how very, very unwelcome we were. Moments later a very young woman came out to greet us, apologizing politely for making us wait all of 30 seconds.

She verified that we had our tickets, then led us away from the main entrance to an out-of-sight side door, which opened into a small room whose purpose initially escaped me. It was the Covid testing station, which Rhett realized, but which I couldn’t quickly take in.

She guided us swiftly past the testing table, with its giant economy sized bottle of hand sanitizer, test kits, and wrist bands, then courteously but abruptly shoved us behind a curtain, in an area with a few chairs, told us, “Wait here,” and disappeared.

I still had no idea what was going on and felt mildly freaked. But once again Rhett got it before I did. She had stashed us in the waiting area for those who’d been tested and were being isolated while awaiting their results. We were alone behind the curtain. There were other people milling about the room but we couldn’t tell if they were getting tested, or being treated as we were, or just staffers going about their business.

Five minutes later, our mysterious benefactor reemerged, joined us in our isolation, reached through a gap in the curtains, and discreetly snagged a pair of ribbons off the test-station table. She applied these to our wrists while explaining a lot in a few whispered words.

… Unvaxxed herself … believes in choice and in natural immunity … she and her organization fought the sudden mandate as fiercely as they could … has been dealing for two days with angry ticketholders (some of whom were showing up at the box office in person, demanding refunds), telling them, “I can get you in, I can get you in” … having a hellish few days herself, but glad to be able to help …

—–

Once we were banded like a pair of winged escapees from a bird sanctuary, she directed us to an entrance to the theater.

Outside the entrance, the vaxxed were required to submit their cards and photo IDs. We breezed by. The man doing “Papieren, bitte” duty spotted us skipping his scrutiny and reacted with a start.

“Hey, I need to see your …”

We just raised our fists and shook our wrist bands at him.

“Oh, you’re all right then.”

And in we went. Rhett’s observation was that we never had to (and should never) talk to anyone “in authority” once we had our bands on. I, on the other hand, felt slightly miffed yet oddly amused that our cheesy little bands made us suddenly not only welcome, but more welcome — or at least more easily welcomed — than those who complied with everything ever asked of them.

Inside, the theater — which had been nearly sold out when we bought our tickets weeks earlier — was only about 3/4 full.

I hoped our new Freedom Outlaw friend and her company didn’t have to refund many of the tickets for the missing portion of the audience.

And the performance itself? Magnificent. Better than I’d imagined. Also greatly enhanced by knowing ours was an Outlaw operation and by being reminded that there are Outlaws among us even in the most respectable places.

—–

Now, about the health questions some may be asking.

Rhett and I are both determinedly unvaxxed (not “hesitant” in the least) but regularly take a regimen of prophylactic supplements: zinc, vitamin D, quercetin, ivermectin, beta glucan, and several other useful-against-Covid (or for that matter, the flu and common cold) substances. Also, we’re hermits and had scarcely seen another human being in a week.

So it’s very unlikely we’d bring any diseases to the poor, vaxxed, re-vaxxed, and desperately boostered masses who might have risen up with pitchforks and torches had they realized that we (and presumably some unknown other number of pariahs) were in their midst, thanks to the Outlaw Mole in the arts organization.

And us? Well, for several days afterward, we upped our doses of everything, knowing the vaxxed have become more dangerous to the rest of us (and not just in the pitchforks and torches sense) than we ever were to them.

Also, having spent nearly three hours in the presence of a thousand or more people (plus a lovely, mask-free dinner in a real restaurant outside the freaking-out city afterwards) we decided to take an additional precaution for a day or two.

On the Living Freedom forums, Silver had posted recommendations from Dr. Peter McCollough, the lead author on the first peer-reviewed paper published on early treatment of Covid-19 (BEFORE patients are admitted to the hospital). In the first link in this paragraph (read it for yourself because it’s important but really too gross a way to end this post) McCollough recommends a nasal cleanse.

His rationale: “The SARS-CoV-2 virus is transmitted in the air and settles in the nose, and multiplies for days before it invades the body. …

“The virus must be killed in the nasal cavity at least twice a day … for prevention and up to every four hours during active treatment. This is very important with the Omicron variant, which multiplies 70 times faster than the prior strains of the virus.”

I’ll let the good doctor describe the cheap, easy, and positively horrible home procedure in detail. You may not like it (and for heaven’s sake, if you try it use only distilled water). But it’s hard to argue with the logic or the credibility of the source. 

