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A customer at a Costco in Colorado filmed an employee asking him to leave for not wearing a mask. Wochit

If you don't wear a mask while shopping, Tison from Costco will ask you to leave.

That was the case for one customer in in Arvada, Colorado, when a Costco employee with a badge name "Tison" asked the man who refused to wear a face covering to leave the establishment.

The confrontation, which Twitter user @OnlyInLVNV posted online Monday, went viral Wednesday.

"I'll just put you on my 3,000-follower Instagram feed, mostly loved ones," the customer says to the Costco employee as he starts recording the interaction.

To which Tison replies, "Hi, everyone. I work for Costco and I'm asking this member to put on a mask 'cause that is our company policy."

Costco employee who asked customer to leave for not wearing a mask.(Photo: Screenshot)

Last month,Costcoannounced that, beginning May 4, it would return to regular hours and customers and employees alike would be required to wear face coverings ormasks. At the time of the announcement, some on social media voiced their opposition to wearing masks while shopping.

Nevertheless, as BuzzFeed News reported, safety guidelines from Costco have been loosened since May 1.

The customer retorted that he's not putting on a mask"because I woke up in a free country."

Costco customer who was asked to leave the establishment for not wearing a mask.(Photo: Screeshot)

Tison, the Costco employee, proceeded to take the customer's cart away, politely wishedhim a great day several times and informed him that he was "not welcome here in our warehouse" and that he needed to leave.

The customer then offered up insults to the Costco employee as he walked away and culminated the video saying, "there he goes, 'cause I'm not a (expletive) sheep."

Costco employee took the customer's cart away after asking him to leave the establishment.(Photo: Screenshot)

The Centers for Disease Control has recommended "wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies)especiallyin areas of significant community-based transmission."

After some social media backlash, the customer posted another video saying, "I've got every (expletive) right to not wear a mask anywhere because this isn't about the mask this is about control." He added, "I was one of the only people in that store not wearing a mask, which means you're protected from me and I'm protected from you."

This perspective doesn't align with what the CDC has said.

In its recommendation, the agency notes: "We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms ('asymptomatic') and that even those who eventually develop symptoms ('pre-symptomatic') can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms. This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity."

Though the CDC's guidelines refer to wearing a cloth face covering as a "voluntary public health measure," Costco has adopted face coverings as mandatory for entrance to the store.

In unrelated posts on the Costco (Arvada, CO) Facebook page, users were praising the requirement of masks for customers and employees. Support for Tison has also been pouring from Twitter, including from Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who tweeted the video adding: "Costco has the right to require that customers wear a mask. Businesses have the right to prevent people from spewing saliva droplets in their stores. Because we live in a free country."

Costco said that management had no comment at this time when USA TODAY reached out.

In a previous statement, the retailer said: "We know some members may find this inconvenient or objectionable, but under the circumstances we believe the added safety is worth any inconvenience. This is not simply a matter of personal choice; a face covering protects not just the wearer, but others too."

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'This isn't about the mask, it's about control': Costco customer asked to leave after refusing to wear a face covering - USA TODAY

A forest fire in Barnaby, N.B. is still out of control Monday afternoon.

But, Kelly Cormier, aspokesperson for theDepartment of Natural Resources and Energy Development said the crews were making gains to contain it.

"The fire has been difficult to contain as the results of windy conditions yesterday causing numerous spot fires." she said.

Some residents in the community prepared for evacuation Sunday afternoon as air tankersand fire crews tried to bring a forest fire under control.

The community is about 40 kilometres south of Miramichi.

Gerrit Bosma said hisfamily was packed and prepared to evacuate if needed,but he hoped the fire would becontained with the help of air tankersfromForest Protection Limited.

"It's going away from us but I think they have it contained," Bosma said in a Facebook message.

Three homes in the area were threatened at one point, said Cormier.

By Sunday night no homes were in danger.

"Air tanker and ground attack was effective ineliminating that threat," Cormiersaid in an email.

But the fire is still out of control andsix air tankers areworking to keep it contained.

The fire isburning on the North and South Barnaby Roads. It covers 20 hectares.

The Miramichi Fire Departmenthad crews at the site helping crews from the Department of Natural Resources.

The province has been under a complete fire ban for a week.

TheUpper Kingsclear and Nashwaak Valley fire departments issued warnings on social media urging people to respect the ban. They warned of the possibility of a fine from the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development if it is determined a wildfireis the resultof human carelessness.

"They will not be issuing warnings. Again, please be careful," theNashwaak Valley Fire Department post read.

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Forest fire in Barnaby still out of control, but crews making gains - CBC.ca

The Conservative government and its allies in the establishment media have made it clear that they dont care about the lives of ordinary people.

The UK has the highest coronavirus (Covid 19) death rate in Europe and the second-highest total number of deaths in the world; the reproduction rate (R number) hasnt consistently been reducing and horrendous daily death figures are still being announced. From refusing to lockdown while the virus could still be contained, to inadequate PPE, testing problems, and now an app run by a company that cant be trusted with data, everything about the governments response is shambolic.

