Homeless Thoughts - the Idiotic Edition

We’re going to jump around a little bit with this post. I do this when I don’t have a big cohesive topic to ruminate on, merely a bunch of semi-coherent notions.

More on Forced Birth

I’ve said for years that the top Republicans don’t really care about abortion, they just love to use it as a wedge issue; something to get their voters worked up about. It’s been a great issue for them because they’ve had Roe established for so long, that there was never any danger of having to face any serious backlash.

And the most important thing was that fighting the abortion wars didn’t cost Big Business any money. Overturn? Don’t overturn? Doesn’t matter a bit to the Koch Brother and the energy industry. Or Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Farma, Big Tech, etc. Just as long as it could continue to be used to drive the evangelicals to vote Republican, they could count on passing tax cuts and cutting safety regulations.

But along the way, some True Believers have made it to the top levels of government. To them, the Mike Pences of the world, abortion is a moral issue they take personally, as in making it their personal business to force you to adhere to their morals in lieu of your own. And now, we have a fistful of SCOTUS members who can’t wait to make the rest of us dance to their church music.

So it will be interesting this fall to see if Republicans will be forced to pay a price for installing religious ideologues into the land's highest court. If they don’t, it’s the end of our secular world as we know it, because they’ll be coming for birth control and gay marriage next. The precedent will have been set that there are no more precedents, especially those the religious folk doesn’t like.

Speaking of More Ons…

I saw this headline last week:

That’s the problem with having a “useful idiot,” that no matter how useful he is, he’s still an idiot. I wonder if Putin made TFG sit on his lap as he explained world history and geopolitics to him. That would have merely been the visual representation of what had been going on all along… a ventriloquist act.

Poll Vaulting

I saw a poll a while back that asked, “Is the country going in the right direction?”

I never know how to answer that question unless I know who’s conducting the poll because they can interpret the answer in whichever way suits their needs.

I say the country is going in the wrong direction. A conservative outlet could consider it evidence that Biden is doing a bad job. A progressive outlet could make the case that the public is against the GOP roadblocks to everything the Dems try to do because the Republicans and Sinimanchin put the kibosh on it. (Which would be the reasoning behind my answer.)

Everybody Hates Joe

It looks like “baby formula” is the new “gas prices.” One of the 3 major providers of baby formula in the US had to recall their goods and shut down production due to contaminated products that killed or sickened some babies. These are post-birth babies, so the Republicans don’t really care about them, but it still makes for a good smear. Just look at how many GOP congressmen voted against removing the Trump-era tariffs on Canadian formula, to help resupply our stores. But Fox “News”  and conservative media are beating this new drum trying to put the blame on the Biden Administration as if Joe had his minions out creeping about the factory dropping E-Coli into the vats. You know, because anything bad that happens when there’s a Democrat in charge is the Democrat’s fault. And if there’s a Republican in charge, it’s also the Democrat’s fault. 

And how do they get away with doing that?

BoomaRona

Watch out, the ‘Rona is on the way back. Even in highly-vaccinated Maryland, the stats have made a big U-turn.

This clip was from Saturday’s Baltimore Sun. Only a month or two ago, the positivity rate was around 1.5%. The number of patients hospitalized with COVID was under 150. But since all the rules have been shelved and people rushed back to acting like they did in 2018, the ‘Rona has waltzed right back into our midst.

I still need to get my second booster. I’ve been waiting for two reasons: 1) I’m hoping they come out with an Omicron-specific booster and 2) I’d like the coverage to go further into this fall and winter’s germy season. Although I have a plane trip coming up in a couple weeks so I probably ought to get that booster right now. I plan to wear a mask but I doubt there will be many more doing so at the airport and on the plane.

On the Home Front

We have a big sea-grass bush outside the house that needs regular attention. This is its usual state:

This is a shot from mid-summer a few years back. Normally we clip it down in the fall because if we don’t, all those leaves turn brown and it looks like Cousin Itt on a bad hair day. But we never got around to it last year.

So with all the alternating rain and sun we’ve been getting, Cousin Itt was completely out of control. All the brown-bladed leaves were still there, but a lot of fresh green ones popped up as well. We should have done it earlier, before the new growth, but we needed gardening gloves. Those blades are finely serrated and sharp; they’ll cut your hands to pieces in a series of paper cuts. You’ve heard of Death by 1000 Cuts? That’s what it’s like to tackle Cousin Itt without gloves.

So after running out for gloves on Saturday, Sweetpea and I got the job done. We try to avoid having to rake up all the leaves, so we just cut bit by bit. I would grab a big handful, she would cut it off with the shears, and I’d drop it right into the leaf bag. It’s not the speediest method but it makes up in efficiency.

But it’s funny how much different he looks.

This is the final product.  And you should have seen it before he got a final once-over with the electric shears. It looks like a 5-year old that just cut his own hair. But don’t fret; within a month or so, he’ll be back to looking like his usual hairy self, albeit taking up a bit less space.

The whole experience, out there in the fresh air, the sun beating down on me, working with Mother Nature’s children, totally makes me want to move into a Condo and stay inside all day. Mr. Greenjeans, I will never be. And that's your second ancient TV reference for this story.

And Finally…

An apt cartoon from Sunday's Funnies, Pearls Before Swine, by Stephen Pastis.

Homeless Thoughts - The Outraged Edition

 It looks like they’ve finally wrapped up the Canadian “Truckers” blockade that was sealing off our border bridge. It’s about time. From all accounts, they were not gracious visitors.

But you wouldn’t know it judging from conservative memes. They were downright giddy about this action, which had Canadian truck drivers protesting Canada’s “draconian” COVID protocols. You know, like get your shots, wear your masks, and try not to spread the infection to everyone you meet as you drive across the country. I saw lots of things like this:

It’s funny how the people I saw posting this stuff were the same people who were having aneurysms over BLM protests. Those people (who were protesting getting killed in police custody for minor offenses) were just a bunch of lawless criminals, with no right to block traffic.

Gee, I wonder what the difference is between the two groups of protesters. I just wonder…

More Outrage

The same person that posted the first pic above also posted this:

I’d hate to break it to him but as usual, there’s a simple answer to his issue. There is more Rogan outrage because Ghislaine Maxwell has been tried, convicted, and is in jail for the foreseeable future. And the principal offender in this case? He’s stone-dead. So there’s not much left to be outraged about, is there? Everything’s handled.

