The more Americans see of Casey and Ron DeSantis the Less they Like! But, like Covid he won't go away

Wibble Wobble Bibble Bobble

Old wibble-wobble head DeSantis is still trying to capture the Republican nomination despite several severe drawbacks, the most glaring is the more Americans see of Ron DeSantis the less they like.

Ron DeSantis is maybe 5'9' tall, so it seems odd for bibble-bobble DeSantis to make himself look taller by wearing 3 inch lifts in his brand spanking new alligator boots since this would offer up more of himself for people to dislike.

But, far worse than his short stature is bibble-bobble DeSantis's incoherence about vaccines and his insistence on lying about Covid in the faint hope of sparking some life into his campaign while his demented lies literally kill his erstwhile supporters.

“Now, every booster you take, you’re more likely to get COVID as a result of it.”  

This is such a vile statement the best you could say about Ron DeathSantis is he's shamefully saying it to get MAGA support for his dead campaign.  And if you dare to read the comment sections of any rightwing  agitprop organization (Reason), then you will be exposed to the insane hatred and lies about myocarditis and ruining your "natural immunity" that will make you understand why DeSantis will play footsie with these Covid lies.

And they will help you understand why the Corporate Media is still STILL trying to make DeSantis Happen.    

Now, certainly the Media would love nothing more than to elevate Nikki Halley to Republican nominee but they know the Magat Horde yearns to have Jello-Brain Herpes Hands Trump back in office.  But, regardless of whom the nominee is the Medias job is to help elect Republicans and to that end they will do whatever it takes. 

Unfortunately, Ron DeSantis is such an unlikeable uncouth asshole, other unlikeable uncouth assholes want nothing to do with him.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty, which was published in New York, Michael Wolff reports that Tucker Carlson invited DeSantis to lunch at his home in Florida in spring 2023 to see if he could back Rupert Murdoch’s preferred candidate. DeSantis wound up alienating Carlson and his wife, Susie, by behaving boorishly and pushing — or possibly even kicking — their beloved dog:

High Heels
not allowed
In the Navy

A common trope in TV and Movies is that dogs have a preternatural sense of who is a good guy and who is a bad guy [Evil-Detecting Dog].  This was famously illustrated in The Terminator, but continues to this day.  Now... sometimes reality imitates Art.  Trump is hated by dogs and other animals, whereas good ole President Joe loves dogs.  DeSantis kicking a dog is emblematic of how he's treated people throughout his rise.

Remember Ron DeSantis stood up an Election Integrity State Police unit to harass and arrest blacks in Florida for "Voter Fraud"so it's ironically grotesque his vile little troll wife Casey just encouraged Republicans to commit Voter Fraud in the Iowa Caucuses.  Casey DeSantis is apparently is as mean a little vindictive shit as Ron.  It's also hilarious to see vile troll Casey stand next to vile shit Ron and realize they are the same height

Of course, it wouldn't be proper for me to talk about DeSantis without mentioning his Bronze Star award, that is a Bronze Star without the V Device.  Which means Ron didn't earn it for "valorous" action or conduct but was awarded it for paper work.  There is a class of Officers who base their prospects and look to set up their future endeavors by having a large salad stack on their dress uniforms.  

These Officers know how to ingratiate themselves into their higher-ups and also know how to craft a decoration request for themselves to make it look like they did something.  DeSantis did not.  DeSantis is real, real, real close to a Stolen Valor chump.  This is why he never talks about his time as a JAG as he knows if he starts boasting about his GWoT exploits it'll open him up to criticism and critique and since he did nothing of note expect paperwork to justify torture at Guantanomo.

Of course, the lessons DeSantis has learned from his time at GITMO andin the Navy he's brought to his career in Florida and what he wishes to inflict on the American people.

ETA:

The best thing about DeSantis is his pathetic campaign is subjecting him to daily humiliation.

Long and Short Covid won't be gone anytime soon and Republicans want you to catch it and die from it.

Turn your head and cough... BUT!
Don't cover your mouth that's Woke!

"Most people would die sooner than think – in fact they do so." - Bertrand Russell

Covid cases are on the rise again and a new variant BA.2.86, nicknamed "Pirola", is also in the offing.  For now, officials say they remain well-equipped to deal with the strain if it continues to spread. Early assessments suggest current treatments and tests, as well as upcoming vaccines to be rolled out next month, will not be rendered useless by BA.2.86. So, that's good.

Nonetheless, I've taken to wearing a mask again at work as I await the new booster availability.  As the school year starts so do the interactions with grimy little snot-nosed (literally) children.  But, more than that I wear a mask (the black KN-95) during roll call and in the report writing rooms due to their tiny size.

This exposes me to the anger and brow-beating of the Officers present who try to shame me into not wearing a mask around them.  Now, I am used to years of being the subject of my reactionary co-workers ire because of my beliefs on a whole host of topics but this selective germ theory surprises even this jaded cynical Gen-Xer.  But, also it's obvious my visible mask wearing makes them uncomfortable with the possibility their belief masks don't work is wrong and they are exposing themselves to a hazard purely through anti-virtue signaling (vice signaling).

I often ask them why they wash their hands after dealing with perps or why they don't aggressively inhale second-hand smoke from the few Officers who still smoke.

