Shoot, Pave, Jail

Oh lookie here, another mass murder. It must be a day ending in “y” in the ultra violent, lawless US of A!

A 45-year-old white guy with a gun in a state with some of the most lenient gun laws – what could go wrong?

One dead bartender and three dead patrons at 10:30 in the morning on Friday at at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana. That’s what can go wrong.

Killer's name is Michael Paul Brown and he’s on the run. According to an ABC News post, Brown lived next door to the bar and knew all his victims. The bar owner said "He didn't have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped."

Stupidest line from AP's report? Brown was believed to be armed, the Montana Highway Patrol said in a statement. 

 Gee, ya think?

Meanwhile, Stinky is thinking he’s gonna live (and be President) forever. He’s talking about a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot White House State Ballroom to replace the East Wing of the White House. Construction will supposedly begin next month. What’s in the East Wing now? The First lady's office and other government offices. Given that Melania doesn’t actually live in DC or do any First Lady type work, losing her space is no big. The other folks? Where are they gonna go? Work from home? That’d actually be ideal for them. Not be around Trump's renfields and other assorted, soulless criminals? Yeah, NO problem!

Then

Now

The old fraud, whose unattained dream job was, clearly, interior decorator for Liberace, needed a new project after paving over the Rose Garden. I guess. IF his gaudy ballroom really gets built, I don’t think he’ll have long to enjoy it. 

Either the Grim Reaper’s gonna make a long overdue house call or Jimmy Don Vance, with the machinations of Peter Thiel and the Heritage Foundation crew, is gonna 25th amendment his arse. 

Why 25th the demented old fuck? Stinky was just the hook to call in the rubes, to get the low info, easily bamboozled, minor wattage cultists’ votes. That's done – he's served his purpose. He’s now become too much of a liability – too stupid and sloppy, doesn’t stick to the script, and is nowhere near as malleable as Vance. The orange clown’s just too much of a wild card. He’s not a good little puppet like Reagan was.

The Epstein Files are a godsend for Thiel and Heritage. Trump is clearly in the files BIG time. I don’t think the billionaires who run the US are going to let him fully skate. No, Stinky will never see the inside of a prison BUT, I’m figuring that, in exchange for stepping down, they’ll paper over his problems. Lots of payoffs to silence Stinky’s rape victims. The billionaires can painlessly, easily afford it. Looks like they're already working it.

Back in March, Kash Patel had FBI folks sifting through more than 100,000 Epstein docs. They worked 24-hour shifts and were told to “flag” records mentioning Trump. This pumped Dick Durbin, (the Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member) to ask the DOJ: “What happened to the records mentioning President Trump once they were flagged?”