I’m perfectly happy for the government to investigate all passengers on the Epstein Shuttle and let it go wherever it goes. But I’m pretty sure the MAGAs are going to want to stop the presses when the investigation rolls into Mar-a-Lago, to follow up on at least a dozen pictures of TFG with Jeffrey and Ghislaine.

The Rogan thing is still unfolding and looking increasingly serious after a video compilation surfaced of old Joe’s looseness with a certain word that starts with “N.” And then just as suddenly, a whole slew of his podcasts have just “disappeared.”

Have you noticed how no one is putting forth that the video was doctored and he didn’t really say all those things? It’s funny how the “smoking gun” videos proffered by Republicans always turn out to be selectively edited, stripped of context, or otherwise doctored into something other than the truth. I haven’t seen anything analogous from the Dems. They seem to keep coming up with the real deal. That’s what happens when one side deals in reality and the other has to create an environment of its own liking, just to keep their Ponzi Scheme ideology intact.

Even More Outrage

Thank you, Republican National Committee, for creating the phrase “Legitimate Political Discourse,” to describe the events of 1/6/21. I love that this is coming from the Republican “establishment,” and not the usual wingnuts who can be written off as the lunatic fringe. This came from the mainstream GOP.

Now it becomes the Democrats’ job to make them wear this around their necks until November. Every candidate should have a commercial asking if storming the Capitol, ransacking the offices, and assaulting and killing police officers in an attempt to overturn a valid-by-every-legal-standard election, counts as “legitimate political discourse.” They should run pictures like this constantly:

Republicans need to be shown as the party of political extremists trying to seize power by any means necessary, which is most certainly NOT the “American Way.” We do not stage coups in America and that’s exactly what the riot on 1/6 was.

Local Outrage

Back in 2019, when Chicago elected Lori Lightfoot as their first Black female mayor, I wrote a post with words of caution that merely checking statistical boxes for race, gender, and sexual orientation did not guarantee clean, effective leadership. I pointed out that Baltimore’s last three mayors had been Black women and all three left office under a cloud or an indictment. Now there’s another local scandal, this time involving our State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby.

If you’ve heard of her, it’s probably because she took center stage in prosecuting the cops in the Freddie Gray case, the one that caused days of riots here in Baltimore.

Well, it seems she filed a request to withdraw money from her 401k without penalty, as allowed as small business relief to compensate for losses due to COVID. The problem was that she had no business and her career income hadn’t suffered in the least. In fact, she was awarded a $10,000 raise on her annual salary.

She did have two businesses set up but it was on paper only. There were no actual businesses there to lose money. No building, no payroll, no service, no staff, no nothing. So there were no losses there to be a basis of compensation. That’s illegal. There are also issues with fraudulent statements on her loan application.

When all this came to light, she went right to the typical excuses of the day, that this was a political witch hunt from her enemies, and that she was innocent of all charges.

But the thing is, the Feds don’t bring charges like this unless they have you dead to rights. No doubt they’ve seen her paperwork claiming financial hardship. They know she withdrew the money and what she spent it on. (Property in Florida.)

So it’s true that her prosecution might very well be executed by political enemies, of which she made a lot. Prosecuting the Freddie Gray cops was a big part of it. And she also made public that there was a list of Baltimore cops that her staff could not use to testify in court because they were considered unreliable witnesses, due to investigations into their professional misbehavior.

She’s also decreed that her department would not be prosecuting cases of marijuana possession and wanted police to direct their effort to harder drugs and violent crime.

Now, I’m all for all of those things, but the police department is NOT on her side.

She’s also married to a guy who became City Council President, meaning she wields outsized influence over city government.

But the mere fact that her enemies are after her doesn’t mean she’s not guilty. If she’s so worried about people gunning for her, then why on earth hand them something so easily provable, right there on a silver platter? If people are trying to take you down, keep your nose clean! Is that really so difficult?

I swear, I’m amazed by the degree to which politicians think they can hide things. This stuff always comes out, eventually.

More Local Outrage

I enjoyed watching the Super Bowl last night and was looking forward to the analysis in this morning’s paper. But alas, there was none. The game ended too late to make the morning paper.

When they say newspapers are dying, it seems to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. The game was over by 10:00 PM (Eastern), so it’s not like it went into the wee hours. They should have held space for what they knew would be a big story with high interest and provided at least cursory coverage. Sure, they refer readers to their website, but if I wanted to go there, I wouldn’t have a paper delivered in the first place. It’s like they’re just begging me to cancel my subscription.

Note from the Next Day: Tuesday morning's paper featured one local opinion piece on the Rams' coach and an AP piece on how they built their team this year. Not a word about the actual game.

While I didn’t have a dog in this Super Bowl fight, I was rooting for the Rams. There were a couple of reasons:

·        Cooper Kupp was very good to me in fantasy football this year. So was Matthew Stafford, to a lesser degree.

·        I’m a Steelers fan and I'll never root for division rivals.

·        And even more pointedly, I will never root for any team whose fans have threatened, harassed, or attacked me when I’ve been in their stadium. (Basically just for being there, wearing the visiting team’s jersey.) I never want to see their fans be happy. I want them to question their self-worth constantly.

Natural Segue into a Dad Story

I totally get it from my Dad. Back when I was a kid, sometimes the Browns and Bengals would be playing each other and neither team winning would provide an advantage to the Steelers. I’d ask Dad who he’s rooting for and he’d say, “I’m rooting for a 0-0 tie with lots of career-ending injuries.”

I’m pretty sure he was kidding but it taught me to take division play seriously.

Homeless Thoughts - The Spy vs Spy Edition

 I don’t have a lot to say on any one topic today so we’re going to bounce around a bit.

As a follow-up to last week’s post about the COVID Anti-Vaxxers, I wanted to discuss another meme I saw over the weekend, that’s as dishonest as it is dangerous.