Some ask me if I've caught Covid and to this point I've managed to be a Novid but, after Labor Day holiday, I told them I don't know up whose butt you've been sticking you nose, one responded are you aware of the Oxford Mask Study which "proved" masks don't work.

After some googling ("doing his own research") he couldn't locate "the study" in question but, asked me if I would accept CNN or Factcheck.org.  I told him no those aren't the quote-unquote The Oxford Study.  At which point he got a quizzical look upon his face.

Eventually I found out what he was talking about which is this---> A Cochrane Review Meta-Analysis.

This is fundamentally how the rightwing anti-vaxx and covid disinformation efforts work.  People don't read anything past the Breaking News headline.  This was jumped upon by the worst of the covid denialists who will never, ever admit they were wrong.  And actually gain more prominence, prestige, and influence by doubling and tripling down on denying the stark reality.

The lead author of the Cochrane review, Tom Jefferson, seemed to endorse this interpretation when he said in an interview, later quoted by conservative columnist Bret Stephens in a widely viewed opinion piece for the New York Times, “There is just no evidence that they” — referring to masks — “make any difference.”

Perhaps even worse, in a. grim irony, despite the rampant rightwing lies about what the meta-analysis says, the Cochrane review does in fact point to a reduction,

Benjamin Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong who has studied masks, said he thought the review was very similar to other systematic reviews on the topic. But he found the authors’ conclusion that wearing masks in the community “probably makes little or no difference” to be problematic.   

He noted that the confidence intervals for the meta-analysis for unconfirmed and lab-confirmed influenza and COVID-19 “go down as low as 0.84 and 0.72,” and said that “these effects (16% reduction and 28% reduction, respectively) would not be considered little or no difference.” 

Last year, President Biden issued a Memorandum: Addressing the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19.  Long Covid effects on are varied but, present the at least the following serious complications; brain fog, shortness of breath, and fatigue.

The National Institutes of Health launched and is opening enrollment for phase 2 clinical trials that will evaluate at least four potential treatments for long COVID, with additional clinical trials to test at least seven more treatments expected in the coming months. Treatments will include drugs, biologics, medical devices and other therapies. The trials are designed to evaluate multiple treatments simultaneously to identify more swiftly those that are effective. RECOVER is a large, nationwide research program designed to understand, treat and prevent long COVID, which is marked by long-term symptoms following infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. 

Much of the trouble is conservatives decided long ago to stop believing the "Eggheads" and became Skeptics.  Now... rightwing skepticism isn't common sense but, the ability to deny the reality before their eyes and believe every piece of Agitprop told to them by rightwing influencers and perfidious Republican politicians.  Even their infallible God-King Trump can not break them of this as every time Trump has claimed credit for the vaccine, he's faced pushback amongst the denialists and the rightwing influencers who declare no one died from Covid but with it and actually the Vaccine has killed millions.

Yes, Republicans want you and your
loved ones to die of/from/with Covid

But, lest you think I'm exaggerating the disingenuous Republicans response to Covid and stone-cold decision to let Americans die, I give you Arkansas Governor Sarah Suckabee Sanders and the ridiculous Surgeon General of Florida Joseph Ladapo telling people not to get a booster.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 37: A lotta Illinois Policemen are suddenly gonna discover they have "Long Covid"

Police tend to be rightwing.  Police also tend to be incurious and incredulous.  So it's no coincidence you find a large portion of Police Officers were Covid denialists, as well as, Vaccine hesitant, anti-mask and vehemently against other mild Covid mitigation protocols.

But, Cops are also woe-is-me, cynical, lazy bums who literally invented "Quiet Quitting" decades ago under the name "The Blue Flu".  But, if we've seen anything from rightwingers over the years, it's that they don't actually abide by the values, rules, and ethics they supposedly cherish.

So, the news that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed The Act-of-Duty Law (HB3162), which modifies the Illinois Police Pension code to address disability from Covid and post-Covid complications, will place these Officers in a ethical quandary,

(e) For the purposes of this Section only, any policeman

who becomes disabled as a result of exposure to and

contraction of COVID-19, as evidenced by either a confirmed

positive laboratory test for COVID-19 or COVID-19 antibodies

or a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 from a licensed medical

professional, shall:

(1) be rebuttably presumed to have contracted COVID-19

while in the performance of an act or acts of duty;

(2) be rebuttably presumed to have been injured while

in the performance of an act or acts of duty; and

(3) be entitled to receive a duty disability benefit

during any period of such disability for which the

policeman does not have a right to receive salary, in an

amount equal to 75% of the policeman's salary, as salary

is defined in this Article, at the time the disability is

allowed, in accordance with subsection (a).

The presumption shall apply to any policeman who was

exposed to and contracted COVID-19 on or after March 9, 2020

and on or before June 30, 2021; except that the presumption

shall not apply if the policeman was on a leave of absence from

his or her employment or otherwise not required to report for

duty for a period of 14 or more consecutive days immediately

prior to the date of contraction of COVID-19.

Ha ha ha!  Who am I kidding?  There will be no quandary!  What we're going to find is a bunch of Cops who previously dismissed, denied, or outright proclaimed Coronavirus to be a Hoax (despite Covid being the leading cause of Officer deaths for the last 3 straight years) will suddenly find they, in fact, had caught it between March 2020 and June 2021.  And these deniers will no doubt discover that their Long Covid is so severe will inhibit their performance of their duty as much as it impacted former Chicago Blackhawk player Jonathan Toews.