Leopold (Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold Jason Leopold - Bloomberg  ) reveals that Trump’s name was blacked out—as were the names of dozens of other public figures.
~~~
The bottom line here, Leopold writes, is that the chances of Trump’s name being unredacted anytime soon are slim to none. We can wait for all the people mentioned in the files to die. Or Trump could decide to voluntarily waive his privacy rights, allowing his name to be unredacted, which at present seems very unlikely. (source) 

Meanwhile, in an obvious attempt to buy her “discretion,” Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred from prison in Florida to a country club joint in Texas – the place is known as known as Club Fed. Even her Florida prison was pretty chill though – she had access to yoga and pilates classes.

Trump’s working very hard to keep his dead ex-bestie’s partner in sex crimes happy and quiet. 

Guillotine Barbie

Yesterday Dimwit Donnie showed the world that he’s absolutely the most ridiculous, ignorant, and fecal brained fool on the planet. But then, he does that every day.

Trump says he will put a ‘100 percent’ tariff on Mattel to prevent them from selling toys if they manufacture somewhere else. (source)

First he says kids don’t need to get 30 dolls for Christmas – they can make do with two. I’m curious, what child on the planet owns 30 dolls (let alone gets that number on just one holiday)?!

If you haven’t figured it out already, Donnie Dollhands talking tough about Barbie is a distraction. He’s throwing our focus off his tariffs that will really hurt us. Like what? Those levied on lumber, medicines, smartphones and laptops, car parts and so much more.

The cancer med I take is manufactured in Japan. My anti-seizure med is made in Belgium. My eye goop is produced in the Philippines. And that’s just three of the half a bazillion ‘scripts I take daily to stay upright and reasonably sighted. If Medicare doesn’t cover all my meds I’ll croak a LOT sooner. Does the orange griftasaurus care. Of fucking course he doesn’t! He thinks disabled folk, people like me, should just die. He’s even said that about his very own relatives. OG (orange griftasaurus) thinks we’re not worth the effort and expense to keep alive.  FUCK HIM sideways with a rusty spork and zero lube.

Re: car parts. Remember when a big beloved tree fell over in a nasty wind storm and struck our awesome MINI a glancing blow? Yeah, the parts needed to fix it and make it ALL better come from Germany. Two months post-crash, thanks to the tariff twat, they’re still not here. Dunno when we’ll get Godzilla back but the repairs will be WAY more expensive thanks to the Imbecile Who Would Be King.

And now he wants to put tariffs and restrictions on American owned companies.

In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Kreiz (Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz) was asked whether it would be cheaper to relocate some manufacturing to the U.S. due to the tariffs, but responded: “We don’t see that happening.”

“We believe that production in other countries—where we can be efficient and more productive—is the best balance between manufacturing outside of the U.S. and [continuing] to develop product in terms of design and creativity in America,” he said. (source)

Ya know WHY most of the goods we consume are produced elsewhere? Factories were moved to China, Mexico, India, and elsewhere because corporations didn't want to pay U.S. citizens a living wage. The suits don’t like safety regulations, unions or anyone standing in the way of their insane C-suite pay packages. GREED. They also figure that Americans won’t care about the slave labor conditions that Cambodians, Mexicans, Chinese, etc. suffer as long as we continue to snap up the latest iPhone, Barbie, Nikes, etc. On the whole? They’re not wrong. I feel like I’m boycotting every profits-over-people company in the known universe and I’m still not consuming cleanly.

Getting manufacturing moved back to the U.S. is just one step in the process. There’s building and equipping the factories, finding and training a workforce AND paying a livable wage. This doesn’t happen with magic and fairy dust.

The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Idiocy Kills

From a March 5, 2021 article in Scientific American:

In the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency, more than 450,000 Americans died from COVID-19, and life expectancy fell by 1.13 years, the biggest decrease since World War II. Many of the deaths were avoidable; COVID-19 mortality in the U.S. was 40 percent higher than the average of the other wealthy nations in the Group of Seven (G7).
~~~
His incompetent and malevolent response to the COVID-19 pandemic capped a presidency suffused with health-harming policies and actions.

That’s the COVID deaths from the final year of his first obscene term alone. How many of us died due to his bungling, lying, denying, bullshit COVID incompetence? 1,219,487. More than 1.2 million of us. That’s surely an under-counting thanks to idiot governors like DeSantis, Abbott, and Noem.

By the by, the Worldometer stopped collecting data after April 13, 2024 as most countries stopped contributing data.

How many other needless deaths is the fecal faced moron liable for? He’s certainly to blame for every single one of his gun fetishizing worshippers who’ve slaughtered in his name. Kyle Rittenhouse, James Alex Fields Jr., and the murderous January 6 rioters (some have already been rearrested) to name just a few.

So, how many deaths will he cause this time around?

We can already chalk the 67 dead humans in the plane/helicopter crash at DC's Reagan International up to him and his imbecilic pet Nazi.

There’s no situation they can’t make worse by opening their mindbogglingly inept mouths.

…Donald Trump is suggesting, without evidence, that efforts to improve diversity in the federal government led to a deadly plane crash, the head of a major airline pilots’ union is asking the public to focus on “fact gathering”.

Fotus is also blaming Biden because OF COURSE he is.