Oh, the things we do for love…

27 Comments

  1. Comrade X
    Comrade X January 10, 2022 11:09 am

    Wasn’t Rhett an outlaw?

    You know something, I like him already!

    I also think you have the fire of Scarlett and the heart of Melanie which makes your Rhett a very lucky man!

  2. Claire
    Claire January 10, 2022 11:16 am

    Yes, Rhett was a dashing outlaw — specifically a blockade runner. It fits!

    And AWWWWWWW on being part Scarlett and part Melanie. I blush pinker than those wristbands we had to wear. In truth, I’m nowhere near as sweet as Melanie (which is good, actually) and nowhere near as willful as Scarlett (equally good, since she drove away the magnificent Rhett). But still … I’ll take it.

  3. Granny
    Granny January 10, 2022 11:19 am

    Yeehah!! Good job Claire! Great job Happy Mole!! Funny I was thinking recently how bizarre a turn my life has taken where I prefer now to live on the farm and shovel manure and take care of animals. Back in the day it was suits and high heels, manicured nails, perfectly cut hair, etc. And oh how I loved the theatre. I even sang in light opera in college – a community thing and it was a blast. I no longer yearn to go to the wharf in San Francisco and get some yummy clam chowder and sourdough bread. I make it at home. But, it does make one think about how our wonderful culture is being decimated by TPTB. I hope my grandchildren can experience the arts at the level I once did.

    P.S. I could care one wit about getting a cold during cold and flu season – most people used to think it par for the course. Thanks for the links to the “protocols”. Another one to add, which is an old timey recipe. An apple cider vinegar steam: put about 1/2 c of apple cider vinegar in a pot or glass bowl, pour in steaming hot water, throw a towel over your head and lean over the steaming pot – like creating a tent – breathe deeply. Vinegar has an antiseptic quality. Try to breathe in the steam for about 15 minutes and do this several times a day. Your nose will run like a faucet, but it will help your sinuses and lungs.

    P.P.S. Yay Rhett!!

  4. MP
    MP January 10, 2022 11:52 am

    What a wonderful sotry all around, Claire! Sometimes we do feel like there are few of us, especially in the mids of a panic-ridden blue (yet still mostly rural) area as I am. It is encouraging to hear that folks are fighting back. And that other deserving folks are getting the benefit of it directly!

  5. Bear
    Bear January 10, 2022 1:02 pm

    Hooray, Claire and Rhett!! So glad you got to enjoy your evening after all, thanks to the young mole. I wish I could give her a big high-five.
    P.S. and hooray for thrift stores too. $8 is my kind of evening dress!

  6. Fido
    Fido January 10, 2022 1:09 pm

    I recently had a vaguely similar experience. Entering a big-box membership with very large and prominent signs saying masks are REQUIRED, regardless of vaccination status, and two guards handing out masks in addition to checking memberships, I was handed a mask. I looked at him and said “I’m not going to wear it, does that mean I have to leave the store?” He leaned in to say in a low voice “I just have to give it to you”.

    I was prepared to return to the car. I wasn’t prepared for that. So I took the mask, pocketed it and went in. It’s a big place and I think I saw only two other couples maskless. I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time, but no karens, no dirty looks, not another word on the subject.

    huh…

    Oh, and a previous time, at a bank, big national brand, similar signs, a friend who banks there just strode in unmasked. Nobody said a thing

  7. John
    John January 10, 2022 3:17 pm

    Claire, this story chokes me up, almost brought a tear to my eyes!
    Brain and heart food, to this old wired-optimist soul.

    Non vaxed and moving mostly at will in the wacky west, spending about half my time between a blue urban county and neighboring less so, rural one, I can avoid what many cannot. My defiant instincts don’t see the sort of tests as would likely have been the case when I was half my age.

    At ground level, perhaps saddest and almost demoralizing to me is the passive compliance I see manifest by so many still wearing the masks outdoors. Especially the children.

    My infrequent and short duration entry into businesses has made the mask thing tolerable. That, and my respect for house rules. Perhaps I shall take a cue from Fido above and test more how much posted rules are real, and how much they’re just graffiti.

    Fun thought, the tyrannical might need a new variant soon. Yet it may look like shades of the boy who cried wolf? The game is showing more and more significant cracks, and I think it may collapse? What card gets played then?

    Happy New Year all. Make it so!

