It’s NOT All About Me

Apparently other people can get sick and have mysterious health emergencies too? Go figure!

Jen, who, by the by, is 11-1/2 years younger than me, has been having some pretty intense back pain and spasms. She’s only copped to having them, to me anyway, in the past week. This means she’s been experiencing them for at least a month. She did see her primary care doc this week. They talked about it and Jen was given a referral to physical therapy. 

My thought? What, no MRI? Granted, I’m no medic but still … automatically prescribing PT seems inadequate, hasty, perfunctory.

Well, Thursday morning, as our hero was getting out of bed, she had a spasm so severe she passed out from the pain! As she toppled to the floor, her head bashed against the windowsill. Oni immediately whisked her away to Mass General’s ER.

On the way there she was, incredibly, in a fine enough state to text Ten and I to let us know:

• She had fallen so wouldn't be stopping by before work. (ummmm, the first part was the most important bit, little Missy!)
• That she and Oni were on the way to MGH's ER but she was mostly okay (yeah sure, Babe).

I was panicking! I felt astoundingly useless — unable to do ANYTHING to make things better for one of THE most important persons in my life. Was there anything at all that I could do to help? Not really. I could crack wise — I can usually make Jen laugh and, as Readers Digest (an unimpeachable source, of course) has long told us, laughter is the best medicine. During her ER sojourn, as she went from CT scans to different exam offices to various rooms where her split lips and broken nose were stitched up and glued back together, I sent a few dark, ridiculous texts.

Meanwhile, I’m home having panic fits AND, conveniently, a Zoom appointment with my therapist, Janice. I discovered that part of my panic was related to the fact that none of the docs seemed to be zeroing in on the cause of her fall — the extremely painful back spasm. I mean, what the diagnostic fuck?!!

This brought up wretched memories of when I almost, permanently, lost all feeling and mobility from my tits down (this was 25 years ago). I was experiencing weakness and numbness in my left leg. My new insurance-approved PCP kept telling me I had sciatica and it would clear up in a month. It didn’t and, in fact, got worse to the point that I was beginning to walk like Quasi Modo. The doc knew I had NF2 but was clearly not a big picture, 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle problem solver type. Eventually, I demanded the doc give me an insurance okayed referral to my MGH neurologists because her diagnosis was OBVIOUS bullshit. She did though I had to jump through more hoops first. By the time I got into MGH I was in dire straits. I had a fast MRI and an immediate appointment with one of the best neurosurgeons who wanted me in the OR yesterday. There was a mass of tumors on my thoracic spine the size of the Nimitz.

Lesson? We must always advocate for ourselves in everything. I can trust my doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, plumbers, repairmen, electricians, etc. BUT I NEED to be involved, informed, and have all my questions answered to my satisfaction. Not doing this can cost me my life. Do I need to know as much as the professionals? No but I need to be able to think clearly, critically, ask questions, and get clear, thorough answers. I need to be awake and aware — no blind trusting. Dammit.

In Jen’s case, what we NEED to know is this — WHAT is the root cause of her back spasms and pain? Don’t just treat her damn symptoms — go to the source of the problem. FFS!

So, Thursday I was home feeling useless. Worried that Jen was dying and I was in no position to make the docs pay better fucking attention. Then I remembered that we’re due to fly to Iceland Sunday evening for our long-planned holiday at the lux geothermal lagoon. Yeah, that’s not happening anymore. I could at least be useful and cancel our flights and hotel reservations and, hopefully, get refunds. (Yes on flights but, very sadly, no on the spa) Maybe we'll be able to go there again someday. Maybe not. It depends on our health and finances.

Jen came over to visit yesterday but texted first to warn me that she looked liked like she had a serious case of Mar-A-Lago face gone bad. Hmmmmm. Honestly? Mar-A-Lago face already looks like Dr. Frankenstein was more than a bit tipsy when he reached for his scalpels. So, how bad could it be?

How’s our girl look? While there’s definite swelling, she would definitely NOT fit in with the scary crowd at that tacky joint in Florida. No, there will be no pictures at this time.