Now, the media and the government are going to war with teaching unions; a war started by theDaily Mail. Teachers are being blamed for government failures and for wanting to keep staff, pupils and their families safe.

When the government fails to protect us, its down to all of us to take action. There are several ways we can resist what is happening and build alternatives to state power.

Back in March, the government was criticised for promotingthe idea of herd immunity. It later dropped this discredited idea. But now it seems herd immunity is back on the table.

All through the lockdown, part of the governments message was stay home to protect the NHS. But this messaging was also about building capacity in the NHS. During the lockdown, this happened. Nightingale hospitals were built across England but they werent used. As of 4 May, three of the new hospitals hadnt taken any patients at all. The original Nightingale at Londons hospital was put into hibernation in case of a second wave, having only treated just 54 patients.

With that capacity in place, Johnson now seems happy to lift elements of the lockdown despite the data not backing his actions and independent scientists labelling his actions potentially dangerous. The government may no longer be calling it herd immunity, but its hard to see it in any other way.

Johnson is putting working-class peoples lives at risk by encouraging manufacturing and construction workers back to work. Meanwhile, data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that people from deprived areas are dying at twice the rate of those in affluent areas. Research from UCL Institute for Global Health showed that people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are two to three times more likely to die from coronavirus.

This is unbelievably tragic, but it shouldnt be surprising. After all, this is the party thats backed a programme of austerity that the Institute for Public Policy Research found led to 130,000 preventable deaths; a party that, according to the UN, implemented austerity measures that deliberately pushedthousands of people into poverty:

UK standards of well-being have descended precipitately in a remarkably short period of time, as a result of deliberate policy choices made when many other options were available.

Increasingly like its attitude to coronavirus, a political choice was made to implement measures that fell:

disproportionately upon the poor, women, racial and ethnic minorities, children, single parents, and people with disabilities.

The story of how the Tories bailed out the bankers by punishing ordinary people is a familiar one. But it took time. The austerity project was driven over years; some services were eroded in a piecemeal fashion; groups were targeted at different times.

But this time its different because its slapping us in the face. Were not facing a gradual decline but a sudden one imposed over weeks. The impact of coronavirus policy is like austerity on speed. Working-class and BAME communities are paying the highest possible price while the rich get back their nannies and cleaners; construction workers, in an industry known for blacklisting those who raise health and safety issues, can go back to work, while the rich can play golf and drive to the beach.

The class division in ending the lockdown couldnt be clearer.

Meanwhile, as Ive previously written forThe Canary, the government and establishment media are trying to change the narrative, and in the process are gaslighting every single one of us. Despite a catalogue of government failures, blame is being placed on individuals. Whether its those forced onto crowded public transport in order to get to work or those following government advice and enjoying the sun in beauty spots.

Having seen the virus rampage through our care homes, Matt Hancock now wants us to believe that there was a protective ring placed around them. During Boris Johnsons address to the nation on 10 May, he stressed the importance of the R number and that keeping that number down was crucial to the relaxing of measures. But when it later became clear that the R rate appeared to be increasing, deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries underplayed this previously vital statistic.

This is rewriting history. And its happening on almost a daily basis.

Now the gaslighting has taken yet another turn. Were supposed to believe that were too afraid to leave our homes, that the governments earlier messaging was too successful. In order to get us back to work, the government is trying to convince us that were irrationally scared. But that anxiety is rational. We may be anxious about going out but with good reason. With the death rate and the R-number of the virus still high, not enough has changed.

And when lifting restrictions result in the tragically almost inevitable second peak, individuals will be blamed rather than a shambolic government thats handled the pandemic with devastating consequences. After all, its obvious we werent alert enough.

Under normal circumstances, wed be taking to the street. Wed have the usual channels of mass resistance open to us. But unless we have the worlds first socially distanced uprising, these options are closed.

The government has failed us and is putting thousands of our lives, and the lives of our loved ones, at risk. So we need to take matters into our own hands. We need to make our own decisions based on facts not government spin or an establishment media that appears happy to risk lives to preserve the wealth of the elite.

In doing so we also need to recognise privilege. Its easy for someone like me to advocate not going back to work when I work from home. But if my family was relying on food banks, then I know that decision could be different.

So unlike the establishment media, its important not to blame individuals and the decisions they need to make. But where possible, if work isnt essential, refuse to do it. If the government tries to force kids back to school on 1 June and you live somewhere that is obeying the government directive, support teachers and dont send your children back. Find out about rent strikes, and support and join the campaign. If youre not already a member, join a union. Join the growing voices demanding the government implement a Universal Basic Income to ensure no-one is left behind.

