I got mad sometime in 2004 or so, when the war in Afghanistan became less about KILLING OSAMA BIN LADEN and more about “let’s paint some schools there to show ‘them’ Americans, despite dropping bombs on them for decades, are nice people they should love and emulate right down to endless re-runs of ‘Friends.’” I got mad because on a near-daily basis I spent time in schools that had literal holes in the roof and doors that wouldn’t stay shut unless they were padlocked, where in one classroom kids wore parkas and another the windows were open in January because … Continue reading Fixing Schools
I’ve written before about the individual shaming, around COVID particularly but in general, but as we go headlong into what is about to be a cold and lonely winter I’d like to encourage us all to stop elevating the stories of assholes: hahahahaha really struggling very hard not to hate absolutely everybody, really standing on that ledge of total misanthropy! https://t.co/n3SNvC8D0v — Jessica Ellis (@baddestmamajama) December 16, 2020 This whole thing was the internet piñata for the day, and I understand why people are angry with this family, with everyone they hear about going on a vacation or everyone they … Continue reading The Stories We Choose to Tell
. (edited to add)
Of course, as soon as I finished this post, I got the news that Adrastos’s wonderful Dr. A tested positive, but this post is NOT about people who take precautions and get infected anyway – it’s about the deniers/flubros at Free Republic.
Well, Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity’s lawsuits are getting shot down like Zeros at the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, Georgia just told The Darnold to go subpoena himself, it’s not like things could get any worse for Team Drumpf…..
Florida Sen. Rick Scott tests positive for COVID-19 nypost ^ | 11/20/2020 | Lia Eustachewich
Florida Sen. Rick Scott has tested positive for COVID-19, he said Friday, as he advised Americans to “wear a mask.”
The GOP lawmaker said he was diagnosed with the bug Friday morning after several negative tests.
“I’m feeling good & experiencing very mild symptoms,” he tweeted. “I’ll be working from home until it’s safe for me to return to DC. I remind everyone to be careful & do the right things to protect yourselves & others.”
12 posted on 11/20/2020, 10:19:00 AM by a real Sheila (Epstein didn’t kill himself, but Hunter probably will.)
Maybe because (unlike the Republicans) they actually take this shit seriously, wear masks, socially distance, and avoid church services and MAGA superspreader events?
.
Just a thought.
.
And the crazy gets even crazier :
.
To: ChicagoConservative27
Another case of COVID-19. So what? On the positive side, common cold and common flu have been eradicated by COVID-19. All tests point to COVID-19. Silver lining to that there COVID-19 cloud.
39 posted on 11/20/2020, 11:13:26 AM by lakecumberlandvet (Appeasement never works.)
Meanwhile:
.
Chuck Grassley ‘Symptom-Free,’ Feeling ‘Good’ After Testing Positive for Coronavirus Breitbart ^ | 11/18/2020 | Kyle Morris
Posted on 11/18/2020, 3:35:29 PM by ChicagoConservative27Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said Wednesday he is “symptom-free” and feeling “good” after he announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.
“I remain symptom free & in isolation. I continue to feel good Thx for all the messages of encouragement & prayers,” 87-year-old Grassley wrote in a tweet.
To: ChicagoConservative27
Should have retired 12 years ago, what is it about politicians who think they have to leave the senate in a casket?
And all this time, I thought it was just a “Democrat hoax”?
.
It’s almost like the “hoax” is gaining impetus, isn’t it?
BREAKING NEWS: Don Jr tests positive for coronavirus and is in quarantine: Trump’s son becomes latest in the president’s inner circle to get infectedDaily Mail ^ | Nov 20 2020 | Emily Goodin Posted on 11/20/2020, 5:26:10 PM by Alter Kaker
Donald Trump Jr. has tested positive for the coronavirus and is quarantining at his cabin.
It’s been a difficult week in New Orleans. Dr. A tested positive for COVID and we’re under quarantine. Mercifully, we’re both asymptomatic.
This is an excellent example of how contagious COVID-19 is. As a scientist, Dr. A is careful and cautious in dealing with the virus. She caught it at work, not socializing. If you’re thinking of having a normal Thanksgiving, please reconsider. Anyone can catch this virus if they let their guard down. Help is on the way but it’s going to take time to vaccinate the entire population. Please be careful out there.