Now Is NOT The Time For Milquetoast

Accountability needs to happen!

Hakeem Jeffries is assuring us that we can work with Republicans to reach “bipartisan common ground.”

… our mission is to find ways to work with Republicans whenever possible to get things done for the American people, to work on issues related to the economy and inflation and lowering costs, fighting for better-paying jobs and safer communities. And I hope that Republicans will look for common ground with us … (source) 

Dude, have you been asleep these past two years? Were you visiting friends on Alpha Centauri? Is the sky pretty there? Did you take any pictures?

NOW is NOT the time to go all Susan Collins on us. Don’t you and your pal Chuckie Schumer DARE write another concerned strongly worded letter! You’re not dealing with honorable folk with whom you have a slight difference of opinion on government functions. These are cutthroat, murderous, lying-ass, soulless, mobbed up, felons who would sell your 5-year-olds as veal or into sex slavery — whichever fetches a higher price on any given day.

Republicans aren’t people you trust. If you find yourself in a bar with one, you cover your drink and, when they leave, check twice to make sure you’ve still got your wallet and phone.

Jeffries’s also said:

The American people do not want us to engage in payback. They want us to deliver results on their behalf because the cost of living is too high.

Accountability, JUSTICE, is not the same as “payback” or revenge.

Whoever ends up being majority and minority leader needs to prioritize getting the billions Pedo stole from us back in whatever way possible.

I want the money Pedo’s using for his Epstein Dancehall to properly fund public education. I want our taxpayer buckos that he pissed away “repairing” the Reflecting Pool BACK! Spend it on free healthy school lunches for kids. I want the dosh he supposedly paid contractors to gild statues to go to programs to provide free quality healthcare. Same for every other goddamn Liberace via Saddam Hussein mall food court, home decorating job he's pulled. 

I want his fucking Qatari jet donated to Doctors without Borders. The money spent on his illegal war on Iran? Sell off all his worldly possessions and rebuild Iran — Venezuela too. We can’t bring back all the people, all the children he and Kegseth have killed but we should put their beautiful countries back together.

I want the Epstein Files released as a mass market paperback, available free on every grocery store card/magazine/book rack. Large print and audiobook versions will be on hand as well! I want the rapist’s names to be scrolled on Jumbotrons during sportsball games, on skyscraper news crawls in every major city, on e-billboards along busy commuter highways. Make the obscene, horrific crimes of those rich, entitled motherfuckers unavoidable.

I want Todd Blanche, attorney general and Pedo's personal shyster, removed, disbarred, prosecuted, and thoroughly shamed. While we're at it, take away Ghislaine Maxwell's puppy. She doesn’t deserve joy and comfort. Put her in a maximum security prison with other child rapists — see how long she lasts.

I want the 47 billion dollars Trump spent on his illegal war taken out of his and his entire family's bank accounts (both secret and public accounts — and take ALL their properties). Investigate the fuck outta weasel boy Jared Kushner and seize every bit of his blood soaked assets. Pay back what they’ve stolen from U.S. citizens and the rest of the world.

By the by, what exactly happened to all that Venezuelan oil money? Didn’t Trump say that it was going into some bank account in Qatar? And isn’t THAT strange? Doesn’t that absolutely reek of I’m-squirreling-this-big-wad-away-for-my-personal-use. With all the chaos he sows, you just know he's counting on us forgetting all about it. Certainly we would have by the time he needs to make an expeditious exit to a cozy non-extradition type country. 

Interestingly, Qatar, who gifted him that big-ass plane AND where Trump’s banking his ill-gotten Venezuelan bucks, doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S. Is this where Pedo’s gonna beat feet when things get too hot around here. It'd be irresponsible not to speculate.

Jesse Duquette

One problem though. I don’t believe the old pants shitting child rapist is so popular in Qatar or, maybe, anywhere else in the Middle East, anymore. His and Netanyhu’s ridiculously ill thought out war of choice on Iran has done some insane damage.