Finally, get involved in your local mutual aid group. Find out ways you can support people and reach out for support if you need it. As Tom Anderson reported in The Canary, mutual aid groups are setting up alternative structures across the country because:

it became clear in February and early March that the states coronavirus strategy was totally inadequate for taking care of the wellbeing of working class people

Moreover, these groups are establishing a new way of doing things that hope:

to come out of the pandemic having been able to help some people, but also having made some deeper links in the local community and feeling more prepared to keep fighting for a better world with those around us, and to have made the struggle more intersectional and inclusive as a result.

The phrase the new normal is bandied around a lot. For the government, it looks like its new normal will be business as usual with a bit of social distancing thrown in for good measure. We need to reject this and model the new normal that we want to see across our communities.

The government has failed. The establishment media has failed. Its time for the people to take charge, set the agenda, and show we can and will do things differently.

Featured image via Guardian News/YouTube

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Stop listening to the government and establishment media. Its time for ordinary people to take control. - The Canary

Microsoft is making some improvements to its Windows 10 accessibility features, specifically centered around making the text cursor easier to see and follow using the built-in Magnifier feature. Theres also new text-to-speech functionality being integrated into the Magnifier tool, as well as improvements to Narrator (the built-in Windows screen reader), all set to roll out in the May 2020 Update.

Microsoft had previously offered tools to adjust the size and color of the standard mouse cursor. Now its bringing similar options to the text cursor, allowing users with impaired vision to adjust the size, thickness, and color of the text cursor, along with adding a new, larger indication to easily find it on-screen. Similarly, the Magnifier feature will follow the text cursor in the middle of the display, just like it does with the regular mouse cursor.

Magnifier is also getting a new text-to-speech feature that will read out text in browsers or applications (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Word, Outlook, and Powerpoint are all called out by name). To that end, there are new media control buttons in the Magnifier app, allowing users to easily control playback.

Lastly, Microsoft has made improvements to Narrator, its screen reading tool that makes it possible to use Windows without being able to see the screen. Microsoft is adding options to hear sounds instead of full phrases for toggling actions, and its adding better support for announcing capital letters and words. Narrator also offers a better experience when web browsing, adding support for Firefox, an option to automatically start reading webpages, and a feature that gives a summary of the entire page.

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Windows 10 gets accessibility improvements to cursor, screen reader, and more - The Verge

JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pledged to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in the coming months, vowing to move ahead with the explosive plan despite a growing chorus of condemnations by key allies.

The Palestinians, with wide international backing, seek the entire West Bank as the heartland of a future independent state. Annexing large chunks of this territory would all but destroy the faint remaining hopes of a two-state solution.

In an apparent reference to the friendly administration of President Donald Trump, Netanyahu said Israel had a historic opportunity to redraw the Mideast map that could not be missed. Israeli media quoted him as saying he would act in July.

This is an opportunity that we will not let pass, he told members of his conservative Likud party. He added that the historic opportunity to annex the West Bank had never before occurred since Israels founding in 1948.

The comments threatened to push Israel closer to a confrontation with Arab and European partners, and could deepen what is becoming a growing partisan divide over Israel in Washington.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. It has settled nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers in the territory, but never formally claimed it as an Israeli territory due to stiff international opposition.

But the Trump administration has taken a much softer line toward Israeli settlements than its predecessors. Trumps Mideast team is dominated by advisers with close ties to the settlements, and his Mideast plan, unveiled in January, envisions leaving some 30% of the territory under permanent Israeli control while giving the Palestinians expanded autonomy in the rest of the area. The Palestinians have rejected the plan, saying it is unfairly biased toward Israel.

With Trumps re-election prospects uncertain this November, Israeli hard-liners have urged Netanyahu to move ahead with annexation quickly. The Israeli leaders new coalition deal includes an official clause allowing him to present his annexation plan to the government in July.

Netanyahu told party members in a closed-door meeting that we have a target date for July and we dont intend to change it, Likud officials said.

The plan has already exposed a partisan divide in Washington. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee in the U.S. presidential elections, recently said that annexation would choke off hopes for a two-state solution. 18 Democratic senators warned in a letter this week that annexation could harm U.S.-Israeli ties.

The EUs foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said annexation would violate international law and vowed to use all our diplomatic capacities to stop it.

Closer to home, the Palestinians last week cut off security ties a valuable tool in a shared struggled against Islamic militants with Israel to protest the annexation plan.

Saudi Arabia, an influential Arab country that maintains behind-the-scenes relations with Israel, announced its rejection of the Israeli measures and plans to annex Palestinian lands.

The Arab League has condemned it as a war crime, and both Jordan and Egypt the only two Arab countries at peace with Israel have harshly criticized it.

Netanyahu spoke a day after beginning his trial on corruption charges.

The prime minister launched a blistering tirade against the countrys legal system when he arrived at court, accusing police, prosecutors and media of conspiring to oust him. As he spoke, hundreds of supporters cheered outside.

Speaking to Likud on Monday, Netanyahu said he was very moved by the support.

Critics have said his attacks on the justice system risk undermining the countrys democratic foundations.

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Israeli leader vows to push ahead with annexing West Bank - The Republic