  8. Toirdhealbheach Beucail
    Toirdhealbheach Beucail January 10, 2022 4:09 pm

    Rhett. Thus it is written, thus it shall be done.

    This is happening in our urban area as well of course – a musical that The Ravishing Mrs. TB and Na Clann was pushed until September at best because of the new version of The Plague (on the bright side, the next character is Pi, so that should make for fantastic media and mockery. After all, who does not like pie?). The theater company themselves were the ones that canceled. Keep up enough of this and we are going to have a whole new round of people in need of a job.

    There are all sorts of people all around who in their own small way are fighting the system. The fact that they exist at all, and the fact that they do this (sometimes at great risk, I assume) should encourage and hearten us all.

    It is indeed odd that a piece of paper, be it a card or a wristband, suddenly convert us into the “elite”. If this is where we are, we are far closer to the edge than most know.

  9. Simon Templar
    Simon Templar January 10, 2022 4:51 pm

    Excellent story! I am sure I am not the only one in need of some happy stories these days.

    And hooray for Outlaws, too!

    OK, I read the Doc’s preventive procedure. I am wondering if Scotch would work instead of the dilute Providone-Iodine? It *is* about half ethanol, which kills germs, too, I think.

  10. Bill T
    Bill T January 10, 2022 7:03 pm

    I had the same experience as Fido today at a membership big box. Lady at the door had to give the wife and I a mask but it was obvious that there was no enforcement as half of the customers were not wearing any mask. I just took it and put it in my pocket and did my shopping.

    I have gotten to the point where I figure the ones that wear the mask are the ones that would be okay with putting me into a UP box car.

    Of topic, as you know I am not going to get the shot and am leaving my DOD job this Friday. However, they have started work from home again like the bad old days of the Wuhan three out of five days with no more than 50% present at the office because the Covid is running through the Shot personnel at an ever increasing rate. It’s as if the shot isn’t working.

  11. Kathy
    Kathy January 10, 2022 7:49 pm

    So happy for you!! And yay for outlaws! We are determined to be noncompliant with all this bs. Noncompliant.

  12. Val E. Forge
    Val E. Forge January 10, 2022 11:29 pm

    Claire – Am elated that you have connected (re-connected?) With Rhett, whom you have seen to taken a (mutual) shine to. I think the entire missive underscores the importance of Outlaw Moles. I humbly include myself in said group, as, due to certain obligations that I shan’t elaborate on here, I could never be an Agitator (but could possibly be a Ghost).

    Again, Claire, a happy tale. Glad you had a well deserved night on the town.

  13. Val E. Forge
    Val E. Forge January 10, 2022 11:30 pm

    Claire – Am elated that you have connected (re-connected?) With Rhett, whom you have seen to taken a (mutual) shine to. I think the entire missive underscores the importance of Outlaw Moles. I humbly include myself in said group, as, due to certain obligations that I shan’t elaborate on here, I could never be an Agitator (but could possibly a Ghost).

    Again, Claire, a happy tale. Glad you had a well deserved night on the town.

  14. larryarnold
    larryarnold January 11, 2022 1:33 am

    Now this will throw a kink in things:

    One preprint study found that after 30 days the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines no longer had any statistically significant positive effect against Omicron infection, and after 90 days, their effect went negative—i.e., vaccinated people were more susceptible to Omicron infection. Confirming this negative efficacy finding, data from Denmark and the Canadian province of Ontario indicate that vaccinated people have higher rates of Omicron infection than unvaccinated people.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/omicron-makes-bidens-vaccine-mandates-obsolete-wsj

  15. Warren Bluhm
    Warren Bluhm January 11, 2022 4:25 am

    “on the bright side, the next character is Pi, so that should make for fantastic media and mockery” — I’m not sure that’s a bright side. Pi goes on and on forever. (Let the mockery begin!)