There’s basically nothing true in this text. Again, we have idiots bending statistics to suit their nefarious needs. What they’re doing is twisting percentages… you know, like if one thing happens out of a sample of 100 and there were zero the last time, you can claim a 100% increase. The Washington Post explains it better:

“The more vaccinated a population, the more we’ll hear of the vaccinated getting infected. For example, say there’s a community that’s 100% vaccinated. If there’s transmission, we know breakthrough cases will happen. So, by definition, 100% of outbreak cases will be among the vaccinated. It will just be 100% out of a smaller number.

Cue Israel. They are one of the global leaders in vaccinations; 85% of Israeli adults are vaccinated. So, say we have the following scenario:

With an infection rate among the vaccinated of 2% and infection rate of 13% among the unvaccinated, this would give us an efficacy rate of 85%.”

No matter which way the Anti-Vax people try to twist it, 99.5% of COVID deaths in the US are among unvaccinated people. Their claim of 40% new infections among the vaccinated is pure fiction. I wish the danger they’re causing was as well, but alas, that’s all too real.

Here’s another alarmist meme from the weekend:

Of course Socialism won't be attractive because it's completely and willfully misrepresented here.

I can see a couple of ways to go at this. First off, how the hell do they get taking 70% of a salary to give to others? That’s total BS. Any money that’s taken from us to disperse to other programs (Federal taxes) is 25-35% on the average taxpayer. Even if you add state taxes, you still don’t hit 70%. So the example falls apart right there.

Or, one can compare it to our current system, where (to stick with the example) you get $10 from cleaning the bathroom, then have to spend $6 on housing, $3 to $7 (or much more) on medical expenses, $2 on transportation to and from the bathroom (call it a Hallway Tax), and you still haven’t paid for dinner yet. So now you have to clean another room just to eat, keep the lights on and the cable/internet/phones working.

Conservatives would rather endure a system like that than cope with the idea that someone of whom they do not approve might get help that they, themselves, do not.

One might argue that cleaning the bathroom might be worth $15, but conservatives wouldn’t like that either because military members have to clean bathrooms for less.

Again, I posit that the very rich sponsor memes like this to ensure that nothing ever interferes with their place at the top of the economic heap. If The People ever demanded a fair shake, it would be very costly for the 1%, so they ensure we spend our time fighting with each other rather than turning our attention to them.

***

I’m glad Nancy Pelosi told Kevin McCarthy to shove two of his nominees for the House Insurrection Investigation. There’s no question that the nominations of Gym Jordan and Jim Banks were meant to disrupt the examination of evidence and turn the panel into a sideshow. We’ve seen Jordan’s act before, basically acting like a zoo monkey, making a lot of noise and flinging poo around the room.

If the Republicans wanted an actual bipartisan investigation, they could have had one months ago when a full Congressional Investigation was proposed. But now, they shot that down in near-unanimous fashion. (Six GOP votes for it.)

So, you can’t play nice? Screw it, we’ll do it ourselves. And I like that she’s still nominating a couple Republicans to sit on the panel. It must be hard to find one who’s actually looking for the truth about how it happened and who was behind it. And for which Congress members gave guided tours of the Capitol Building to the future insurrectionists. I know there are some Representatives with their sphincters in a knot over wondering how THAT is going to play out.

***

I love the Olympics. Sure, they probably should have postponed these games some more but as long as they’re on, I’m gonna watch.

I started watching the Olympics in 1972 and have enjoyed them ever since. In fact, I’ve written about them a few times before, with my Top Olympic Moments, and general thoughts on the 2018 Winter Games, where I noted that bobsledding looks like a lot of fun, but only if you’re the driver. For everyone else in the sled, it’s like being smuggled into a drive-in movie in the trunk of a car.

There’s also one on the 2014 USA/Russia hockey game, with a nod to its famous predecessor in 1980, and one on how there’s so much more whining about the results than there used to be.

I started watching over the weekend and it was like being a kid again and watching the ABC Wide World of Sports, only it went all day. It’s still too early in the games for much of an analysis tonight, but is it me or is NBC going commercial-happy with their prime-time coverage. I swear they go to commercial every 5 goddamn minutes. I know they paid a lot for broadcast rights but for the love of all that’s holy, how about actually showing the action? It’s not like there's not something going on at all times!

I had one suggestion though, for the opening ceremonies. I know they always do something in keeping with the cultural traditions of the host country. How cool would it have been for them to have Godzilla light the torch with his fire breath? That would have been epic. Maybe they could have had Blue Oyster Cult play and bring their stage monster, if it still works. Just retrofit it with a flamethrower. Easy-peasy.

***

Last week I got to do something I’d only seen alluded to in movies and on TV and I’m quite proud of myself.

See, my cell phone has service from Sprint, which recently merged with T-Mobile. Ever since spring, T-Mobile has been bombing me with messages imploring me to upgrade my phone to take advantage of their new 5G service. But the thing is, I like my phone and I don’t want to change it.

I’m not one of those “phone freaks” who has to have the latest and greatest at all times. I’m still on my second smartphone since 2015, the iPhone 8. It works perfectly well for my needs and I like the thumbprint ID. I don’t want a newer one that has face recognition, that’s I’ll have to pick up and raise when I want to turn it on.

About two weeks ago, they called me to try to get me to upgrade and for once, I actually picked up. After his spiel, I asked, “When you do go 5G, will my phone still work at all?”

“Yes. But only on LG” (Whatever that is.)

“Then that’s fine, I don’t need an upgrade. When my phone stops working, I’ll let you know.”

End of conversation.

Then last week a small package showed up, from T-Mobile. It was a new SIM card, to install in my phone so I can get their 5G service.

Oh, so NOW they admit they can adapt my phone rather than force me into an upgrade. HA! If I hadn’t been an obstinate prick, they would have soaked me for hundreds of dollars for a phone I didn’t want.

So now, the cool part… I had to change a SIM card.

That’s one of those things you always see in spy movies and stuff, when someone doesn’t want to be tracked on their phone, they change the SIM card.

Not having looked at my phone in years without the case, I had no idea where the damned thing went. Luckily there were some simple instructions. As I got down to it, I felt like the Mission Impossible theme song was playing in the background. Or maybe Jack Bauer was out there waiting for my signal to reappear.

“Dammit! We’re running out of time!”

