Be a Snitch in Massachusetts

I hate this state:

"Hot lines let workers snitch on bosses who break virus rules" by Steve LeBlanc Associated Press, July 21, 2020

Feel like snitching on a boss or business not following public health rules in the COVID-19 era? Massachusetts officials are more than happy to listen.

Hot lines and websites allow workers, customers, and others who spot businesses they believe aren’t taking steps to stem the spread of the coronavirus to relay those concerns to the state.

Inform on neighbor, inform on an enemy, inform on a friend, inform on your family.

The commissars of the former Soviet Union and East Germany would be proud.

So would King George III.

A reporting form offered by Attorney General Maura Healey earlier in the pandemic has already registered more than 1,000 complaints, and last week, Governor Charlie Baker announced an additional effort to help track businesses and institutions that might not be taking proper precautions.

One was from Whole Foods.

Healey’s form lets workers and customers choose from a list of concerns about employers they believe are not complying with recommendations and requirements on such issues as cleaning, hygiene, and masks.

Reports can be made anonymously.

Oh, great. 

Doesn't even have to be a real complaint now. Some state bureaucrat could have a grudge, or the state can use this to punish. This is the kind of crap that goes on in war zones when our occupying forces want help. 

Readers, I live in an insane asylum called the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

WTF?

Other concerns on the form include requiring work of employees who are showing symptoms; retaliating against workers who raise concerns; failing to practice social distancing; and failing to display a poster attesting to compliance.

The poster publicly affirms that a business is complying with basic health measures including face coverings, social distancing, hand-washing, and regularly sanitizing high-touch areas. It also states that employees have received training about social distancing and hygiene.

“We have received hundreds of complaints from workers and consumers about businesses that aren’t following state health and safety guidance,” Healey said in a written statement. “With continued anxiety and uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, we want the public and workers to know we are dedicated to protecting them during this time.”

Given that they have destroyed our economy and lives with this medical tyranny based on a fake virus (yeah, I said it), her words RING HOLLOW!

In most cases, Healey’s office doesn’t have direct authority to enforce the kinds of health and safety items in the reports.

Yeah, this is all unlawful public pressure they are putting on us all, the worst kind of manipulation by deceit.

Instead, other local, state, and federal authorities — such as the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards — could act.

And do what?

Healey said her office’s division on fair labor has been responding to the workplace health and safety complaints as best they can by helping workers and consumers understand their rights. Her office also tells employers when it receives a complaint and makes sure they know about COVID-19 safety orders issued by Baker.

Rights? 

What right? 

We ain't got no stinking rights!

Anywhere you go there are onerous restrictions and ridiculous submissions.

Healey’s office has also been referring concerns lodged with her office to local, state, and federal authorities that have more direct authority, including local boards of health, the Department of Labor Standards, and the state Department of Public Health.

What does she actually do, other than arrange bribes, 'er, kickbacks, 'er, settlements from corporate criminals?

The types of businesses cited by patrons and workers in the reports compiled by Healey’s office range from restaurants, barber shops, car dealers, and fitness centers to medical centers, homeless shelters, pizza shops, furniture stores, contractors, and departments in local and state government.

What was that last one there?

Damn hypocrites!

They also include big-name retailers like Target, Costco, Home Depot, Sam’s Club, and Walmart.

But Mom and Pop must close.

While some of the most common complaints included the failure to properly clean and sanitize or require social distancing, there were more than 150 complaints about requiring symptomatic individuals to return to work.

Baker also hopes to reach out to businesses that may be falling short on the COVID-19 front with the help of workers and customers. “We’re grateful that thousands of businesses and organizations are doing their part to implement the reopening guidance that’s been made available,” Baker said during a press conference last week.

F**k him.

His administration launched a website that he said will make it easy for anyone to submit a report highlighting what they believe is noncompliance with a host of coronavirus rules outlined by his administration for specific kinds of businesses.