Now, of course, Cops are also miserly and petulant so even though Governor Pritzker has looked out for Law Enforcement he's a Democrat! and that's the worst thing ever, so expect all these jabroni's to collect their disability while grousing about Pritzker's toilets.

Did Donald Trump kill Diamond? Did Traitor Trump's Plandemic and Operation Warp Speed Vaccine kill Millions? Why did the Republican Party attack America with Covid-19?

At this point it must be asked;  How much was Donald Trump paid by the Chinese Communists to help spread Covid-19 (which is simultaneously nothing but a mild cold and a deadly bioweapon engineered by the Chinese) in the United States and then fast track a Deadly Vaccine in order to Destroy America?

The Republican Party needs to answer the question of why they pushed a wild untested experimental Vaccine created solely by Trump via Operation Warp Speed who told his followers to drink bleach and stick light bulbs their asses?

There was some gaudy and shameless "eulogy" to Diamond, of "Diamond and Silk" (TM) in which her death wasn't due to her being unvaccinated against Covid but, because all of the Sheep who took the JAB are sloughing off genetic material called Viral Shedding which Diamond inhaled and died from.

Rightwingers & Republicans demanded an investigation but, I doubt they will investigate the man who has claimed to be solely responsible for developing the Vaccine and continues to take credit for the job he did he using the Vaccine to fight Covid?  Instead, the Republican investigation will conclude that Dr. Fauci, in cahoots with Hunter Biden and the Chinese used Gain-of-Function to craft Covid and then released it in America in a purposeful accidental Plandemic to undermine America's former Greatest President.  Thus, Donald Trump should have won in 2020 even though he actually did win and the loss was because the Chinese sent bamboo infused phony ballots on floating container ships which were off the California coast due to the 2020 Covid Shut Down waiting to be unleashed on the United States.  Therefore, it is hereby Resolved that Donald John Traitor Trump was the Real Winner in 2020.

The Republican House is going to be a shit show of ridiculous resolutions and votes down the Party Line (which is one reason "George Santos" will never be censored and removed by a 2/3rds House Vote no matter what) but, it wll make for fantastic television news coverage for the Corporate Media.

The Corporate Media's job is too make Republicans seem like a viable and rational party (Major Traitor Greene is currently on a media blitz to soften her Fascist image) and too make the rightwing agenda of intolerance, hatred, oppression, and adulation of the rich seem like a reasonable choice for Americans.

Right now we are engaged in a Great BothSides media blitz about classified documents, which covers up the Trump post-Presidency classified document crimes.  And along with the BothSides narrative touches on the second maneuver in the Republicans scandal playbook which so greatly help them get away with their crimes, Non-Stop Criming

Trump showed that they way through any scandal is to just keep committing new scandals.  These revelations got short shrift by the Corporate Media:

• On Truth Social TFG claimed to have sent the FBI and DOJ to Florida in 2018 to rig the election for Governor.  Certainly, this feels like dig at Ron DeathSentence to; keep him in his place or undermine his 2022 election 
• Trump wanted to weaponize the IRS to launch investigations of his political foes.
• Trump and his Department of Justice had a standing orders to field agents that everyone in Portland was an Anarchist Antifa and should be reported as such.

Those are just a one sentence on 3 major scandals...  Instead... what Trump did during his time in Office and since was simply deny his crimes and wait for the newest revelation which he would then deny and move on to continuing to claim to have won the 2020 election because repetition and the mayfly memory of the media work to his supreme advantage.

The Revenge of The Thin Blue Line 31: Covid didn't kill those Cops Conservative Propaganda did

"Why do we assume that the body’s natural immune system isn’t the marvel that it is? Why do we think that we can create something better than God in terms of combating disease?" Senator Ron Johnson (R- Moscow)

For the 3rd straight year, Covid is the prime killer of Police Officers in the United States.  I know Coppers everywhere want to claim that they are facing here-to-fore unprecedented dangers on the job but, the truth is Police Officers are so incurious, so reactionary, so petulant that they would rather die of a illness which a few small steps could prevent just to Own the Libs all while slavishly adhering to the Propaganda Campaign of Faux News and the rightwing internet;

A new report released Wednesday by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund looked at preliminary data and found that 226 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officers died last year while in the line of duty. Of those deaths, 70 can be attributed to COVID-19. However, this is an 83% decline compared to the 405 officers who died from COVID-19-related complications in 2021. 

Jab Jab Jab!

281 Officers died of COVID-19 complications in 2020.  Meanwhile, Officers continue to fantasize about Fentanyl poisoning and delude themselves that BLM Thugs are around every corner waiting to murder them.  In reality, suicide and heart disease are the biggest killers of Police Officers and white men in America.

Conservatives don't actually care about Law Enforcement.  Blue Lives Matter has always been naught but, a rhetorical cudgel to Bash the Left.  When it comes to a macro respect for Law & Justice conservatives have shown time and time again that they believe the Law exists to afflict, constrain and punish women, LGBTQ, minorities, Democrats, and anyone who doesn't know their place and role in their White Supremacist Society. 