Last week, just days after his inauguration, Donald Trump eliminated the membership of a key committee that handles aviation security.
~~~
On Tuesday, January 22, the Aviation Security Advisory Committee’s members received a memo from the Trump administration saying that the Department of Homeland Security was getting rid of the membership of all advisory committees in a “commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.” At the same time, Trump also fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.

Congress mandated the aviation committee in 1988, after the PanAm Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. After Trump’s move, the committee technically continues to exist but has no members to examine safety issues in airlines and airports. (source) 

Could this disaster have been prevented by a competent administration?

Yes DUH!

Cat Ladies for the Win!

 I didn’t watch the debate but I’ve read that the demented one did poorly. Jen (her and Oni watched) said there was even some actual fact-checking this time.

That walking, talking, overflowing colostomy bag of a failed grifter called Kamala a Marxist. Specifically he said, “Her father’s a Marxist professor in economics, and he taught her well.”

FYI:

• Marxism is an economic and political theory that examines the flaws inherent in capitalism.
• Marxist theories…advocate for the shared ownership of the means of production by workers. (source)

The Tangerine Twit said, “She wants to confiscate your guns.”

Bullshit AND a tired, old, played out right wing lie. Harris/Walz want tougher gun safety laws, background checks and penalties for illegal gun sellers.

She responded, “this business about taking everyone’s guns away? Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.”

Dunno if she shook her head sadly at him, this pathetic, histrionic simpleton who’s always spouting off nonsense in an attempt to get everyone to like him. Did she speak in a stern, Jane-you-ignorant-slut teacher voice? I’ll never know but I can dream.

The convicted orange con claims he saved the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare).

“Do I save it and make it as good as it can be, or do I let it rot, and I saved it.”

Bullshit Boy claims that people who aren’t U.S. citizens are being imported and encouraged to vote

“We have to have borders, and we have to have good elections. Our elections are bad. And a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in, practically. And these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country,” Trump said.

This mushroom-dicked, makeup addicted, lying sack of diarrheal buffalo feces is the worst public speaker I’ve ever seen. He makes his desperately awkward veep choice, J.D. Couchfucker, look like Socrates, both of the Obamas, JFK and Churchill combined.

BB (Bullshit Boy) even did a variation of his spectacularly bogus claim that children are undergoing gender change surgery at school.

“She wants to do transgender operations on illegal immigrants.”

Hilarious! Who, I ask you WHO, believes the insane ravings of this madman?

The idiot also said that Democrats support execution after birth. NO...FALSE—that would be murder, infanticide, you no-nothing, hysterical rapist! Republicans and their bamboozling thoughts and prayers are already doing that post-birth abortion shit with their NRA backed school shootings. Thenkyewveddymuch.

Skitter is NOT amused

Last night, Desperate Donnie even replayed the ridiculous lie that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are stealing and eating everyone’s cats and dogs. (Nope dudes, that's RFK jr. you're thinking of)

All of BB’s debate lies, that I’ve noted here, were taken from NBC’s fact-check post. Check it for a much longer listing of the absurd spewings.

Following the debate, singer, entertainer, billionaire businesperson and all around superstar Taylor Swift, endorsed Kamala and Tim. YES!

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.” (full text at the link)

She signed off with her name and the title, “Childless Cat Lady.” 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Is the delusional old man’s bid to avoid prison nothing more than a flaming pile of rubles now? I hope, the fuck, so!

Solid Gold Schadenfreude

For all those who celebrate, Happy Seize the Fuck Outta Everything Cheato Owns Day! Mind you, he may pull off a last minute save—that’d be all Hollywood dramatic and right up his gold plated plague-rat style.

I’m hoping there’s no last minute miracle…of course I am. One of the best parts of Seize His Shitty Assets day is finding out precisely how little he actually owns. Trump Tower, fer instance—he owns the retail and commercial bits and a triplex apartment.

It turns out that of the many Trump-branded or -associated properties, he appears to own just a few units or portions of a building, such as at Trump Tower. In most other cases, Trump’s name on a building represents a licensing agreement, a condition of sale, or the Trump Organization’s role as property manager. Trump’s only equity in many of “his” buildings appears limited to a handful of unsold apartments or common spaces — if any at all. (source)

What this means is that an awful lot of “his” properties will need to be taken in order to satisfy the judgment. How many of these apartments and commercial spaces are mortgaged to the moon and back? How much does he, free and clear, actually own? Not too bloody much is my guess. He’s been playing three-card monte and shell games with banks, the public, the IRS and investors his entire life and is about to be exposed.

We’re about to find out that the shit-stained miscreant clown who buys face-painting bronzer in bulk (applying it with all the skill of a toddler on meth), wears a girdle, has mega-lifts in his shoes and spent more than $70,000 on hairstyling during his run on that little reality-TV show, is beyond broke. The lunatic fraudster is, at absolute best, a thousandaire NOT a billionaire.

By the by, the fraud felon deducted his hair-management expenses from his taxable income. That’s some serious financial gymnastics.

If he fails to either secure a bond or delay the process in court, the authorities in New York can freeze his bank accounts or target his properties. (source)