This week’s theme song was written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko in 1967. It was first recorded by The Band on their debut album, Music From Big PInk. It’s been covered by a wide variety of artists over the years and was the theme song of the OTT British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
We have four versions of This Wheel’s On Fire for your listening pleasure: The Band live, The Byrds, Julie Driscoll, and Guster.
I have a confession to make. I’m a hardcore fan of The Band but I’m not crazy about Big Pink. It’s a brilliant collection of songs but they don’t swing like the Band did live. Hence the live burning wheel. I hope this won’t consign me to rock hell as the CW on Big Pink is that it’s one of the greatest albums of all-time. I like it but don’t love it.
Another song from The Band with Rick Danko on lead vocals:
Now that we’ve walked that highway til we die, let’s jump to the break.
God, it’s amazing how small a move this actually is, and how great it is at the same time: Today, I met with the co-chairs of the transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Dr. David Kessler, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. They briefed me on the accelerating public health crisis. The facts they presented were alarming. Our country is experiencing surges in reported infections, hospitalizations, and fatalities all over the country, with virtually nowhere getting spared. Our doctors, nurses, and other health care workers are under enormous — and growing — strain. This week’s news on progress toward a safe … Continue reading Grown-Ups Are On It
CUSTOMER: No, you’re not. You’ll be stone dead in a moment.
DEAD PERSON: [singing] I feel happy. I feel happy.
[whop]
*******************
OK – a bit of an explanation. Labour day weekend, I noticed a cut in my upper lip from the electric razor I use to trim my mustache was red and getting redder. Two days later, it was spreading fast enough to scare me, and prompt me to head for the local Doc-In-The-Box on Labour day. They gave me oral antibiotics and told me to come back the next day. It was getting worse rather then better, so I headed for the E.R.
After a six hour wait (the admissions room seemed to be filling up with people who were coughing for some reason), they admitted me, diagnosed cellulitis, and started me on a triple regimen of I/V antibiotics. I was there for a whole week, then discharged and told to go see my PCP. My PCP prescribed two of the heaviest-duty oral antibiotics made, which I stayed on for two weeks. VERY slow recovery. My face no longer looked like something Tom Savini slapped together during his lunch hour, but the brain fog from the antibiotics has made it impossible for me to concentrate on anything. I was trying to figure out how many more days worth of Clindomycin I have left to take, and had to ask Barbara how much 14 plus 56 are. Really.
I told Barbara “Remember when you were a young mom with two little girls in the back seat yelling, fighting, and kicking your seat back while you were trying to navigate a complex intersection you’d never driven through before? It’s like that, only a little worse.”
At the same time, Freeperville was coming apart at the seams like a “Made In GYNA” MAGA hat. I felt like Mike Joy being asked to turn around and sign autographs while a 40-car pileup was occurring on the Talladega speedway.
So – I’m back. I’ll be assembling “Obsession” posts about reactions to events of the last month, in chronological order, and there’s a buttload of them, so bear with me.
It’s not like all that much has happened in the last month anyway, has it?
Has it?
PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS HE IS GOING INTO QUARANTINE WITH FLOTUS MELANIA breaking 911 ^
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TWITTER FEED: POTUS AND FLOTUS TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
Two weeks, cats and kittens. Increasingly I have nothing, due to the sheer avalanche of bullshit and my own pressing need not to lose my grip on reality. Clench your fists, sharpen your teeth and get ready. In no particular order: If we want everything to get back to “normal” we need to close down stadiums, restaurants, bars and performances, and pay all those people what they’d be making anyway. I don’t give a fuck, okay, about the owners of restaurant chains but if it takes a giant bailout for whoever owns six IHOPs to pay the people who … Continue reading Two Weeks
We’re not playing hurricane dodgeball this week in New Orleans. It had to happen. In fact, we’re experiencing what some observers insist on calling a “cold front” but I call a cool front. As always, it’s likely to lead to an orgy of overdressing by locals desperate to wear non-summer clothes. My coats will remain in the closet. I might, however, be daring and wear a long-sleeved shirt. That’s as rad as I’m gonna get for now. It will be back in the eighties next week.