“People are working hard to cooperate and be creative, but if folks believe that a business or employer is not observing the safety guidelines, we’ve set up a process for people in the public or employees to reach out and communicate that,” he added.

Like a Gestapo.

Investigations prompted by a report can result in enforcement measures if violations are discovered, Baker said.

Like cutting off water and electricity to the gym, and changing the locks.

Baker said individuals can also call the state’s 211 hot line to report concerns about a business.

Those concerns will be move directly to the new website, Baker said.

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So what is our illustrious AG up to these days?

"AG rejects Brookline’s ban on oil, gas pipes in new buildings" by David Abel Globe Staff, July 21, 2020

In a move that irked her staunchly liberal supporters, Attorney General Maura Healey on Tuesday rejected a controversial bylaw passed last year by Brookline residents that banned the installation of oil and gas pipes in new and substantially renovated buildings, the first such prohibition in Massachusetts.

The near-unanimous vote of more than 200 Town Meeting members in Brookline, heralded as the first of a number of similar local efforts to reduce carbon emissions, would have required homeowners and developers to install electric heat, hot water, and appliances.

In a statement, Healey said she had long supported efforts to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change but had no choice but to reject the bylaw.

“While we are legally obligated to disapprove bylaws that are inconsistent with state law, we will continue to lead efforts in Massachusetts and nationally to protect ratepayers and the environment, make our buildings more efficient, and work alongside our communities to reduce the threat of climate change,” she said.

Proponents of the bylaw were disappointed by Healey’s decision.....

Then off she went to sue Exxon or grandstand regarding Trump.

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Also see:

Mass. AG’s office would get new role in police deadly force investigations under House reform bill

The police chiefs are not happy.

Will have to appeal to the king on bended knee:

"As legislative session nears end, Baker gains a stronger veto pen" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, July 21, 2020

The Massachusetts Legislature is staring down a dwindling clock — and a strengthening gubernatorial check.

Absent a rare decision to suspend their own rules and extend the formal legislative session, state lawmakers are effectively empowering Governor Charlie Baker and his veto pen in crafting what becomes law and what doesn’t in the coming weeks.

Formal lawmaking on Beacon Hill is set to end on July 31, giving the Democratic-led House and Senate, for now, a hard deadline to complete and send to Baker any number of complicated bills, including still-in-the-works legislation tightening accountability of police.

After that date, the Legislature still meets, but under its current rules, only in informal sessions, where typically minor bills pass and any dissent can block legislation.

With a pile of complex bills still on their plate, lawmakers may have their hands tied even further. Baker gets 10 days to consider any legislation that lands on his desk, meaning he can now hold onto any bill that reaches him until after formal lawmaking is scheduled to wrap up at month’s end.

He can veto a bill outright or return legislation to lawmakers with changes, but come August, the process for legislative maneuvering becomes far more complicated, given legislators need a two-thirds vote in each branch to override any veto.

They’re the type of logistical challenges that underline how even in a Legislature with a Democratic super-majority, a governor from the minority party can still wield considerable influence, especially given the time of year.

Senate President Karen E. Spilka said in a statement Tuesday that her hope was to avoid the typical end-of-session bottleneck now facing the Legislature and is “disappointed to find ourselves in this situation again,” but she indicated an expanded formal session is on the table as the Senate addresses a still-to-be-passed state budget, bills responding to the coronavirus pandemic, and legislation setting a target for net-zero emissions by 2050, among other things.

These creatures we call politicians disgust me.

They are writing budgets as if it is situation normal, and why wouldn't they? 

None of their actions have affected them personally!

“If we need to work through these extraordinary circumstances to address these important issues after July 31, we will,” Spilka said, “but we should be able to complete most of this work in the timeframe we are given — and the public shouldn’t have to wait any longer.”

Don't miss the flight to Israel, though.

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Governor Charlie Baker (Sam Doran/Pool)

You have to hand it to him, he's a fine-looking and handsome tyrant.

Time to put him a straitjacket and evict him from office though.