  16. Jolly
    Jolly January 11, 2022 6:44 am

    Daughter & #2 son just came back from NYC having seen a make-up show on Broadway. Unfortunately, both have drunk the kool-aid, so didn’t think the “precautions” were a big deal. I’d been invited, but will not put-up with the nonsense ( besides, work is hell right now ).
    Broadway is a mess as shows seem to have performances randomly canceled – or not. They’re still asking absurd prices for everything.
    My wife has worked for a teen non-profit musical theatre group for over a decade. While she got the initial shots, she refuses to get boosters. The head of the troupe[sic] is a fully-woke, extreme progressive that most of you have heard of ( she’s a bestseller author of a couple dozen books, which all look the same to me, but I’m not the target audience ). This person is an absolute crazy person – wears double masks, has wipes like Adrian Monk, and demands everybody get every shot as soon as they’re available. This should get interesting.
    One question, Claire, how do you get your ivermectin? I’ve standardized on “pour-on” for cattle. Extremely cheap, easy to apply – just rub it in as a massage. You could even do that to an unconscious person on a respirator…

  17. Jeff Allen
    Jeff Allen January 11, 2022 8:09 am

    The Outlaw Mole thing: maybe I should go back over what you’ve written about this, and see what I missed, but I was thinking “leaderless resistance” when the whispering started. Okay, with the phonecon. (Informed) actions are everything…

  18. Noah Body
    Noah Body January 11, 2022 2:22 pm

    Way off topic here . . .but has anybody else been having trouble getting into Survivalblog.com? I have not been able to access that site for several days now. Does anybody know what is going on with that site or Mr. Rawles?

  19. Simon Templar
    Simon Templar January 11, 2022 3:34 pm

    I just checked survivalblog.com, and it worked for me. It had content dated today, 1-11.

  20. patrick thomas
    patrick thomas January 12, 2022 10:55 am

    Here in Oklahoma most places had signs on doors during the worst of the fog of war dis/misinformation, and many not most folks did not wear masks, myself included. Nowadays very rare to see any masks, anywhere. But I do have one story. I was kicked out of Sprouts for no mask. Hah I never go to sprouts it has a very Karen vibe anyway, but my wife needed some special vegetable or somesuch. So a Karen manager comes running over and approaches me and hands me a mask. Sir sir you must were this or you have to leave. I said, “Nah, I’ll never wear one of those and walked away to my wife who was pretending not to know me, hah again. Karen rushes over, yells very loudly, Sir Sir put down the basket and step away from the vegetables.
    Damn, I was laughing so hard even the other masked idiots joined in the fun. And then I happily left.
    Off topic- I see mucho evidence of a big turn on the covid insanity ( while I’m sure plan b or c is being prepped- inflation, shortages, etc.) and I have a hunch Genocide Geno might be TPTB sacrificial lamb

  21. Granny
    Granny January 12, 2022 1:38 pm

    Step.Away.From.TheVegetables!!!
    ROTFLOL

  22. Cube64
    Cube64 January 12, 2022 8:18 pm

    What an encouraging and great story! Thanks for writing about it.

  23. Val E. Forge
    Val E. Forge January 12, 2022 10:45 pm

    Noah – Just punched up survivalblog.com and it was fine. This was on my cell phone no less which can be squirrely.

  24. Noah Body
    Noah Body January 13, 2022 7:21 am

    Yes, I found Survivalblog was working again. For a few days, it was loading too slowly and apparently timed out the connection. This has happened on occasion before, but never for more than a day.

  25. Just Waiting
    Just Waiting January 13, 2022 8:28 pm

    Living in the halo of NYC, I grew up with all that culture. Saw Fiedler conduct the Pops, heard Pavarotti at The Met, went to galleries. One of my first exposures to true counter culture was seeing the Sex Pistols at CBGBs.

    I’m 3200 miles from that place but thankfully nowadays I’m happy which the visual and sensory beauty provided by Motbers Nature and Ocean. The only Art Gallery for miles is called Washed Ashore, where all the pieces are made from things that have literally washed ashore. The creativity of their artists equals anything I’ve seen in the city.

    Oh, and we do have a symphony, kinda. Its about 40 mostly elderly people who played an instrument as a kid and came together and all get to play again. The music director’s credential is he played in a band Off Broadway once, or something like that. Sour notes abound, but I won’t miss a show.

  26. The Liberty Monkey
    The Liberty Monkey January 14, 2022 11:11 pm

    That’s a story that warms the heart. It’s easy to think that you’re all alone, but the old American F U spirit hasn’t been beaten yet. And what a fine stage name for your partner in crime! 🙂

  27. The Freeholder
    The Freeholder January 15, 2022 4:22 pm

    I love it. I’ve long suspected that we outnumber Them, but as many keep their we-ness on the down-low, it’s a difficult thing to know.

    @Jolly-I get mine from All Day Chemist. It’s human stuff, 12 mg dosage per pill. They have other needful things, too.

Leave a Reply