In his autobiography, Dixon explained that the phrase “wang dang doodle” “meant a good time, especially if the guy came in from the South. A wang dang meant having a ball and a lot of dancing, they called it a rocking style so that’s what it meant to wang dang doodle”
We have four versions of Wang Dang Doodle for your listening pleasure: the original recording by Howlin’ Wolf, Koko Taylor’s hit version, the Pointer Sisters, and the good old Grateful Dead who performed the song 96+ times. All night long, all night long.
Now that we’ve pitched a wang dang doodle, let’s jump to the break.
But why, why do all these assholes keep voting for Trump? One of the evergreen thought exercises of the Trump era has been trying to guess what it might take to finally shake the faith of his most devoted supporters. “We’re always asking, ‘What would it take to break the camel’s back?’” said former Representative Tom Rooney, Republican of Florida, who withdrew his support for Mr. Trump in 2016 after the release of the “Access Hollywood” video. “When the losers-and-suckers thing happened, I asked a friend of mine if that bothered him, and he said, ‘Nope,’” Mr. Rooney told me. … Continue reading Yet Another Mystery
The LA Times, with the news we need right now: Co-founded by Gabrielle, Reagan, Coco Ono (real name Kayla Tange) and Kitty, the Stripperina (real name Kelly Vittetoe), the show has given the strippers a new sense of agency and empowerment in an industry that is notorious for taking advantage of women. Although they emphasized that Jumbo’s is a supportive environment run by women, other strip clubs can be exploitative. I’ve never been germophobic. It’s hard to be and ride public transportation, or really live in a city at all. You just … come to terms with a certain amount … Continue reading I’d Been Wondering What the Strippers Were Doing
Good morning. Tommy T is on the disabled list with a serious health problem. It is not, however, caused by reading the Freepers so we don’t have to. Here’s hoping our beloved friend and colleague gets well soon. That’s as mushy as I get, y’all. Today’s guest blogger is my young friend Ryne Hancock. He’s the guy who inspired my Bad Karma post last week, which led to his first First Draft shout-out. I also owe him because his bike was stolen in front of my house a few years ago. Sorry about that. Ryne is a native Memphian who … Continue reading Guest Post: Hard Sympathy
It’s getting colder. I made two and a half quarts of soup on Sunday morning, before the rain started and the wind picked up. We have a chest freezer now. We have a store-room full of apples. Every day I peel, chop, bag, so we can use them in baking or stews. Kick and I tried to grow potatoes. We planted too late, when it was already cooling off, and damp, and they rotted in the ground, but everything else went wild, took over the small patch we planned. We’re saving seeds — tomatoes, peppers, squash — from this year’s … Continue reading Start Tearing the Old Man Down
The Big Lie is alive and well. Here’s the Kaiser of Chaos at a super-spreader rally in Ohio: “It affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems, if they have other problems, that’s what it really affects, in some states … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Your President* Lies Edition
I’m never one to credit evil as an explanation where stupidity will do nicely, but as this post points out, this is starting to surpass the “wishful thinking” phase: You pushed faculty to offer in-person classes or classes that could at least have an in-person component. Classes that drew students to campus and put butts in classroom seats were valued. You created all sorts of untested hybrid options with the idea that some personal interaction was better than none. Faculty objected and students went with online options when possible, but still you persisted. You created pokazukha websites and plans and fliers for … Continue reading Maliciousness
My first newspaper: As more than a quarter of Wisconsin’s record-breaking 1,547 new daily cases came from UW-Madison students on Thursday, the situation in Madison is increasingly worrying. Continued spread among off-campus communities endangers all of Madison and Dane County, jeopardizing lives, local businesses and any return to normalcy. This doomed attempt to reopen will ultimately saddle local authorities with an outbreak that continues long after campus facilities close. In short, what we all had feared — what we knew would be inevitable — has come true. The exponential growth of COVID-19 cases, the lockdown of campus dorms, with the misdirection of faulting individualistic … Continue reading The Cannon Fodder Objects