I like the sound of Donnie Dipshit’s bank accounts being put on ice. I also like the idea of him losing his $100 million airplane. His Gotham crib too. Yeah, the one he claimed was 30,000 square feet which, in reality, is just 11,000 square feet.

Financial statements from 2015 and 2016 still made the claim that the triplex was the much larger size, and valued it at $327 million. But in testimony given to the attorney general's office, Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg said that the apartment's value was overstated by "give or take" $200 million. (source)

So, his Fifth Avenue condo is worth somewhere slightly north of $100 mil NOT $327mil. What about his vermin infested Florida crash pad?

Luxury home sales in Palm Beach increased by 20 percent year-over-year during the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a Douglass Elliman and Miller Samuel report. It said the average price per square foot in the luxury market, which represents the top 10 percent of all sales, rose to $3,770. At 62,500 square feet, that puts Mar-a-Lago at just shy of $250 million. Trump, however, claimed at trial that his Florida home is worth more than $1 billion. (source)

Considering that the banks undoubtedly own more of “his” property than he does, I think Mister Art of the Steal is, pretty much, fucked and not in the way he prefers either—you know, forcibly and with barely legal girls who look like his daughter.

Snow, Cats and Crap

On June 22nd there were 149 new COVID cases here in Massachusetts (and I thought that was scary). Yesterday we had 1,818 new cases (I feel relieved because it’s one of the first times in forEVER that we’ve been under 2,000 new cases for one day) and ONLY 40 deaths. Gee, aren’t we doing just fabulously?!

South Carolina, home of the mentally disturbed right-wing lapdog (wait – that's redundant. sorry), Senator Lindsey which-way-is-the-wind-blowing Graham, has the highest rate of cases per capita in the country. More than even New York which has more than half again as many residents.

Nice job Linds. If you work just a little bit harder, you may surpass Cancun Cruz as stupidest senator EVER.

Meanwhile, here in blue, blue, "sensible" Massachusetts, I’ve just gotten an email from MGH stating that I can’t be vaccinated on one of my oh so bloody frequent visits:

Unfortunately, Mass General Brigham does not have any additional vaccine. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts informed us on February 11 that vaccine will no longer be distributed to any Massachusetts hospitals. The only sites that will receive vaccine are clinics operated by cities and towns, local pharmacies, and the state.

What can I do? A lot of research. I MAY be able to go to a Walgreens pharmacy in the next town over OR to Gillette Stadium (about a 40 minute drive) I think I’d feel more secure getting shot up in a hospital versus a retail shop or a sportsball stadium but //shrugs// gotta do what we gotta do. Someone else *cough* Jen or Ten *cough* is gonna have to do all the phone scheduling work and it may be months before we can get our shots. What can you expect from a Republican governor?

In less annoying news, last night I passed the two week mark – two weeks without a seizure. Yea me! BUT I’m so doped up on anti-seizure meds that walking is a real trip. I use a walker now or a wheelchair (when at MGH) and I’m kind of pissed about that.  I’ll do it as long as I need to (even if that’s forever) but I don’t gotta like it.

My MRI is tomorrow at two PM so tonight I’ll begin my Atavan chill-the-fuck-out regimen. I don’t know when I’ll get the results and my surgery date but am expecting news on both by early to middle of next week. The chemo option is still on the table BUT it may not work – no guarantees. I'm now reluctant to go that route.

My last go 'round with a surgery alternative, radiation, was a total bust. Didn’t work, made it so I can’t get an ABI on that side of my bean AND made me violently nauseous DAILY for more than a year. So, despite all the surgery risks, that’s the direction I’m leaning toward. So far.

Between expecting my bi-monthly seizure expectation and feeling all anxious and shit about tomorrow’s MRI, I was up half the night doing deep breathing and other relaxation exercises as well as  funny cat meme surfing. Nothing chills me out more than a good cat meme.

Especially this one!

Reality? No thanks, I'm full up.

I need cute kitten and puppy videos now, NOW, NOW!

As of yesterday, 338,767 US citizens have died – more than one in every 1,000 people. Yesterday alone there were 200,902 new cases and 3,626 deaths.

This includes newly elected Republican House Rep Luke Letlow. Luke, 41 and probably thinking he’d live forever, was maskless and not social distancing at his victory party earlier this month. Two weeks later, on the18th, he announced that he’d tested positive for the plague and died just 11 days later. According to reports, unlucky Luke had zero underlying, exacerbating conditions. I wonder how many people he managed to infect before he became symptomatic.

Who knew – being a Trumpublican can be a fatal condition. Speaking of…is Rudy Giuliani still alive? Haven’t seen him reality denying or treasoning for at least a few weeks now.

In other reality avoidant news, Sidney I-belong-in-a-locked-psych-ward Powell’s extra special “expert” witness regarding election fraud is NOT, in fact, an expert at anything, especially not, as claimed, military intelligence analysis.

Hilariously, Powell gave him the special code name (put down the John le Carré novels, Sid!), Spyder, so that his identity would remain secret even from opposing counsel. Yeah sure – that tracks. I want to overthrow a free, fair election BUT, I don't have any proof, so, just take my fantasy-land expert’s word for it. Sure Sid...

"Records show that Merritt is an Army veteran and that he enrolled in a training program at the 305th Military Intelligence Battalion, the unit he cites in his declaration. But he never completed the entry-level training course, according to Meredith Mingledorff, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, which includes the battalion.

“He kept washing out of courses,” said Mingledorff, citing his education records. “He’s not an intelligence analyst.”