Back to Schumer and Jeffries — I don't know anyone who's interested in our elected reps “reaching across the aisle” with the corrupt murderous thugs who brought us roving bands of masked thugs gunning down innocents in the streets for absolutely no fucking reason. Can’t think of a soul who trusts the people who were okay with fishermen being bombed/murdered at work because Kegseth couldn’t get a stiffy with the Mrs. last night or couldn’t do a proper pull-up on camera this morning.

I’m not looking for vengeance or retribution. I want justice. I want accountability. For Renée Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Keith Porter Jr., Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, Silverio Villegas González, Ruben Ray Martínez, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, and all the others murdered by ICE. 

The people who gave the orders need to pay the piper. The celery brained, batshit, racist, rapist, hate machines who carried out the commands must be outed and made to answer for the obscene crimes they committed.

Can Stephen Undead Miller, Hamfaced Homan, Nazi cosplay dwarf Bongino, Dogkiller Noem, MarkyWayneBob Nimrod or any of the ICE thugs bring back our kidnapped friends and neighbors now, please? Can they unrape the 13-year-old girls in Trump’s concentration camps? Can they unmurder our friends, families, and coworkers?

Just one more thing, on top of Schumer and Jeffries being in AIPAC’s debt, Hakeem’s donor list includes:

… controversial figures like Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf and his COO Matthew Grimm, who together spent nearly $150,000 boosting Jeffries’ fundraising committees. Some might recognize Anduril as the AI weapons tech corporation co-founded by Palmer Luckey, a tech billionaire whose recent projects include a company working on genetically enhanced dogs for military purposes.

Another controversial donor includes Mehdi Allhassani, current head of government affairs at the AI surveillance company Palantir, from whom Jeffries received $44,300 this election cycle.

Jeffries also has the backing of cryptocurrency advocacy groups and investment executives at firms including Bain Capital, DE Shaw, and Renaissance Technologies, Sludge reports. (source) 

Seems skeevy as fuck, no? I have a few ideas here:

Senate Majority Leader: Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth or Mark Kelly
Senate Minority Leader: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib or Jamie Raskin

Who would you like to see in those positions? 

HA HA!

The big beautiful count continues in Alaska and Mississippi. Dems are ahead. AWESOME!!!

At 6AM eastern standard time, in Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola was ahead of Republican Dan Sullivan by 637 votes. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom was ahead of Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes.

There’s still a ways to go before all the votes are collected in Alaska but they’re just about done in Mississippi. The last time Mississippi had a Democratic senator was 38 years ago.

In HA HA! news, I read that the drug addict nazi Richie Rich, who thinks he’s some kind of real life of Tony Stark/Iron Man, is having a big sad over the election results.

Well, of course he is! He spent a lot of dough to buy that election and what did he get? Bupkis!

According to a report highlighted by WIRED, more than 99 cents of every traceable dollar Musk spent on races that have been decided went toward a losing candidate.

The scale of the defeat is staggering. One widely circulated estimate puts Musk’s midterm spending at $474 million, including more than $150 million in Texas alone. (source) 

Musk moved his business empire, Tesla (in 2021) and Space X (in 2024) from California to Texas in order to avoid being examined too closely by government agencies AND to get out of paying fair corporate and personal taxes.

Obvs he figured the entire state of Texas — politicians and populace both — was either wholly corrupt and easily buyable or too desperately poor to do anything about his crimes against them and nature itself.

Democrat Nathan Johnson, who won the race for Texas’ attorney general, campaigned on a promise that he would closely examine Leon’s biz contracts with the state. Heh, heh, heh! He will have the authority to investigate MusKKK's suspected (probable) crimes without Trump’s “Justice” Department goons getting invited to the party.

Leon was def NOT counting on being, potentially, held accountable for his slimy shenanigans and environmental crimes OR being unable to simply buy his way out of trouble.

Texas has flipped from on-the-take, Pedo ass-licking Red to Blue. On the federal level they'll now have:
Senator James Talarcio and House Reps Katy Padilla Stout, Leticia Gutierrez, Henry Cuellar, Vincente Gonzalez, and Johnny Garcia.

