Always Classy

On Tuesday, October 18, 2021, on the passing of Colin Powell, 45 issued this statement:

Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace! (Washington Post Daily 202)

Not to worry there Donnie boy, the reports of your passing will be less glowing. You have not done anything nearly as important.

What part of COVID will kill you did they miss?

A conservative Florida radio host who was dead-set against taking a coronavirus vaccine is now dead. Marc Bernier died Saturday of COVID-19 after a three-week battle, his bereft radio station announced. He was 65. (Daily News)

As of today, Monday, August 30, 2021, more than 630,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19, and there are some 38 million reported cases, yet barely half of the United States has been vaccinated. (NY Times) The 14-day rate change for deaths alone is at +96%, with a daily average of 1200 deaths. An estimated 4.1 million people around the world have died from this disease and the current epicenter is the United States.

Yet, individuals like Bernier and his ilk, male and female, continue to deny there is anything to see here. Or that it’s a scam or some federal indoctrination program that can be avoided or cured with Vitamin C and aspirin. Or veterinary dewormers.

If you do not want to get vaccinated for whatever crazy ideal you feel is worth dying for, that is your prerogative. But please, for the love of humanity, stop spouting incorrect, misleading, or flat-out distorted opinions. Too many have died, too many are sick, and too many are struggling to get through their day taking care of those who otherwise might have lined up for the vaccine.

Oh, and the reactions:

Longtime radio show guest and Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood was gutted after learning that the host had died…

We kindly ask that privacy is given to Marc’s family during this time of grief.

Live from Backwards Land

If you do not live in the United States, you might be wondering what is in the water, or the air, because as the world struggles to come out of this pandemic and demands for vaccines far outstrip supply, there are lawmakers, like the ones in Ohio, that are looking to ban any requirement for any vaccination.

Let me say that again - ALL vaccinations. I only wish I was kidding.

Ohio lawmakers want to abolish vaccine requirements—all vaccine requirements (Ars Technica)

Now, I can understand, and appreciate that there are just a lot of stupid people in the world, and frankly, if you think your children, or yourself, should be exempt from getting something that could prolong your life, that is your privilege (by the way, we are going to apply that same logic to a bunch of other issues, so be careful what you wish for), but what gripes me is the this clause:

If any of the above entities even tries to institute a vaccine requirement, it would be required under HB 248 to notify people that they are able to decline. The entities are not allowed to disclose who has declined. And they “shall not discriminate against, deny service or access to, segregate, require a facial covering or other vaccination status label for, or otherwise penalize an individual financially or socially for declining a vaccination.”

Shall not discriminate against, deny service or access to, segregate, require a facial covering or other vaccination status label for, or otherwise penalize an individual financially or socially for declining a vaccination.

Wait, what? You decide you know more than the medical community and you decide that you will not get a vaccine against a disease that could potentially kill you, and I have to support your medical care?

No. Sorry.

That is not how it works. You absolutely need to take responsibility, including paying more for your health insurance (because why should I have to support your stupidity. You should have to wear a mask so as not to spread the germs that the rest of us would not be exposed to if you actually were inoculated against something that we have a vaccine for, and you should absolutely be segregated, preferably outside, in the middle of winter, because you have elected to be stupid.

Hopefully wiser heads will prevail, but if not, then someone needs to ensure the out clause is redlined. Or we will all pay for someone else’s desire to be free.

Pot, Meet Kettle

GOP Rep. King loses committee posts over racial remarks | WTOP

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced King earlier Monday, saying, “There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind.”

Let us recall statements by the sitting GOP President following the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017:

Mr. Trump defended those gathered in a Charlottesville park to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. “I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups,” he said. “Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.” NY Times

Now, you can argue that 45 is not supporting racial supremacy, but I can argue even more that he sure is not, by his actions so far, saying there is no place for this sort of ideology. So Mitch, when you are digging a whole, the best way to save yourself is to stop digging.

Say What?

Exclusive: Trump team should be allowed to ‘correct’ final Mueller report, says Giuliani | TheHill

Rudy Giuliani says President Trump’s legal team should be allowed to “correct” special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report before Congress or the American people get the chance to read it.

Just when you think you have heard the most ludicrous statement come out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, someone comes along and says something even more jaw droppingly stupid.

As a prosecutor, how many times did Mr. Giuliani let the defendant correct his indictment before he presented it to the courts? Because that is exactly what the Mueller report will be, an indictment of the current President of the United States. Whether it leads to additional legal or Constitutional charges should be the decision of the bodies best qualified to make them. The President’s lawyer is not one of them.

I certainly hope that the adults in the room prevail.

Can We Do The Same For Pastrami and Bacon?

Industry wary of alternatives tries to protect a word: meat | WTOP

Nebraska lawmakers will consider a bill this year defining meat as “any edible portion of any livestock or poultry, carcass, or part thereof” and excluding “lab-grown or insect or plant-based food products.” It would make it a crime to advertise or sell something “as meat that is not derived from poultry or livestock.”

As more and more marketing people try to get the general public to fall for their new and improved usually faux healthy product, like nut water, or margarine, instead of milk, or butter, the blurring of the lines between what we know it is and what the marketing doublespeak wants us to believe it is will only get broader.

Even foods that should be clearly delineated, like bacon, seem to now come with qualifiers, and the qualifiers are rather odd. I have yet to encounter the full shift I have seen with coffee (you now have to explicitly say you want your coffee hot), but I do not think we are far away. When I order pastrami, being asked to define whether I want beef or turkey probably makes several in the smoked meat business cringe. Bacon now comes as pork (the so far default), turkey, or tofu (when you are eating something called tofu, bacon is the last thing that comes to mind).

Many people have decided to cut meat out of their diet. That is just fine. However, please, do not confuse your need to follow rabid diet models with the public's need to be able to identify their food. Meat only comes from animals, milk from cows or goats, and keep your ground up nuts out of my water. I need them for my Chex Mix.