Understand the Right (in America and elsewhere) is now fully invested and in full agitprop attack mode that the Covid Vaccine causes myocarditis, blood clots, and is killing thousands of people daily because they can not admit they were wrong about Covid, they were wrong about mitigation factors like masking and social distancing, and they are wrong about the efficacy and protective nature of the Vaccination protocol.  Too admit any of that would be to admit the entire edifice of their political and personal belief systems are rotten and untenable. 

The Died Suddenly Twitter account, which boasts an authoritative blue check mark it received after paying $8 a month, memorializes a long list of people who, we are led to believe, died of the vaccine, including the voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, who very recently passed away from intestinal cancer. Except that scrolling through these names, it becomes apparent the list includes anyone who died suddenly, who died after a short illness, who died after a long illness, who died of cancer or of an immune condition or of a viral infection. Their vaccination status is often not even known. Basically, everybody dying after the vaccines were rolled out has now been killed by the jab.

It started with deliberately lying about the VAERS reporting in 2020, continued throughout the ridiculous magnetism and 5G microchip claims of lunatic rightwingers and has now coalesced into an international well-funded and powerfully motivated campaign.  Expect the misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies, to continue to grow and spread because The Killer Jab and DIED SUDDENLY narrative gives great power over peoples' lives to Rightwingers and that is what the Global Right wants; the Power to control you and the power to kill you. 

And if a few dozen Police Officers die?  Well their Thin Blue sacrifice is the price the Authoritarian Right is willing to pay in the quest to create their Fascist Dystopia.

The Woke Mind Virus 3: Covid Ghouls DIED SUDDENLY

"You know how passionately I speak out against vaccines," Candace Owens aka Candeath Owens aka Candace Ovens.

Never get in a car with Ray Lotta or Candace Ownes

Preventable deaths from Covid struck conservatives disproportionally especially after the introduction of Vaccines.  But, that's not what Republicans wanted to believe so rightwingers have adopted a new way to justify their Covid Death Cult.  The Vaccine is responsible for all those deaths.

Lisa Marie Presley died of a heart attack and the Covid Ghouls descended upon Twitter to declare her death was the result of the Vaccine, of being "jabbed".

Presley is just the latest person rightwing covid ghouls have declared died of the vaccine.  The death of Bob Saget last January, NFL player Damar Hamlin's chest injury on the field last month, and even Celine Dion's announcement she has a rare autoimmune disease have been touted by Rightwing Covid Ghouls as proof of the deadly effects of the Vaccine.

Initial attempts to convince people the vaccine made your testicles swell or magnetized your skin fell flat even amongst the Anti-Vaxx crowd, who wanted to believe it but, couldn't suspend their rational thinking that far.  Instead the genius idea that rightwingers hit upon was to watch the news for anyone dying and declaring that person DIED SUDDENLY of the JAB.

The decades long rightwing propaganda campaign destroying the idea of expertise and authority based on education and learning has reached it's logical end; every right-winger believes their opinion is not only valid but, since "they've done their own research" their beliefs are more correct than anyone else's.

Charlie Kirk / Charlie Manson... Not much difference

Worse yet, anyone to whom rightwing assholes would listen to as an authority, is decidedly anti-vaxx and is in the business of peddling lies to their audiences for money.  Bro Rogan built an entire vitriol laden anti-vaccine segment while hosting Vaccine Liar Brett Weinstein based on a fake tweet because Bro Rogan promotes every piece of rightwing agitprop without a care because promoting rightwing lies has made Rogan rich. 

And of course it gets worse.  Ron DeathSantis made Covid denialism the core of his 1st Governorship and rode to victory on the caskets of dead Floridians.  In addition to denying the plague running through his state, DeathSantis placed Joseph Ladapo in as the Florida Surgeon General, who has hyped the bogus claim the vaccine gives young men an abnormally high-risk for cardiac related deaths." 

So... there's not much we can do.  I don't blame President Biden for dropping Covid as an issue because I'm certain everything any of us see coming from the anti-science anti-medicine Right was laid out before him and Joe and his advisors understood fighting an entrenched foe would gain them very little.  It's a vile and completely standard rightwing tactic which is hard to defeat rhetorically.  Nothing you can say or post would dissuade Rightwing Covid Ghouls from declaring and believing the Vaccine is a Killer.

The Anti-Vaxx contingent is now firmly established in the rightwing echo chamber.  Conservatives will continue their fatal addiction too lies and insist on Dying of Whiteness.

Trump and Conservatives killed a Million Americans

While despicable Republicans are busy being racists*, preening for the cameras, and slandering Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the United States just passed The Second Anniversary of Covid-19 reaching mainstream attention.  The United States also reached and surpassed the grim milestone of 1,000,000 official American deaths.  

Sadly, Covid deaths have been vastly undercounted and it's probable we reached a million dead from Covid months ago...  It's also testament to the conservative efforts to present a contrafactual version of history and the rightwing propaganda efforts to undermine mitigation and vaccination efforts.

To this day Trump, powerful rightwing voices, and elected Republicans do all they can to obfuscate and undermine efforts to combat Covid and to convince Americans to do things ineffective and often times harmful instead.  The GOP is unquestionably the Pro-Covid Party.