In an interview, Merritt maintained that he graduated from the intelligence training program. But even by his own account, he was only a trainee with the 305th, at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and for just seven months more than 15 years ago." (source)

What did this cosplaying super faux spy analyst actually do in the army? He was a “wheeled vehicle mechanic.” What’s he do now? Fixes computers in the Dallas area and indulges his fairytale dream of being a character out of a Ludlum thriller. 

And in another episode of Jesus-fucking-Christ-this-pile-of-rabid-weasel-shit-is-lightyears-beyond-criminally-stupid-and-corrupt:

"U.S. President Donald Trump’s pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 violated U.S. obligations under international law, U.N. human rights experts said on Wednesday." (source)

Dumbshit Don may've thought the fecal matter was gonna get sticky with all the pending fraud and rape cases. Betcha he wasn’t expecting international charges too.

I wonder if this (or her own, as yet unprosecuted, crimes) will put a crimp in Nepotism Barbie’s political ambitions? Nah, she’s moving to Florida – they’d elect Lex Luther as long as he lined the already bulging pockets of the über wealthy, hated on Blacks, gays and the poors. See Rubio, Scott, Gaetz and Ron Fascism-First DeathSantis.

'scuse me, I gotta google up some cute pet videos now.

Nada and More of It

What did I do yesterday? NOTHING! OK, not completely true. I had design work all day which I milked because it was reasonably fun and engaging stuff. Also too I was, quite possibly, avoiding exercise.

I didn’t take my walk, ride the elliptical or perform so much as ONE PT ex. Granted, my physical therapist said it’s OK to take a day off here and there BUT I’m obscenely far behind the recovery curve. That violent-cough inspired pulled muscle is SO not helping matters. DUH!

While I was up at 1AM (see above), debating whether to take Tylenol, Ibuprofen or just shoot up a big-ass load of Smack, I doomscrolled (OF COURSE and see below) but also I succeeded in distracting and inspiring (versus enraging) myself with the weird and wildly engaging cast glass and ceramic sculptures by Christina Bothwell, Jesús Curiá’s fabola and inventive bronze figures, Martin Satí’s brilliant and near psychedelic portraits, a gumdrop/hobbit-like house community on the beach of Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf and more architecture porn at Dwell Magazine.

The thing that hit me, whilst I was surfing the doom, was this – at least I don’t live in Florida where Gov. Ron DeathSantis, auditioning to be the Orange Magat’s 2024 uber-fascist successor, sics gun brandishing stormtroopers on truth telling, whistleblowing citizens.

Tiny Dick DeSantis has his panties in a twist over former state data scientist, Rebekah Jones. She outed the lying sack of rabid weasel cum after he ordered her to fudge Florida’s insanely out of control Plague45 numbers.

The Governor of the State of Florida, the man who swore to his God he would support and defend the people of his state, that guy, he ordered his own scientists to alter the data. He ordered Jones to lie about the numbers in order to make it appear that his policy of doing nothing was actually working -- when in reality people were getting sick and dying in larger and larger numbers.

Jones refused. (source)

She not only refused, she has kept on reporting the actual, NOT DeSantisized, data. And he sent his armed thugs after her and her family.

Read the full CNN article and Jim Wright’s post for more info.

Massachusetts's "moderate" shitheelian Republi/Fascist Governor is an idiot but Ronnie D? Boyhowdy, he’s one criminally rapacious, death-dealing thundercunt, an utter pendejo And, like his hero the Treasonweasel, DeathSantis was born, simultaneously, on the fourth, eighth and ninth circles of Hell. I worry about my friends and fam who live down there.

By the by, another 2,597 U.S. citizens died yesterday. 98 of them were Floridians.

Meanwhile, back here in Chilly-ass Pain City (AKA Valhalla) I’ll get off my keister today, take a short walk, stretch, do some PT ex and, if I’m not gasping from muscle aches, take a spin on the elliptical. Oh yes I will.

Wish me luck!

Shooting the Rapids on the River Styx

That’s what this year feels like. We’re all flailing about, struggling, shooting the rapids on the River Styx.

I got word on Wednesday that my beloved father, who lives in an excellent nursing home in rural Western Pennsylvania, has come down with COVID. As of yesterday, he didn’t have a fever and wasn’t terribly symptomatic. Daddy, however, is 84, has been in a wheelchair for the past ten years (at least) and is pretty damn frail. I don’t expect the daily status reports to remain so benign.

I’m scared. Wicked.

Also, my heart hurts that I can’t go down and see him, hold his hand and make him laugh. A lot, my heart hurts.

While I found the home’s COVID precautions page a little confusing, my understanding is that they’ve been careful and strict about following CDC guidelines. As far as I know, apart from brief outdoor, socially distanced visits during the summer, visits have been limited to Zoom and talking through the windows. The facility is one floor and every room has a big window to the outdoors.

Here’s the thing though – the staff. They go home at the end of their shift. They see their friends and family. Are they all assiduously vigilant 100% of the time. Doubt it – these are humans not robots, not cloistered nuns. Even if they don’t go to restaurants and parties or run around maskless, someone they’re in contact with did.

Typically, a person develops symptoms 5 days after being infected, but symptoms can appear as early as 2 days after infection or as late as 14 days after infection, and the time range can vary.
~~~~~
It’s possible for people to spread the virus for about 2 days before experiencing signs or symptoms and remain contagious for at least 10 days after signs or symptoms first appeared. If someone is asymptomatic or their symptoms go away, it’s possible to remain contagious for at least 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19. (source) 