Once I wrestled it out of the case, I saw a very small covered slot on the side. I needed to take the poker they supplied, (it looked like a paperclip with one pointy end), and poke it into the tiny hole in the slot cover, to pop out the drawer. Once done, I just had to swap the SIM cards, which are a little smaller than the chip on your credit card. I noticed that one corner was cut, so there was only one way to put it in. Of course, in the process of doing that, I dropped the chip right beside the one I just took out, which gave me a moment of panic. What if I mixed them up? Luckily, I found a small T-Mobile logo on one of them, so… crisis averted.  

So, I managed to get the chip back in the phone, reboot it, and voila. I have a phone again, albeit now with “T-Mobile” in the top corner rather than “Sprint.” I'm ready to save the world.

Now watch me crack the screen next week.

(Fili) Bust a Move

One interesting piece of news from last week was that Joe Manchin may be open to reforming the filibuster. Not removing it, but making it more painful to use.

I think that’s fantastic news even without going into why it’s necessary right now. Congress has been stopped up like they OD’d on a triple-decker cheese sandwich on cork and that’s because the filibuster is too easy to use.

One person can jam up progress on any issue he sees fit basically by saying “I call filibuster,” and then go skipping merrily on home, or toward the nearest dark money collection depot. Mitch McConnell issues filibusters the way Oprah used to give out cars.

“YOU get filibustered, and YOU get filibustered, and EVERYONE gets filibustered!

Filibusters should be used sparingly, not as a primary strategy. The Senate is supposed to be the “Deliberative Body.” There’s no deliberation when your only strategy is to shit-can whatever your opponent tries to do.

So kill it, make it hurt, or do something, or else we’ll have to get used to nothing but budgetary matters getting passed through Congress. But I still have concerns. It’s not like we can count on keeping the Senate every election. Republicans are geniuses at redirecting attention away from massive victories like the ACA or the new American Rescue Plan, and onto frivolous matters they made up, like controversies over Dr. Seuss, cancel culture, or men dressing as women and using their bathrooms.

We could very likely be in the Senate minority in two or four years. I’m actually shocked that McConnell didn’t kill the filibuster when the Republicans took the Senate in 2016.

Of course, Mitch got what he wanted (tax cuts and judges) without nuking the filibuster and that’s all he really cares about. Mitch doesn’t give a damn if social issues like anti-abortion laws get passed or not. In fact, it’s better for him if they can keep it as an issue to flog with the voters.

On the states’ side, it’s a different story. Republican state governments (like Arkansas) just passed the most stringent abortion law yet, banning it completely after six weeks. That’s before most women even know they’re pregnant. That’s not even two missed periods.

They’re counting on the new conservative Supreme Court to rubber-stamp whatever anti-abortion and voter suppression laws they can dream up. After all, that’s what they’re there for. That’s why they love the Former Guy so much… he gave them judges who would decimate Roe vs Wade and put the final screws to the Voting Rights Act.

As a male, I don’t understand how any woman could not be “pro-choice.” Being told by the state what you can and cannot do with your own body is reprehensible. There aren’t enough “fuck you”s in the world to handle what I’d have to say to someone giving me requirements regarding the function of my own body.

The GOP abortion laws are as much about preserving life as their Voter ID laws are about preventing fraud. It’s the control of women, plain and simple. As my mom always says, “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.”

What I always say about it is that if conservatives were so concerned about reducing the number of abortions, they’d promote birth control. But they don’t do that, do they? They screamed bloody murder at the idea of picking up the cost of birth control as a part of the ACA. And not just the Catholics, either.

So if they are against the means to prevent pregnancy, all that’s left is behavior. Women’s behavior, which they must want to control. It’s the only alternative.

The states are still moving ahead with voter suppression laws, including one in Georgia outlawing bringing food or water to those waiting in line.

See, they’re not even hiding their intentions any longer. They’re making it obvious that they want to make it as hard as possible for lower and middle-class people to vote. They create the long lines by eliminating options to voting on Election Day, like voting via mail, and eliminating drop boxes and shortening early voting periods, and then just to piss on everyone’s ballot, they outlaw assistance for people who are forced to wait in the lines they manufactured. And then once you’re in, they require IDs that they made harder and more expensive to obtain. In order to vote in Georgia, and other like-minded states, you have to reeeeeeeeallly want to vote. And it’s hard to convince people that jumping through all those hurdles is worth it. Which is exactly the message the GOP is trying to send.

This is why it’s so important to pass HR 1, the new voting rights law. But, alas, I think it has much going against it. I mean, no Republican will ever, EVER vote for it. They know that increased turnout hurts their chances. And eliminating gerrymandering will instantly put a slew of long-term congressmen out of office. There are no principles in play here other than their own longevity in office. Where are the big ideas? Where are the programs that make lives better? They have none. Ideas cost money and the idea of the government spending money on the average citizen is a non-starter. (Just look at the resistance to the American Rescue Plan, which truly helps millions.) To Republican politicians, the only function of government is to siphon money upwards to big business and the 1%.

The idea of a free American vote is their worst nightmare because they have no platform to run on other than smoke and mirrors. And fear. But fear is cheap. They can make you scared of immigrants, Muslims, gays, liberals, atheists, and whatnot, and it won’t cost Big Business a dime.

So, without Republican support, the only way to get HR 1 passed is to take action on the filibuster, and that’s right where we came in. And then even if it passes, there’s the GOP Supreme Court there to strike it down.

I’ve said it before, but the only way anything changes is through grassroots support for Democratic or liberal candidates. The best way to get around the new SCOTUS is to not have any odious anti-abortion bills for them to review. Granted, I’m counting on precedent and consistency. If they rule that states can regulate abortion as they see fit, then that door swings both ways. State governments can loosen or eliminate all the bogus restrictions currently in place. In order to get rid of red-state bullshit, we have to turn the states blue. It can be done. Just ask Stacy Abrams.

If we continue to build from the ground up, the top will eventually have to represent our wishes. Until then, I’m hoping for the best but I’m not holding my breath.

And now a few quick thoughts:

***

I saw that Biden’s dog, Major, was sent home after nipping someone at the White House. It wouldn’t surprise me if Republicans are already drawing up impeachment papers. Gym Jordan should be calling for a Congressional hearing any day now.