The odious Rand Paul is beaming about having forced the Senate to vote on a repeal of the travel mask mandate, chortling in his March 15th press release about defeating the "unelected bureaucrats imposing an ineffective mask mandate".  Conservatives social media accounts are festooned with the same collection of Fauci=Jim Jones memes, Candeath Owens quotes, "Communism" fear-mongering, ivermectin/hydroxychloroquine/vitamin C/immune system nonsense, and sadly pitiable pleas for thoughts & prayers when the duped and misled American succumbed to the conservative campaign of misinformation, contracted Covid and ended up dying a terrible death on a ventilator system.

So, at this point most rational people have given up trying to convince the Anti-Vaxx cadre and have become resigned to the conservative efforts to undo all sensible and necessary precautions.  Take care of yourselves and loved ones, because if Republicans are back in charge of the government when the next Pandemic hits you will be on your own.

*- Remember Republicans are all Reactionaries, so in response to the Civil Rights Era and successful anti-Racism campaigns the GOP has decided to be overtly racist and bigoted while accusing black people, white liberals, and Democrats of being the real racists.  Clearly, Cruz, Hawley et al see much more value in appealing to the overt racism conservatives enjoy than making a ham-handed show of diversity in an attempt to peel off some black voters to them.

Two US Navy Ships : Two different Presidents : Two different Reactions to Covid

Back in March 2020, US Navy Captain Brett Crozier complained about the US Government response to the Covid outbreak.  Capt. Crozier commanded the USS Teddy Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier and thus the Capital ship in the Navy.

A Rapist of All Things

Well that was the Trump government and while Traitor Trump knows nothing about anything, he does know PR, and while Trump will gladly hump a flag he wasn't going to let anyone sully his image of being loved by the military.  Trump imitator, in more ways than one, Thomas Modly* flew out to the Teddy Roosevelt and told the Ships' crew Crozier had to be fired because... reasons...  Trump Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braitwaite** then laughably declared Crozier did not do enough to stop the spread of Covid amongst his crew.  So, on April 2, 2020 Crozier was sacked by Trump sycophants.  Fortunately, Crozier is retiring this month after 30 years service a career conservatives lustily spit upon for Trump.

Now it's 2022, and Joe Biden is President.  So, let's remember the dynamic; conservatives have draped themselves in the flag and assumed the mantle of Real America for a long, long time.  As a corollary, conservatives have long cloaked their cowardice in the patriotism of others and assume the military is staunchly rightwing.  

So, when an unnamed Commander of a missile destroyer declared he wasn't going to have anything to do with this Covid Vaccination, a rightwing Federal Judge could not rule quick enough that the US Navy can't touch him.

In a 48 page ruling, Judge Steven Douglass Merryday ruled USN Commander John Doe 'harbors' a sincere Religious Exemption to vaccination and the US Navy are enjoined from any adverse or retaliatory action against the Commander (a Lt Colonel also involved in this suit).

So, is President Joe Biden the CinC or not?  

During, the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress (abetted by several Gentlemen who sought Washington's command and were friendly with the British) hamstrung, micromanaged, and interfered with operations until the crucible of Valley Forge and Washingotn's determination enabled him to get breathing room and push for Nathanael Greene to be assigned Quartermaster General.

But, once again we see how deep the rot of rightwing propaganda has seeped.  Judge Merryday was appointed in 1992 and 30 years on the bench has no doubt convinced him his not opinion only is better than the US Navy but, especially when a DemocRAT President is trying to enforce unlawful orders on the Military... like vaccination...  

In court declarations two US Navy Officers testified the following about Commander Doe,

Vice Admiral D.W. Dwyer and Captain Frank Brandon explained that Doe’s anti-vax beliefs are part of a broader pattern of insubordination. Brandon testified that last November, he spoke with Doe on Doe’s ship one day before its scheduled departure. Doe was experiencing multiple symptoms of COVID, and appeared to have a relatively severe case; he could, Brandon recalled, “barely speak.” Yet Doe refused to get tested—a clear violation of protocol—and attended a briefing in a cramped room with about 60 other people. Brandon ordered Doe to get a test, which revealed that he did, indeed, have COVID, and exposed dozens of others to the virus.

Doe engaged in other deceptive behavior. For instance, when requesting leave, he concealed the fact that he was flying to another state, which would have triggered a mandatory risk assessment. After Brandon discovered this subterfuge, he learned that Doe had traveled to a high-risk area, requiring five days’ quarantine upon return.

But, of course IOKIYAR.  Because conservatives have turned the United States into a Nation of Men*** not Laws. 

I am certain rightwing Media and Judge Merryday would love to have Biden intervene and order the recalcitrant Navy Commander to take a hike, they would have another 'bloody shirt' to wave.  As when, Marine Corps jack wagon Stuart Scheller, who "inexplicably", placed the whole blame for Afghanistan upon the shoulders of President Biden and then was feted and treated to the time-worn rightwing media parade, USN Commander Doe would be lauded for his convictions while Tucker Carlson and all the other conservative chickenhawk couch-borne commandoes cast fie**** upon Joe Biden...

*- Moldy with trump inspired hair??? really the screenwriters have gotten so lazy.  Modly had to resign after he flew onto "The Big Stick" to address the crew about firing Crozier and stated Crozier, "is either too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this [or] he did this on purpose."