Doing a temperature and symptoms check for nursing home (and hospital) staff at the start of each shift is wonderful BUT it’s not gonna catch the COVID carriers who aren’t yet exhibiting symptoms or are asymptomatic.

Obvs, some staffer at Daddy’s home was either not as careful as necessary OR was exposed to a careless someone.

Yesterday alone, here in Massachusetts, there were 6,675 new cases with 1,324 extra added hospitalizations. Across the country there were 216,548 new cases, 100,667 fresh hospital admissions and 2,857 deaths. Nearly 3,000 more dead in ONE day – it didn't need to be like this.

I was to have my annual mammogram at MGH yesterday. It’s already been postponed a couple times due to my slow-ass recovery. Yup, Jen rescheduled for me once again. I do NOT need to add Plague45 to the top of my health struggle sundae.

I texted with Doc Plotkin, my neuro minder yesterday. He’s given me the all clear to have the vaccine once it’s available. I’d asked if it would clash with the Nf2 or any of the myriad meds I’m on. Nope.

The NY Times has a handy site up that shows where each of us stands in the vaccine queue. Me? There are 602,400-ish fellow Bay Staters and 139,200 Bostonians in front of me. They include healthcare workers, nursing home residents, first responders and folks whose health is more dodgy than mine.

Huh, good and bad news. My health is less dire than I’d thought and I get to see how other people react to the vaccine before I take it. On the other hand, I have to wait. 

I HATE waiting!

65 Days To Go

2,133 new Plague45 cases 36 deaths and 737 hospitalizations yesterday in Massachusetts alone. The U.S.total for yesterday? 135,187 cases, 623 deaths and 69,864 hospitalizations.

In the world? 493,236 new cases were reported and 6,448 deaths.

Earth’s people population is 7,800,000,000. The U.S. pop is 331,000,000. We have just 4.25% of the planet’s people but 36.5% of the world’s COVID cases. USA, USA, USA! (stats from the NY Times map site)

Why? Because we’re stupid and we’ll die

A member of Dimwit Don’s cane toad brained plague “task force” (AKA Team Lying Sack of Sycophantic Squirrel Shit), specifically the Russian tool,  Scott Atlas (did he get that name out of a 1950s box of Cracker Jack) seemed to think it was a bright move to incite violence specifically against Michigan, whose already targeted Governor, passed new, lifesaving measures to slow the spread of COVID.