***

The other day, I walked by this on the door to our office:

My first thought was, “Why in the hell do we have a 3-cup bra?”

If my recollections of Total Recall are correct, maybe we need to power down the microwave.

***

Our governor announced that he would permit the Orioles to allow 50% capacity at Camden Yards this season, but it was up to local jurisdiction. The mayor of Baltimore said that he’d allow 25% capacity.

Either way, it’ll be business as usual for the Orioles. I don’t think they’ll have to do anything different at all to keep people six feet apart.

***

Can someone tell me what the attraction is between Labradors and giant sticks? This is a picture of our dog’s current collection.

Each one is as long as a horse’s leg. One time he even brought home something that can only be described as a “log.” He seemed awfully proud of it.

Sweetpea says he’s gathering them up to give them to underprivileged dogs who don’t have any sticks.

I’m hoping the donation is tax-deductible. Or at minimum, the sticks aren’t classified as taxable income.

***

Good news! I think the post office log jam may finally be breaking up. This just came in the mail today:

That's the prescription I ordered from my Express Scripts back in November. See? It was filled on 12/3/20. The refill date is over a month ago. Good thing it was only generic blood pressure medication and not some designer drug I needed immediately. (I had my doc write me a script for a supply from my local Walgreens, so I never actually ran out.) But I thought this was going to be lost forever. In fact, Express Scripts already sent me a replacement supply. 

Not that this should buy Postmaster General DeJoy any reprieve from getting canned... I was lucky. Others had their life-saving drugs delayed and may not have been able to obtain more.

Homeless Thoughts - The Un-Presidential Dog Edition

Did anyone catch all the new and exciting ideas that came out of CPAC last week?

Right, me neither. They were pretty much, “We was robbed," and "we’ll do whatever Trump wants us to do.”

If ever there were a time to announce a bold new effort or program, this would have been it. But they don’t have a damned thing they want to do except glorify Trump and cut taxes (for the rich). Sure there’s a lot more that the politicians want to do, but nothing you can really campaign on, other than in the broadest terms.

They can’t say they want to cripple the postal service until there’s no recourse but to make it a private enterprise, but they can claim they’re reducing unnecessary spending and cutting waste. They can’t say they’re killing the EPA, the CDC, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but they can claim they’re cutting red tape. Every action sounds good on the surface but is designed to benefit the richest of the rich, aka big Republican donors.

The only substantive action we see coming from Republicans are taking place in the states, with laws proposed to limit abortion even more and tighten voter suppression laws. The latter has been a big one. Over 160 pieces of legislation have been drawn up, with the sole purpose of making sure we don’t see another turnout like we did last year. And the most Republican part of it all, they’re using the Big Lie, the accusation that there was rampant voter fraud in 2020 which “stole” the election from their hero, to rationalize their efforts. There is still as little evidence to support that as there was when they got laughed out of court, but that doesn’t seem to have much effect. That’s just what the “liberal media” says, right?

So they’re going to eliminate the ways millions of people voted because of voter fraud that didn’t happen. Today’s GOP, ladies and gentlemen!

Sue the Bastards!

I’ve enjoyed watching the new strategy roll out to keep Fox “News” and its imitators from making shit up about companies whose actions they think are detrimental to GOP rule. Voting machine makers Dominion and Smartmatic are suing these conservative propaganda outlets over the lies and accusations that their machines were rigged to hurt Trump’s votes and pad Biden’s. The old “The game was fixed” gambit.

These companies are taking that shit seriously, as evidenced by their multi-million or billion dollar lawsuits. Fox knows that they’ve been making that shit up so it’s been funny to see their talking heads trying to walk it back over the last couple of weeks.

I hope these guys sue the pants off of them. Maybe that will be an ongoing way to cut the lies they routinely toss out when it suits their purposes. Libel is libel, whether they claim they’re not a news channel but an entertainment channel, or not. I hope every private person with the means, or public company, starts suing these guys when they pull something out of their ass that’s damaging to their professional reputations. At least it should cut down on the most egregious stuff.

Who Thought Pissing Off the Dog Lovers Was a Great Idea?

Looks like we have a new “Tan Suit” controversy going. Some dipshit on OAN named Greg Kelly commented last week that one of Biden’s dogs, a 12-year old German Shepard, looked scruffy and unkempt and complained that it wasn’t presidential enough.

Seriously. They’re going after presidential pets now.

I think President Biden should get rolling with the trolling and go to the nearest DC shelter, pick out the ugliest, mangiest, goofiest looking dog they have, take it home and name it Tucker.

I know, that’s not the one who picked on the dog but naming a dog Greg Kelly is far too boring. It lacks character.

You Can’t Complain if You Don’t Show Up

I’m seeing lots of Facebook memes complaining about how there are secret Democratic issues getting funded in the COVID relief bill (which has passed the House and awaiting action in the Senate.) You know, I’m sure there are. And do you know why?

Because once again, the Republicans decided, en masse, not to support the bill, regardless of its overwhelming popularity with the general public.

If, on the other hand, they had decided to work with the Democrats on it, they may have been able to horse-trade out some of the things they didn’t like, and maybe get a few things in that they wanted. But if it’s preordained that no Representative or Senator is willing to vote to approve, what reason do the Democrats have not to put in whatever they want? Screw’em.

If the Republicans want a say in the bill, they have to show up and bargain in good faith.

In other words, “no play, no say!”

Debunkery

Memes like don’t even pretend that it makes actual sense. It’s more important to create the illusion that there is a giant conspiracy afoot that uses COVID to somehow control us for nefarious purposes.

There are ragingly simple explanations for the scenario above.

1.      Commercial aircraft have an extensive ventilation system that swaps out and filters air continuously. With restaurants, it’s iffy. Some may have effective ventilation systems but I’d bet most do not.

2.      People on airplanes are required to wear masks, which greatly reduces the spread of the virus. In restaurants, it’s basically impossible to eat and keep a mask on. The only alternative is spacing, hence the 25% capacity.

3.      The Airline industry and restaurant industry don’t really compete. How does it benefit Southwest Airlines (or any other large company) to keep restaurant capacity low? Both political parties would love to see small businesses succeed, so there’s no upside to them for enforcing capacity limits, other than reducing the spread of the virus. The whole premise doesn’t make any sense.