On the state level:
The new governor — Gina Hinjosa
Vikki Goodwin will be the new lieutenant governor.
Nathan Johnson is the new attorney general.
Jon Rosenthal was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission
Sarah Eckhardt will be the state's chief financial officer.

Democrats were also leading in the four statewide races for the Texas Supreme Court and three races on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The state's top two courts are each currently made up of nine Republican judges. (source) 

Boy howdy, there’s even more. A LOT more. Check the link — it’s unfuckingbelievable! Texas turned blue! I'm perma-stunned.

I never would have guessed, when the state gerrymandered, to make five more Republican districts (and get rid of Jasmine Crockett), that they’d end up shooting themselves in both feet with a howitzer. Of those five seats, Democrats won four AND, well, Abbott lost BIG TIME.

Why do I care so much about Texas politics? Apart from the fact that I spent a fair amount of my carnival years in that state, I have a dear friend (Hi Mary Beth!) and family there. Also, I’m not an asshole (really!). I know that not all Texans are big haired bleach blonde, cowboy hat and boot wearing, giant gas guzzling, environment destroying truck driving, braggarts. Yes those folks do exist but that’s a cheap, lazy stereotype. Just like the images of Bostonians as Brahmin assholes, wearing boring but ultra expensive clothing, who are always sure to let you know you’re inferior, if you’re even visible. OR we’re drunk townies with wicked thick accents, always ready for a fight.

 Nobody's pretty in Stereotype Land.

OMFG!!!

When I went to bed, Susan Collins was ahead by a lot in Maine. Depressing! I was fully prepared to wake up to profound disappointment this morning.

At 5AM Ten was already up. He walked into the bedroom when he heard me stirring and that was the first thing outta my mouth —“did Susan Collins win?”

No, she did not.

Thank fucking god! I nearly started to cry.

“What about Texas?”

We won — BOTH the senate AND the governor’s seat! Talarico and Hinjosa both won!!!

Now my tears of relief and joy really started flowing.

We flipped Texas!
We actually got South Carolina!
We flipped North Carolina, Ohio, Kansas, and Iowa too!
Did I mention Maine?!!!

Democrats needed 52 senate seats to ensure that any legislation put forward would have the votes to pass (remembering that MAGA-Dem Fetterman’s vote could NOT be counted on). We now have 54 senate seats! Fetterman is wholly irrelevant.

Yes, we lost Florida but … it’s Florida. I wouldn’t expect that state to do anything sane. Having said that, Angie Nixon came close with 47.98% of the vote to Moody’s and 50.87%. MAYBE the stupid is beginning to die off there?

Alaska hasn’t been called yet. It looks close but at this point the other Republican incumbent is ahead. With all the GOP interference it’s no surprise. (closing rural polling places and Trump’s bullshit threats to block the election results if Peltola wins and have the DOJ launch a full scale investigation of Alaskan Democrats)

We’re projected to win at least 250 House seats, going well beyond the 218 needed for a majority.

This means, of course, that little always-on-vacation Mikey Johnson can go ahead and make good on his word to quit Congress. He can go home to Shreveport, Louisiana and start lawn care business. Don’t know if the lawn mowing gig provides as many vacation days as Congress but I’m sure he and his beard wife can sort that out.

Immigrant murdering, woman hating, Trump toady Governor Gregg Abbott is OUT as governor of Texas and Democrat Gina Hinojosa is IN! Georgia has traded in their white, male, Republican governor for a Black woman — Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta. She’s the first Black woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state and the first Democrat to win the office in Georgia in decades. Another first — Deb Haaland won the governorship in New Mexico. She will be the first Native American (Kawaika) woman governor. And Dr. Amy Acton won Ohio’s governor’s seat over that slimy pool of rapist supporting, weasel vomit, Ramaswampy.

I feel like it’s easier to breathe this morning. I know the battle to regain this country is only now truly getting underway but I have hope again.