Bully Boy and Treasonweasel Asslicker twitted:

"The only way this stops is if people rise up," Atlas said. "You get what you accept. #FreedomMatters #StepUp” (source)

Not only is Atlas a bullying asswipe, he’s NOT even an infectious disease expert. "Doctor" Stupid Head is a radiologist (he looks at x-rays and MRIs and writes reports). He’s also, like most midget dicked, blustering piles of weasel excrement, in possession of mega delicate fee-fees. He can dish it out but, bottom feeder that he is, he can't take it.

There are 65 days until Biden/Harris are sworn into office. The grifting and golfing fraud won’t go quietly. He’ll bluster and lie up to the very end if not longer. I get that. His mentally ill, violent cult is in the minority. Still, they’re dangerous, reckless and alarmingly bin-brained.

Now is an excellent time to shelter in place; to watch light teevee, read amusing flights of fancy and focus on my PT exercises. Also too, Coco

All pics found during my ongoing, distratifying camera cleanse. 

Plague and the Maiden

We had nearly 3,000 new COVID cases here in Massachusetts yesterday. THREE GODDAMNED THOUSAND!

Mein fucking Gott!

No, we’re not doing as badly as Wisconsin (close to 8.500 cases yesterday), the Dakotas, Wyoming or Iowa  but we’re, sure as shit, not doing as well as Australia, Nigeria or India either.

Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are coming up on us fast. Will Americans be stupid, gather in tight clots, breathing, talking, coughing and sneezing our, quite possibly, COVID riddled germs all over mom, pop, fragile grandparents and our immunocompromised cousins and chums? Will we figure “c’mon, it’s just one day – surely Plague45 takes holidays off. RIGHT?!”

Also too, don’t forget – children can get and pass around the Republi/Fascist Curse too.

The number and rate of cases in children in the United States have been steadily increasing from March to July 2020. The true incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is not known due to lack of widespread testing and the prioritization of testing for adults and those with severe illness. (source)

Do you want your little Ethan or Ava to be the spark that kills off Auntie Donna or Uncle Ten? No, I rather think not.

Back, a zillion eons ago, when I was a wee bairn, I had chickenpox. My parents had friends from England visiting us. They’d not been vaccinated and, yes, I gifted them the birdpox. They died. I remember them, liked them a LOT and I killed them.

Adults are 25 times more likely to die from chickenpox than children. (source)

Until we’re all vaccinated, it ain’t fucking safe out there.

Having said that, I totes get that spending holidays alone is hard for a lot of folks. Back in my early 20s (B.B.– Before The Amazing Bob) I was mostly alone on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I reveled the shit out of that – loved it! Warum? Holidays in my parent’s house were all about pitched battles, near lethal sniping and general displays of discord. Yeah, mega big fun, loads of peace and fun (NOT!). So, solitary Xmases and Thanksgivings were refreshing and bloodless.

Years on, TAB and I always spent part of Thanksgiving and Xmas with Jen and Oni before they'd head off to (or host at home) the big, happy Jen Family celebration. If they were hosting we’d pop over, say hello and then head back to our tiny, quiet cottage. Win/win. After TAB died, there was still Jen, her fam and Oni. Plus, occasionally my friend Joe would drive down from Salem to watch movies and snarf Chinese food with me.

Now, wonderfully, Ten is here. The Jen Family Feast won’t be happening this year because her clan is smart, careful and, again, SMART about the plague. In its stead, the four of us will make a meal and watch some movies. A quieter day for J&O but precisely my cuppa tea. No, I won’t be cooking or baking – NO one needs to experience that! I’ll be buying pies and ice cream for dessert.

I’m a little concerned about my friends who’ll be alone, possibly for the first time, on these holidays. Will they Zoom with friends and fam? Are they cool with a day of quiet solitude? Do they need food? Do they have good, ripping yarns on hand? Enough Jamo?

If I had hearing, I’d call Daddy. Instead, I’ll send a letter with loads of pics. He’s in a very nice care home where he’s quite popular with staff and other residents alike. He's safe there and comfortable.

Jack, Jen’s Pop, lives alone but is in a nearby town. Jen and her sister Erin see him (socially distanced and masked up) regularly. I wish I could visit too but it’s more dicey than ever for me to be out and about.