**- Braithwaite, like all rightwing grifters, stole huge amounts of money from the government.  Braithwaite spent over $2 million traipsing the globe during his 8 month appointment.  But, Fraud, Waste and Abuse never really matters to conservatives if a Republican Champion who "Owns the Libs" does it.  Nah, holiday junkets to Norway, Greece, Italy, Wake Island, Hawaii by Braithwaite are payment for a job well done...

***- as long as those men are right-wingers and not antiwar squishes like Lt. Col Alexander Vindman 

****-  as evidenced in the fetid and rancid comment sections of news stories, Fashbook, the Twitter cesspool, or any platform deplorable conservatives hurl all sorts of invectives at Presidents when they are Democrats (and at all officials associated with Democratic Presidents) 

Comorbidities and the Republican response to Covid really undercut the All Lives Matter movement

ALL LIVES MATTER! 

So you support mask mandates?  Wide-spread Vaccination?  Testing?  School, workplace, business vaccine requirements?  And any other mitigation attempts?  Pushaw!  Never! 

It's been 10 years since the phrase and hashtag #BlackLivesMatter entered into the lexicon and widespread use.  It really gained traction in 2014 after the extrajudicial killings of Mike Brown in Ferguson, MO and Eric Garner in Staten Island, NY at the hands of white police officers.  As BLM gained influence (not power mind you) it generated pushback amongst the same cadre of bigots who currently use CRT hysteria to advance white power.  But back in 2015 the counter phrase was #AllLivesMatter.

It was clear when All Lives Matter became widespread on the rightwing internet it was a counter-campaign against Black Lives Matter.  And it never fails how disingenuously created phrases then get wide-spread mass repetition through Corporate Media, who never question the genesis of this bad faith agitprop but, instead help boost it.  By 2020 every twisted red-faced, spittle flecked white asshole couldn't wait to scream All lives matter! (sometimes while trying to shoot people with a bow and arrow)...

But, that was then and this is now.  These days everyone on Faux News, every rightwing on-line edge lord, every conservative decided masks and vaccination are Tyranny!  Instead of All Lives Matter, the rightwing position these days is: Fuck you fatties! DIE!  You're diabetic???  DIE! Immunocompromised? Too bad!

Since Feb 2020, the CDC has tracked over 1,100,000 excessive deaths related to Covid.  Those people would be expected to be alive if the Covid Pandemic had not cut short their lives.  And ALL LIVES MATTER!

Except, of course, that phrase was always hollow and when Lt. Gov Dan Patrick of Texas bluntly stated old people should be willing to die to help keep Trump in power it put the lie to the claim the GOP are the pro-life party.  Rightwing and Republican Covid denialism got far worse since then and their efforts in the courts, at Faux News, in Virginia and Florida have reaped the bitter harvest of over a million dead Americans.

Republicans are always willing to sacrifice other peoples' lives to advance their agenda of intolerance and oppression.  This was shown with their casual warmongering in Afghanistan and Iraq.  But, the pro-plague position during the last two years wherein Republicans are not only willing but, increasingly happy to undercut the United States Government covid mitigation strategies and let Americans die horrendously from Covid is an awful harbinger for the plans Republicans have for millions of Us when they next seize power.

Republicans really hate Black Americans

"The fact that he is willing to make a promise at the outset that it must be a Black woman I've got to say that's offensive," - Ted Cruz, (R)acist of Texas, burped forth on his podcast

“The irony is the Supreme Court, at the very same time, is hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination and while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota. The majority of the court might be saying, writ large, it’s unconstitutional. We’ll see how that irony works out. I’ll guarantee you this, Paul. This new justice will probably not get a single Republican vote," Senator Racist Wicker reveals Republicans hate and will never support Black Women.

"Well the concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans," To Republicans like Mitch Son of the Arch-Traitors McConnell, African Americans will never be Real Americans, hence the distinction. 

That's Three Sitting GOP Senators speaking in 2022! Black History Month seems to bring out Republican Racism.  Of course, I could post hundreds of public statements Republicans, in and out of office, have made belittling, denigrating, besmirching, and otherwise insulting black people going back years.  Here's an unexceptional comment from 2014,

"For almost three generations these people, in some cases, have been given handouts.  They have been ‘enabled’ so much that their paradigm in life is simply being given the stuff of life, however meager. No one has the guts to just let them wither and die. No one who wants votes is willing to call a spade a spade. As long as the Dems can get their votes the enabling will continue. The Republicans need their votes and dare not cut the fiscal tether. It is really a political Catch-22." Klansman John Johnston, Indiana Republican and disgrace to the United State Marine Corps.

Look don't expect any of this rabid racism and blatant bigotry to hurt Republicans.  The Corporate Media expects it from the GOP, therefore Republicans' racism is barely a footnote in the fight to besmirch Joe Biden's SCOTUS appointment.  I don't know how to combat a Media invested in equivocating Republican perfidy, in bothsides-ing everything, in uncritically accepting bad faith Republican claims that actually Joe Biden and an unnamed Black Woman are the Real Racists!  Meanwhile, conservatives have been yearning for this kind of raw racist red meat from the Republican Party and are not satisfied with Lee Atwater dog whistles or euphemisms anymore.

MAGAland was giddy with glee and unmitigated joy when conservatives thought only the Big City libs and minorities were dying from Covid in 2020.  When Jared "666" Kushner declared the Trump Government would not be helping THOSE PEOPLE in the early stages of the Pandemic, conservatives celebrated and laughed.