I’d like to see a real fighter as Senate Majority Leader. Someone like Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth or Mark Kelly. Someone with a real backbone who’s not on AIPAC’s payroll. Same for House Majority Leader. How about Jamie Raskin, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Rashida Tlaib?

Meanwhile on Mars … apparently the joints quite dusty AND that dust is mighty fine. Small enough to slip inside your bloodstream and fuck you right up.

Since old Elon’s so hot to colonize Mars, don’cha think the old election fixer should take a wee Martian excursion and check it out? Did you know, of the three space race robber barons, Leon is the only one who has not flown into space. 

Why not? Maybe it’s because his rockets keep blowing up before they get out of the atmosphere? I think he should go anyway. Don't you?

The Big Day

Yesterday I came across a story about an apparently abandoned pet emu in north Queensland, Australia. Poor baby.

A Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation spokesperson said rangers had been monitoring an emu in Bluewater that "has not been seen to exhibit any concerning behaviour".

"Residents are asked to give the emu plenty of space and not to feed it or provide it access to food," the spokesperson said.

How is it supposed to get any nourishment? We all need sustenance don’t we? How is it being protected from predators and nasty weather? Where does it sleep?

Why did this make the news? Some old man is kicking up a fuss because the poor lonely emu is hanging around his home. Clearly she’s looking for company and probably a nice meal. The crotchety old fuck claims he’s afraid of a bird who’s just looking for a friend and a little conversation. WHAT a fucking whiny, chickenhearted (not to diss chickens, mind you) pansy! Also, what a callous, self centered twat! He can’t offer a hand of kindness to a sad, abandoned emu?

I tell ya right now, if Eric the emu showed up here in Valhalla, she’d surely be welcomed.

~~~
It’s five days until Jen and I leave for Iceland. I think I’m ready or as ready as I can be. After all my left foot problems, I’m finally able to wear shoes again. Granted, I can only, comfortably, for any length of time, get around in my silver glitter Crocs. Aside from those, I’m barefoot. So, yeah … I’m heading to Iceland tricked out in glammed up, disco rubber clogs. I AM a cutting edge fashion queen and don’t you forget it!

We’re planning on being proper slugs while in residence at our private lagoon. There will be much soaking in the geothermal heated waters, reading, snacking, and sipping adult bevs in our room, gazing out on the amazing moss-covered lava fields, taking meals in the hotel restaurant, and napping. Naps will be had!

I still need to locate my rucksack and other travel accoutrements. Since I haven’t gone anywhere but Mass General in the past eight years, I’ve no fucking idea where anything is. I’ll launch an archeological dig in my closet later today.
~~~
For some reason I seem to be getting a bunch of Aerosmith songs stuck in my head lately. I was never a fan though I did like a few tunes. I was wild about Dream On when it came out in ’73. Sweet Emotion in ’75 was cool. It’s the Run DMC/Aerosmith version of Walk This Way that I really like. The video, to me, seems to show Tyler and the rest of the band taking themselves less seriously — maybe mocking their own images a bit?

In any case, the latest hit in my head is Janie’s Got A Gun. The song is about a young woman who kills her rapist father. I wonder if this has anything to do with Dr. Amy Acton who is running for Governor of Ohio (which IS one of the 50 states — pay no attention to Don Pedo Jr. He’s a moron, just like his father). Probably the song slipped into my head subconsciously.

Have you voted yet? Ten and I did. Jen and Oni will be voting in person after they get off work today.

GO VOTE!!!

Election Eve

Nervous about tomorrow? Who me?

Am I afraid that Texans will fail to redeem themselves? That they’ll reelect and vote in the usual bunch of slimy racist, misogynistic, greedheaded evildoers? Oh, you fuckin’ best believe I am! I have grandnieces and great-grand nephews down there — I'm def anxious about their futures.

Am I worried that there’s enough gullible Michiganders who will fall for the vile Trump/Vance lies about El-Sayed? Yup!

Will the Republican’s rigging of the vote in Alaska work? 


Is Maine’s forever "concerned" yet corrupt Susan Collin’s concerned about her reelection prospects tomorrow or has she bought herself enough votes to squeak back in? 