Homeless Thoughts - The Hermetically Sealed Edition

Sometimes, just when things seem so dark and depressing, you seriously consider putting your face in a fan, something comes along to lift your spirits right out of that downward spiral and back into the days of wine and roses.

Thursday night, Trump announced that he and the Mrs. had the ‘Rona. I reacted thusly:

It’s not that I want him to die; I totally don’t. I want him to live long enough to fully experience a lengthy prison sentence. Although I wouldn’t mind if he got to experience a ventilator. At least we wouldn’t have to hear him speak.

Not that I think he’s actually going to prison. Well-connected rich* guys, let alone former American presidents, don’t normally go to jail. So I’ll settle for his living under a cloud of derision and humiliation for the rest of his life. If he wants a hit of adulation, he’ll have to go where his fans are, in Possum Holler. He won’t even be able to get decent cell phone reception there.

*"Rich” being "not exactly what he says he’s worth but still a lot more than me."

And Trump being Trump, he can’t even get sick with dignity. He had to get his fix of idolatry by forcing a Secret Service detail into an air-tight car with him for a quick spin. If any of those guys get sick, they should totally press charges or sue or something. These guys have agreed to take a bullet for him, but he’s not supposed to be the one doing the shooting.

Aw geez, do you think Trump farts on purpose in there, just to gag out the rest of the passengers? With his diet, I wouldn’t doubt it.

And then to make this thing even more karmically satisfying, a bunch of his entourage got it too. Wife, Kellyanne, a couple of Republican senators, Hope Hicks (aka the Future Mrs. Trump), Chris Christie…

Some may think it’s bad form to celebrate the illness of another. I normally wouldn’t, except that these dipshits all purposely downplayed the seriousness of the virus, mocked the efforts of those trying to prevent the spread, sowed medical misinformation to muddy the waters, and turned a health crisis into a political issue, which created the state of emergency we’re still in long after every other developed country who took effective action has moved on.

They made this shit sandwich, now they can take a bite.

Rockin’ the Vote

Sweetpea and I received our mailed ballots last Thursday. We’d requested them online back in August and they started to mail them out on 9/24. Despite the initial look at all the material…

…it wasn’t very complicated at all, not where we are.

All we had to do was fill in the dots, not make any other marks, sign the envelope, and done. I’ll have to give Maryland credit; the voting process here is straight forward and easily available to all. They also have something like eight days of early in-person voting.

Rather than mailing, we took our ballots to a nearby drop-box last Saturday.

Unlike Texas, our county has 13 different drop-box locations.

I got an email this morning saying that they acknowledge receipt of my ballot, so I know the box has been emptied.

This is how you do a free and open election. Bastards like the governor of Texas are a threat to democracy. Limiting drop-boxes to one per county? That’s insane. And there’s no tangible benefit other than making it harder to vote. That’ it. They WANT there to be long lines during off-work hours, to discourage hourly workers from showing up. It’s disgraceful and goes against what this country is supposed to stand for.

I worry about the drop boxes though. I hope they have surveillance cameras focused on them. After the election, I’ll share a thought I have about them that I don’t want to mention now, lest I give someone ideas.

Now let’s look at a few dumbass Facebook comments, shall we?

Sure, I’ll tell you why. It’s because this Executive Order has no power over private insurance companies. He can sign whatever he wants for the photo op but it doesn’t carry enforcement powers like a bill passed by Congress does. You know, like the ACA used to until the Republicans in Congress gutted it. And now, as all this is going on, lawyers for this Administration are arguing to the Supreme Court how the rest of the ACA should be scrapped, including pre-existing conditions, smack in the middle of a pandemic. There’s nothing remotely false about that.

And yes, there was media coverage too. That’s why we know about it. What you didn’t see was a celebration, because people who understand how the government works know an empty gesture when they see one. This EO is political theater.

Once again, the Left is right and the Right is wrong.

I can’t believe you ask that with a straight face. You know why this “Catholic” is objectionable. And I’m going to ignore the ongoing objectionableness of her nomination being rammed through during an election and just focus on the Catholic part.

She’s not just a Catholic, she belongs to a particularly stringent and misogynistic sect of Catholicism who promotes male domination of the world and household and the subjugation of women. And just recently, they scrubbed any mention of her from their website, so she won't be tied back to them. They actually know how odious their views are to the rest of the country. That’s why. But you knew that when you wrote the post. And it’s funny how you only mention Democratic Catholics.

You might want to acknowledge that there are currently five Catholics on the Supreme Court, four of which appointed by Republicans. So on a separate note, one could say that there are already entirely too many Catholics on the bench right now. Catholics make up 20% of America but 66% of SCOTUS, counting the new one. And the reason that this one was selected was that she’s hardcore about it and willing to overturn Roe v Wade, the ACA, and throw the election to the incumbent.

How do I know this? If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have been on the Federalist Society’s judges list from which this Administration is pulling nominees. That’s what they stand for, so regardless of what she says in her confirmation, she’s a sure vote in those areas. And if that proves not to be true, well then she just pulled the biggest con on Washington since this clown-in-chief took office.

And now let’s hear from a know-nothing Hollywood actor:

Once upon a time, you knew it was just an acting role when you saw James Woods acting like an asshole. So much deception is such a small space… Let’s parse this one:

“They locked us down…” I think you misspelled, “They saved millions of lives.” This only proves that some people need to be told how to behave because they’re too stupid not to hurt themselves on their own.

“Killed grandparents…” You’re confusing “them” with Republicans who flouted quarantine and masking protocols.

“Accused a decent man of being a gang rapist on the word of a crooked lawyer…” I can only assume that he’s talking about Trump and Michael Cohen. In which case, “decent man?” (Please play the embedded video above.) Keep in mind that the “crooked lawyer” is Trump’s crooked lawyer, working at his behest as a fixer. He knows everything his boss was up to. If he’s crooked, it’s because his client asked him to do crooked things.

“Rioted, looted, burned cities…” Basically, three ways of saying the same thing, but just saying “rioting” isn’t as visually or aurally satisfying. Just remember, it wasn’t for nothing that people were protesting. If cops were rounding up actors on sight and treating them like Black Americans are treated, SAG would be in the streets or hosting telethons right now. Also, you can’t discount the effect of white nationalists and #ProudBoys (giggle) on stoking violence out of peaceful protesters.