Republicans really, really, really hate black people.  But, they get away with it because the media does not want to acknowledge the truth about the Republican Party; it's a death cult of fascists and racists edging closer and closer to outright political violence and barely satiated by the political shenanigans and bureaucratic legerdemain Republicans in office pull off to keep the GOP in power.

The Brandon-Omicron-Rittenhouse-Trump (BORT) civil War

"Come along Bort..."
"Are you talking to me???"
"No... my son is also named Bort."

The rightwing ghoul who made this cut-and-paste dank Kenosha Killer Kyle Meme put his name in the center of the image.  His Oeuvre is simple rightwing agitprop designed to upset and #OwntheLibs.

But, in reality Rittenhouse is a flash of lightning in the rightwing pantheon.  He'll be consigned to the dustbin of rightwing legends like, George Zimmerman, Nicholas Sandmann, Not Joe the Not Plumber...

Of course, Covid doesn't care about dank memes.  And all the rightwing cries of Hoax or Plandemic doesn't reconstitute lung tissue and doesn't save Antivaxxers from horrible deaths from Covid.  All the Candeath Owens retweets about the Unjabbed can't undo the fact that Republicans and right-wingers are dying from Covid.

This isn't stopping Republicans large and small from spreading ignorance and jettisoning the last 1000 years of scientific endeavor. 

A Wisconsin State Assemblyman improbably named "Treig Pronschinske", declared in an open meeting, that Covid isn't real because you can't see it,  

"You asked what are we going to do to stop the spread of the pandemic and you know if you can't... you can't see the virus... you can't see anything, how ya gonna do it? How can you stop it? How? You physically cannot see the virus. you don't know if it's in this room or it's outside. Or if it even exists right now. You have no clue."  

I would accuse "Treig" of espousing solipsism but, we all know Republicans have No Mind so this is in fact a long-form Zen Koan in which existence itself is questioned.

Meanwhile, rightwing intellectual Ben SShapiro tells sick people with Omicron to go out and infect everyone they know with Covid.  Ben is a quintessential rightwing intellectual i.e. he's never done a day's worth of work, he advocated for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars with no intention of serving, and his job is to sit and talk about things of which he has no experience or training.  Ben goes on to complain that sick people are using sick time to stay home from work.  Like all right-wingers Ben hates when the American people get benefits from their jobs, Ben Shapiro would rather people worked themselves to death to enrich him and that is exactly what he is calling for with his lies about bullshit "natural immunity" and healthcare professionals wanting Covid infected individuals to go back to work, while sick.

But, then there is the Despicable Alex Berenson.  Perhaps the worst worst Covid denialist.  Who claimed Covid was a New York only problem.  Who proclaimed at most 5000 people would die.  Who repeatedly gets booked on Tucker Carlson to spread lies and now shamelessly states this egregious falsehood, "The mRNA COVID vaccines need to be withdrawn from the market. No one should get them. No one should get boosted. No one should get double boosted. They are a dangerous and ineffective product at this point."  Berenson isn't saying this in 2020 but in 2022 after 1,000,000 American deaths from Covid. A Million.

This is straight up Murder. Straight... Up... Fucking... Murder.

Meanwhile, in order to dupe and distract, Faux News and the rightwing internet consistently and continuously lie and blame the CDC or Biden Administration about racially biased treatment; specifically excluding white people from life-saving treatments for Covid and preferentially giving it to THE BLACKS.  It's a recycled version of the Obamacare is special government money for THE BLACKS which was a recycling of Ronnie Raygun's Welfare Queens and Young Black Bucks gettin' your hard-earned white dollars as Government handouts who then buy T-bone steaks and Cadillacs.

But, Covid denialism is just one facet of the conservative BORT civil War on the United States.  Certainly, it's killing thousands of Americans and elected Republicans are always willing to sacrifice their voters in the pursuit of office.  Once in office, Republicans begin the task of setting up the unequal application of justice and the selective enforcement of laws.  Multi-tiered systems of justice is a key hallmark of Fascism. 

It is clear Conservatives have already declared a BORT civil War on the United States.  But, since it's not a Putin style invasion of Crimea or Ukraine the Left, the Corporate Media and the Democratic Party are loathe to admit it or unwilling to accept the stark truth staring at them in the face.

Conservatives want to murder millions of Americans and are already doing so with unconventional techniques, bureaucratic legerdemain, direct violence by armed paramilitary terrorists, and germ warfare.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 12: I would do anything for Health; but I won't get Vaxxed

"Oh, God. We’re being controlled by everybody. But not me. If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.” - Meatloaf's final song...

Meatloaf has died, apparently of Covid.  While Loaf's career spanned 50 years I as a GenXer know him for his power ballad I would do anything for love parentheses but I won't do that parentheses and his role in the Chuck Palahniuk film Fight Club.  His name was Loaf took (or always was) a hard right-winger belting out a ridiculous America the Beautiful for Vulture Capitalist Mitt R-Money 2012 Presidential campaign. 

But, once again Covid shows the Republican ideology is death.  