In Ohio, will Sherrod Brown top Jon Husted’s Trump ballyhooed ass? Is Ramaswamy complete, incinerated toast after his astoundingly brainless, tone deaf, utterly fucking classless and cruel — were-you-raised-in-frat-house?!!!! — child rape victim blaming ad against Dr. Amy Acton?

Is there any chance that Turek will triumph over Hinson in Iowa or Hamilton over Marshall in Kansas?

 I mean, these are crazy times, the economy is très ugly if you’re not Richie Rich and who the fuck is? Club Wealth is ultra exclusive, you know. They don’t let in the hoi polloi, folks like us. Prez Pedo brags about how “We're making a freaking fortune,” he’s talking about Exxon, Chevron, Valero and their shareholders — NOT you and me. OBVS!

It’s possible that when people who’ve previously voted Republican are finally personally affected — hit in the old wallet — they might set aside their usual prejudices. They MIGHT possibly think a second time about some of those inflammatory stories that out of JDouche and Trump spew. They might realize that it’s all fantasy racist weasel shit?

Maybe they’ll think more carefully. Maybe they’ll vote blue or maybe they’ll just stay home — deny the robber barons and their servants the votes they need to stay in power, to maintain control.

An old broad can dream, eh? Meanwhile ...

I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today.
I will NOT look at the polls today. 
I will NOT look at the polls today 
I will NOT look at the polls today!!!

Mike Luckovich

 

If You Haven't Already ...

Pat Bagley

Ten and I put our early vote by mail ballots in our local drop box a week ago Tuesday. How about you?

Rob Rogers

Drew Sheneman

Mike Luckovich

Rick McKee 

Nick Anderson

Jeff Danziger

Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury

David Horsey

Halloween

Jakub Różalski

Waddya know — it’s Halloween. I used to love this day as a kid though I only remember a couple of the costumes wore.

One year, when my older sister and I were very small, the prep school where my father taught had a party for faculty and families. Our parents dressed us as themselves. I was my mother and my sister was Daddy. I find this pretty amusing now that I’ve spent so much time in therapy, analyzing and evicting the noisy, unkind ghosts, demons and shrewish wraiths that spent way too much time whispering in my ears. Those fuckers all had my mother’s voice.

Another year, when I was past trick or treating age, I dressed as a sparkly fairy. I was probably 12 — you don’t get to trick or treat after you start wearing a bra. Unfortunately, no one had explained the rules to me beforehand. I still felt like a kid. I WAS still a kid! I just didn't look so much like one anymore. NOT MY FAULT!  

The only time I’ve dressed up since then, wasn’t for Halloween — it was for Rocky Horror. I was always Magenta or a reasonable facsimile.

When we (Jen, Oni. The Amazing Bob, Erin, and I plus, roughly, 1,000 cats) first moved down here to Valhalla from Cambridge, our new neighborhood really went all out on home and yard decorations. It wasn’t just for Halloween either. There were incredible displays on EVERY single big and little holiday. Over the years, that’s faded. I wonder why. I suppose part of it is that we’ve all gotten older. Children have moved out, younger families haven’t necessarily moved in and maybe the new parents don’t have the same home bedazzling fever.  //shrugs// We don’t holiday up the outside of Valhalla (apart from a few tastefully placed pumpkins and other attractive gourds) and we didn’t even do that this year. 

Avi Steinberg

By the way, you absolutely, totally need a Halloween fish fact. You knew that though, right?

There are at least two ocean ghost fish species. One is the Australian ghost shark which isn’t exactly a shark but they are related, like cousins. There are actually 38 species, known so far, of ghost sharks with the newest one discovered off the coast of Southern California. They live along the seafloor and reproduce by laying eggs. Ghost fish laying eggs — cool, huh?  

Hell is empty and all the devils are here.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest

We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.
~ Stephen King 

'Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet 

Back to bedazzled homes though, Jen was on Beacon Hill yesterday and THEY totally had it all going on! Here’s some of the fun.