This, if we use the brains Bast gave us, is temporary. We can prep, make adjustments to work around and ease our respective holiday sads. The goal is survival. It surely helps that America’s Biggest, Most Destructive LOSER is headed for the toxic waste dump of history (AND, if we’re lucky, penury and jail).

Let’s work on taking away Moscow Mitch’s ability to continue destroying democracy. Donate To Warnock and Ossoff’s runoff campaigns.

How will you be spending the holidays?

Why Do When I Can Overdo?

I overdid it on my walk yesterday. Shocking? Wut? No?

I’d intended to add just an extra couple of blocks BUT it was a beautiful, warm day and loads of folks were out walking their dogs and bairn. Given that, here in Massachusetts, we’re averaging 2,035 new cases of the Trump Plague PER DAY (yesterday hit 2,660!) I like to keep a good 60 yards between me and anyone I don’t live with. Yes, I’m masked up when venturing outta the house but, given my infatuation with staying alive and that annoying neurosurgery habit, there’s no such thing as being too careful.

So, to avoid possible plague carriers, I took a few detours. Yeah, I made it home in one piece and even managed to do one of my strength building PT exercises too but, DAMN, Imma have to go easy on me today.

I can’t help but figure that this long-ass recovery is exacerbated, made more challenging, in part due to the COVID struggles. Also, and significantly, there’s the endless, reality eschewing insanity of the Republi/Fascist Party and their treasonous toddler chaos king. That shit takes a toll especially as it’s, post election, been ramped up by the Narcissistic Nitwit and his despotic Renfields.

In an effort to distract and release tension, Jen, Oni and I have been trying out new shows for our sci-fi/fantasy, escapist tea times. We’ve watched all of our latest shows – CrazyHead, Picard, Sabrina, Lucifer, Warrior Nun and Bast knows what else.

Last night we attempted to view a few new ones.

Fer instance, DayBreak:

High school isn't the end of the world... until it is. In this post-apocalyptic, genre-bending series, the city of Glendale, California is populated by marauding gangs of jocks, gamers, the 4-H Club, and other fearsome tribes who are kicking ass as they fight to survive in the wake of a nuclear blast...Following an eclectic group of survivors as they navigate this strange and treacherous world, DAYBREAK is part samurai saga, part endearing coming-of-age story, and part Battle Royale. (source)

Sounds great, right? Though amusing and I like the fourth wall breaking bits, all the players are kids – no adults seem to have survived the apocalypse and, lemme just tell you, that’s dull.

We tried Marianne, a French show about a young author whose horrific dreams are becoming reality. Nope. Not only were none of the characters engaging, they were actually annoyingly off-putting. Also, half an ep in, the writers had already pulled out half a dozen, if not more, desperately tired mystery/horror tropes. Right after the scary old crone proudly pissed herself as she was serving “tea” (which just HAD to be poison) we bailed.

We looked at Vampire Diaries, imagining it’d be similar to Buffy. Nope, NOT. AT. ALL. The first thing to annoy me was this – the actors all looked alike. They had matchy-match grooming, clearly tog shopped at the same three stores and had almost identical general appearances. I was thinking that part of the storyline was that they all came from one, highly incestuous family. To be fair, the female star’s BFF is Black but, aside from rockin’ a darker shade of flesh-tone, she was def from the same Teen Vogue tribe.

Honestly, it took me half the show to be able to distinguish one player from another. Also, while Buffy certainly had romance shit going on, that wasn’t the whole deal. The show’s other elements had just as much, if not more, weight. Basically, Vampire Diaries is a soap opera for swoony, mainstream middle school girls. Ya know, the type who find Beyoncé too exotic and radical. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

One thriller, which we may give a second chance, is Diablero – a Mexican show about a a priest needing help from "Diablero"  a legendary demon hunter named, Elvis Infante (LOVE the name!). The first installment didn’t knock my socks off BUT, of the four, it was the only one with a hint of promise.

We’re also gonna check out Childhood's End, a mini-series based on the Arthur C. Clarke novel.

After peaceful aliens invade earth, humanity finds itself living in a utopia under the indirect rule of the aliens, but does this utopia come at a price? (source)

This one looks like a thoroughly engaging winner, if not a laugh a minute.

I WILL transcend our current stress infused reality yet!

All pics today, by the by, are from my reality distract-a-thon camera purge.