“Assassinated peace officers…” Um, wasn’t that an aforementioned white nationalist who assassinated that cop?

“And now they are threatening to do more if they don’t get their way.” “Their way” about what? Not wanting to be executed over misdemeanors and traffic tickets? Yeah, that’s a legit gripe. There’s no greater reason to protest in 2020 than that.

“And they want your vote.” Damned straight we want people’s vote. Watching a minority maintain its grasp on the levers of power year after year and using them to their own benefit gets tiresome. You know what happens when you squeeze something long enough? 

It explodes.

Homeless Thoughts - The Tik-Tok Edition

I can’t believe this is still controversial but my Facebook timeline is blowing up over the removal of confederate statues. I’ve never seen so many comfortable white people dig in so hard over something that would be obvious in any civilized country… that memorializing and venerating those who wished to withdraw from this country so that they could keep other human beings in perpetual servitude is not a good idea and is offensive to relatives of those who were the victims of this oppression. (As well as anyone with a conscience.)

I love it when these dingle-berries fall back on “erasing history.” For Pete’s sake, the history is still there, it is always there and always will be. What is celebrated is a different story.

I’ve covered this before, in May of 2017, and then again that August.

“I’m also tired of the argument: “But they’re removing our history!”

You know what?  Not all our history is something of which we should be proud.

People love to bring up Nazi Germany in persuasive arguments, but I’ll tell you what… There is a lot of history in Germany too, but you don’t see the Germans celebrating it.  Modern Germans (skinheads aside) are mortified by their country’s involvement in WWII; they’re not putting up monuments to the efficiency of their concentration camps or celebrating the nobility and devotion of the oven-operators.

History should be remembered and learned from.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be commemorated.”

It’s a bullshit argument meant to deflect from the point they don’t want to make out loud… That they fear for their position of social dominance. I mean, that’s why all those confederate statues were put up in the first place, right? To let the newly freed black people know who was really still in charge.

And they see the statue thing as an extension of the Black Lives Matter protests, which makes it automatically null and void. If people would just get arrested for flimsy reasons without squirming, they wouldn’t get beaten, shot, or choked out. See? Not our fault. Blame the criminals and the media.

They Doth Protesteth Too Much, Methinks

So far it seems like everyone they find that’s responsible for protest violence turns out to be white nationalists rather than BLM folks or Antifa. I don’t know why these “Boogaloo Bois” are getting cut so much slack.

They say they’re using the protests to frame the others for violence in an attempt to light the fuse on a race war. You know who also thought committing violence to a race war was a good idea?

Everyone thought Manson was batshit crazy but I guess he was just ahead of his time. He would have fit right in with these “Boogaloo” assholes.

Rallying Cry

I loved seeing that empty arena in Tulsa, didn’t you? So much egg on so much face.

On one hand, I liked hearing how a bunch of teenagers threw such a monkey wrench in the mix. But on the other hand, I kind of wish they weren’t a factor so there would be one less excuse about why the place was so empty. I know they tried to blame protesters, but a plethora of witnesses attest that they never came within two blocks of the arena. No one really knows how much of a factor these Tik-Tok kids were.

It still sounds like the Trump camp should have been able to sift out the waste. It’s their own fault for hyping the numbers they were seeing. They wanted to troll blacks and liberals by commandeering Juneteeth? They just got trolled right back, to devastating effect.

Maybe for the next rally, they should ask for a credit card number. Of course, that might suppress turnout from Trump fans by another third. That is unless his tepid, tedious, whine-a-thon in Tulsa didn’t snuff it out completely.

You notice how he still hasn’t hung the portrait of Obama yet? The man couldn’t act like a president if you spotted him the “Pres” and “Dent.” (He already has the “I.”)

I think he’s missing a campaign item. Who among his base wouldn’t want to see him hang a black man? You’d think he’d be all over that one.

Conservatism in Action

I saw in the ongoing talks for the next coronavirus relief bill that Republicans want to send out a “Returning to Work” bonus, for those who have gone back to their jobs.

Is that not Republicanism personified? Giving money to those who have it. But the people who are really hurting? “Screw them… bunch’a lazy scroungers!”

Not that they really care about those just returning to work. They know that the well-to-do have been working from home all along. If they were serious about helping the rest, they'd have raised the minimum wage, but you don't see that happening, do you? As long as Republicans one house in Congress, a minimum wage hike is DOA.

Debunkery

This just circles back to the protests and BLM. It’s where white people pretend that the only people getting killed are those who had it coming. They completely discount the legions of stories of police roughing up civilians for trivial reasons.

“Breaking the law?”

I saw a database with over 700 videos of cops blasting people, protesters mostly, who were just… protesting. Not looting, not throwing rocks, not breaking windows, but assembling in accordance with their first amendment rights and protesting.

What this comes down to with memes like this is, “As long as my friends, family and I are not being inconvenienced, the hell with anyone else. Who cares about a bunch of troublemakers?”

If these people had to spend two weeks walking in the shoes of an African-American, they’d spontaneously combust. Then there would be a nationwide run on tiki torches.

And for cryin' out loud, can we please retire the Willie Wonka meme? It's done... just done. Every time it appears, another Gene Wilder fan has an embolism.

Viral Thoughts

Last week the CDC issued a 17-page report on how to “reopen” the country, which the Trump Administration immediately shit-canned, saying it “hadn’t been vetted yet.”

What they really mean is that they hadn’t stripped out the parts they didn’t like or that made them look bad. The Republican leadership only wants one thing: for the peons to get back to work so CEOs don’t have to sacrifice another quarter to COVID-19.

In a rational world, the CDC would be the ones doing the vetting, not the politicians. The CDC has the health of the nation in mind. The politicians just want the money to start flowing upwards again.

***

I think the knee-jerk resistance to wearing masks from the Red States is that the primary benefit is for other people and not the wearer. They're kind of like turn signals, that way. Using a turn signal doesn’t do the driver any good, it’s all for the people around him. Hence, the turn signal is an often neglected piece of equipment.

