We are 100% mask free, up to businesses whether they want to limit or require face coverings. Letting us be adults. Lowest rate of infections and hospitals since June here in Texas. And our class was the biggest it had been since pre lockdowns these last 2 weeks. Awesomeness! Texas! I mean this guy to my left was a lightweight before the lockdown (I am on the right, I am 6 foot 225 lbs). Get back in the gyms and get healthy!

Texas is doing it right.

Here's how that's not true. Texas lifted their restrictions statewide. Then the city of Austin decided that they would keep some of the restrictions in place. The State of Texas threatened to sue the city of Austin. So, in other words, the State of Texas decided they didn't like big government (US Federal) telling them what to do, and then turned around and acted as big government to their local constituents and told them what to do. Hypocrisy.

See here is how it is not hypocrisy. We have state rights in our constitution, we do not have county or city rights that are comparable in the Texas constitution. The state decided that the government of any kind could not restrict the rights of Texans. So when Austin decided and Harris county tried they got shut down because this is now up to the people. Texas sued them to leave it up to the individual. If you own a business it is up to you what your business can or cannot restrict, not up to the state or feds to tell you how to run your business. So when Texas stood up for the people when they sued Austin hey did the same thing when they stood up against the federal government. We have that right as a state, but the framers of the Texas constitution did not give those rights to our city and county leaders, we left these rights to our individual practice. So a restaurant in Austin can absolutely stay at 25% and require masks and gloves. The government of any kind cannot force it on you. But as a consumer you choose where to eat or shop.

a state can simply choose to ignore the federal governments dictates, which they do from time to time.

This is 100% not true.

And, for the record....turning wearing a mask into a die on your sword issue is hysterical to me. It's really not a big deal to put on a mask.

it will piss off conspiracy theorists. :P

Marijuana is a pretty good example. 11 states have legalized it for recreational use and 34 have medical marijuana. It is still a schedule 1 federal drug and very illegal. This is a perfect example of states choosing to ignore federal laws.

But yeah, I will stop there, as I've been pulled up about getting political on here before.

Its been decriminalized. That simply means they are choosing not to charge you.

Really? That's a bad sign.

Its been legalized in 11 states. NY being the latest. A private citizen in NY can have I believe 5 ounces of weed on their person and can now smoke in public just like a cigarette. But to your point about decriminalization that is ignoring federal law. The feds say its illegal and bad the States that decriminalized it say we dont care we wont prosecute, thereby ignoring federal laws, like I stated.

I can understand why Christian has that rule. A significant chunk of us on this forum are quite likely to meet up in person at BJJ Globetrotters Camps, so it makes sense to avoid stoking vicious political discussion. I doubt Christian wants to try and sort that out at camp. I know I wouldn't enjoy it at the small Artemis BJJ camps I run, so I can empathise. And meh, I can get all the political chat I could want on places like reddit (I'm bounce between r/ukpolitics, r/LibDem and r/Tories, among other places), so it's not like I have to do it here too. ;)

I disagree. I believe one of the huge problems we all are having is the inability to accept that other people may have differing opinions. Shutting down a conversation does not make that happen. That just means we can't communicate anymore. That's no good. Say your piece. If I disagree I will say so. It's a debate. If you can't debate me without losing your temper, I can't really trust you. I certainly don't want to roll with you, I can tell you that.

I enjoy discussing politics, because it is interesting hearing other viewpoints (as long as the discussion remains civil, which can be a big if), but yeah, up to Christian. I can see why he's gone that route. And like I said, I get more than enough political discussion elsewhere anyway. ;)

Ooo, interesting! I'm only a brown belt, but I am 100% planning to buy a house in Spain (for staying over the winter, back in the UK for the rest of the year) and open an affiliate school there in future. I love Spain, I've also been heading over regularly to various areas to see which areas I like enough to want to live there (my favourite so far was Lo Pagán). So it is useful to know which areas in Spain don't have much BJJ: what I'm looking for is somewhere in or near a university town, not too far from the coast and not too windy (which rules out most of the Costa de la Luz, whereas the Costa de la Sol is a little too pricey and touristy for me, though I haven't fully explored the options yet). :D