People who think COVID-19 is a hoax or just another ordinary bug don’t care about spreading it to anyone else. And the mask is an irritating and a hassle, so why bother? Empathy is a foreign concept and you know what they think about anything labeled as “foreign.”

***

It’s entertaining to watch The Rona creeping steadily into Trump’s inner circle. I saw over the weekend that Pence’s spokesperson and an Ivanka aide both tested positive for COVID-19. This prompted Trump to blabber something even dumber than usual:

“Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time, then all of a sudden today she tested positive.”  The positive test showed “why the whole concept of tests isn’t necessarily great… The tests are perfect, but something can happen between a test where it’s good and then something happens and all of the sudden… ”

Maybe someone should explain to the stable genius that the tests aren’t a preventative. If she didn’t take the test, she’d still have the virus. But because she DID get tested so frequently, like the rest of the Administration, they can reduce the number of people she exposes to the virus, so MORE of his enablers don’t get sick.

If he really thinks testing is such a bad idea, I’m all for having his administration stop internal testing. Just let their rugged individualism duke it out with the coronavirus.

I’m particularly surprised the Katie (Mrs. Steven) Miller caught the virus. I figured that being married to him, she must already be dead inside.

***

Red State governors are learning quickly from their bronzed idol, Trump, and his comrade in arms, Putin. Now they’re all about information control. Florida is reclassifying COVID deaths as other things.

Missouri has only tested 1000 people. No testing, no reporting of high numbers. That doesn’t address the problem, but it makes it look better.

Georgia’s reported figures add up to a 25% hospitalization rate, which means either they have a record-shattering super-bug on their hands or they’re under-reporting COVID cases.

Arizona is using HIPAA to avoid disclosing COVID-19 numbers from nursing homes and jails. (And if there is coronavirus in Arizona, doesn’t that eliminate hot temperatures and direct sunlight as a preventative?)

And when news outlets report on this disinformation? Well they’re just drumming up fake news, aren’t they? We’ve been getting primed for that response for years now. Only now their dishonesty is killing us. (Which they don’t care about, not as long as the cash registers start ringing again.)

***

We’re on our own out here. I don’t think we’ll ever see an effective Coronavirus Relief Bill passed. The previous ones were nothing but cash grabs for the rich and Band-Aids for the rest of us. The $1200 gimmick covered one month. What happens after that? (We go back to work, say Republicans, virus be damned. And don’t even think about suing for lack of virus protection, they’re already making sure that can’t happen.)

The Small Business bailout money was sucked up by much larger corporations than it was meant for, probably because they let the banks dole it out. Banks always give the first cuts to their best clients… the rich ones.

They seem to pick and choose which hospitals are going to get any help… usually ones in Red States or who have administrators who went to school with someone in the Administration.

The only rational solution I’ve heard about is doing what the other civilized countries are doing: sending regular disbursements of cash to all citizens. I don’t know if it’s bi-weekly or monthly but their people are getting regular checks, which they can then spend on food, goods, and bills. Everyone gets paid.

I heard Democrats were pushing a $2000 per month benefit. This would be a huge help to most Americans, however, the Republicans will never let that happen. Giving out money (to the masses) goes against everything they believe in. They’re much more comfortable with giving money to the richest, under the illusion it will filter down to the rest of us. (And if it doesn’t, well, they don’t really care. They made an effort right?)

They will holler about the precedent and about incenting people not to work and everything else they can throw at the wall, because way down deep, they don’t give a fig if the lower and middle-class sink or swim, as long as the stock market is up. Every dollar sent to the non-rich is a dollar they could have had first.

What they don’t understand is that regardless of whether they throw open the doors to business, they can’t make people start shopping like the old days again. Not until they feel safe. There are no clever speeches or turns of phrase that’s going to get my ass into a crowded store or restaurant or stadium again, until we have a vaccine and a treatment for this mess.

***

This is one of the most informative articles I’ve read in ages. I picked it up from a friend on Facebook. It’s about how the coronavirus gets transmitted, in detailed terms, highlighting what behaviors and actions are relatively safe, and which are not. (Key point, it’s all about the amount of time spent with someone who’s contaminated and your proximity.) Everyone in America needs to read this post. Seriously.

And then there’s this Twitter thread blog post that demonstrates why you don’t want to go anywhere near this disease. When it’s serious, the effects are devastating. Original tweets are from a woman whose father is an ICU doc.

***

And speaking of Facebook, let’s end with a little debunkery.

The problem with this analogy, with a gratuitous helping of trying to throw liberal words in our own faces) is that when others go “back to living our lives as we see fit,” they’re putting anyone they encounter at risk. You know, it’s the turn signal problem again. “I get to do what I want and if you get hurt, inconvenienced, or killed? Not my problem.” “My Body” in these circumstances is potentially harming hundreds or thousands of others (because the infected then beget further infections.

In the latter case, “My Body” is limited to the woman seeking an abortion a bean-sized lump of cells. No collateral damage.

This is simply inaccurate. God is certainly “allowed in schools,” kids can pray whenever they want or dare. “He” just can’t be forced on students by the state, school administration, or anyone else. But that never stopped the religious from playing the victim and whining about how they’re not allowed to shoehorn their religion into other peoples’ lives. Many of whom prefer to maintain an educated point of view, rather than one based on ancient superstitions, happy thoughts, magic, and an invisible man who loves you but damns you to eternal torment if you do not please Him.

***

It was with great sadness I read of the passing of Little Richard, who along with Chuck Berry, practically invented rock n’ roll. Everyone knows the songs, but the one I always think of is not one of the obvious.

Back in the 70s, when ownership of BTO’s Greatest Hits was practically mandatory, there was a track on that album called, “Take It Like a Man.” It’s a basic rock song but with some jamming piano throughout. As a young boy, I always pored over album cover minutiae, and with this one, I saw that they credited Little Richard with piano on that track. In fact, towards the end, they go out with an extended piano solo, with the singer exclaiming, “Play it, Richard!”

As a boy, I figured, if he’s good enough for BTO, he must be all right.

Rest in peace, Richard. You earned it. Everyone you hear bangin’ the keys in recording studios, arenas, smoky bars, dives, and family rooms owes you a debt of gratitude for leading the way.