And nothing illustrates this more than the large city of Aurora, Illinois.  We are coming up on the two year anniversary of a Mass Shooting in Aurora, Illinois (I have to add Illinois in so you don't get confused with the mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado) in which 4 responding Police Officers were shot and wounded.  Of course 6 other people were murdered prior to Police arrival so in the NRA inspired guerrilla warfare upon the United States this was another win for the blood-soaked Gun Industry. 

But, in the past week 2 Aurora Police Officers have succumbed to Covid.

It is a grotesque inversion of threat analysis that Police Officers have been brainwashed by Republican liars to nonchalantly risk their lives and remain unvaccinated.  For the second straight year Covid is the leading cause of death amongst Police Officers nationwide.  

Are departments properly informing Officers of the actual risks?  Laying out the actual facts for Officer Safety?  In 21 days of January we have 11 Officer deaths from Covid.  Probably, not because so many Sheriffs and Officers have spent decades steeped in the incestious rightwing echo chamber of fear, lies, and propaganda.  They trust Fucker Carlson more than Doctor Anthony Fauci and take the missives of The White Male Grim Reaper Candeath Owens as the True Gospel. Blue Lives Matter?  Not to Republicans who see dead Americans as a political winner.

The Revenge on the Thin Blue 11: The Art of Self-Defund starring Candace Owens

One of the saddest things about the on-going Covid Pandemic is how easily misinformation, rightwing memes, Faux News propaganda, and outright lies have so readily been absorbed by Police Officers across the Nation.  It's simple and insidious.  And it's led to Police Officers defunding themselves by dying of Covid.  

Having been conditioned for years to discount the LIEbral Media and place outsized trust and support in Republican liars and rightwing talking heads, Police Officers have allowed themselves to be duped and misled.  Every rightwing antivaxxer social media is festooned with dank memes by Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan, Faux News, OAN and any of the other low-level rightwing grifters.

This has lead to Police Officers across the Nation dying from Covid.  Looking at the Officer Down Covid page all I can do is shake my head and plead with fellow Officers to get vaccinated instead of posting the Babylon Bee CDC seatbelt gotcha meme and then dying.

One of the amazing feats of research by reddit shows a high correlation of retweeting Candeath Ovens (Candace Owens) and then dying of Covid.  Obviously her most ardent fans retweet Candace because they believe her being black immediately and forever indemnifies them from charges of racism.  But, because of her incessant, non-stop tweeting of anti-vaxx lies, I must conclude Owens is actually a #BLM paid employee or #ACAB sleeper agent getting Cops and whitey to off themselves.  Candace is the grim reaper for fat-faced white dudes with gray goatees.

Prolonging the Pandemic; the Conservative Covid Killing Fields (Where's Ron DeSantis?)

"Now you go in for the Kill Shot. The kill shot [woof] with an ambush... it's deadly. Cause he doesn't see it coming," Fox News propagandist Jesse Waters incites the traitors at Turning Point convention to kill Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The Right is starting to get better at comedy and is making Lefties nervous... a meme first as comedy then as tragedy...

Conservative Covid Killing Fields is literally is all about increasing their political power...

MSNBC rightly called the Turning Points USA convention a "Celebration of Violence".  Worse than that it's past time to realize the right has declared a civil war on American society; I say a civil war specifically, because it's not The Civil War and will not, most likely, ever resemble the 1860's.  Instead a quarter of the American population are wedded to using whatever means available to achieve their thwarted political goals.  This includes outright political violence, of course, but, over the past 2 years of the Pandemic has manifested itself as disseminating lies and encouraging their deluded followers to get sick and fight against any means adopted to curtail or stem the spread of Covid.  It is ghastly but undeniable to conclude the leaders of the American Right believe by prolonging the Pandemic and sacrificing some of their voters, they can secure power in 2022 and possibly 2024. 

The liberty secured by the Constitution of the United States does not import an absolute right in each person to be at all times, and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint, nor is it an element in such liberty that one person, or a minority of persons residing in any community and enjoying the benefits of its local government, should have power to dominate the majority when supported in their action by the authority of the State.  It is within the police power of a State to enact a compulsory vaccination law, and it is for the legislature, and not for the courts to determine... Jacobson v. Massachusetts, Volume 197 U.S. 11 (1905)

Antivaxxers are Reactionary Nihlists, Anarchists, or crass conniving curs, who are violently stupid or actively ignorant.  But possess the ability to spew bad faith far faster than your ability to rebut or debunk it.  I've found no avenue of approach that they can not ignore or disingenuously elide.  

Like an armor all arguments bounce of their nihilistic brains.  They've created a fantasy belief about "Liberty" which is I May Do as I Pleases and there is no such thing as Society, Government, Your Fellow Man, etc...

 

Conservatives long ago voided the Social Contract and jettisoned listening to authority and experts.  Conservatives are the experts now on every topic because they "do their own research".  Conservatives find facts to confirm their opinions.

• It doesn't matter if you argue from Legal Precedent as with the above quoted Jacobson SCOTUS case or similar laws adopted throughout American history.
• You can not argue Morality, that antivaxx villains should embody the Christian principle of helping their fellow man because their Jesus wants them to oppress and dominate their fellow man.
• You can't argue Political Theory about the role of Government; because they don't believe Government can constrain them.
• You can't argue The Simpsons Reductio ad Absurdum by informing them their rights end at other peoples' lungs (an adapted analogy of the fist and nose).
• You can't Argue from Expertise because they can find their own "Doctors"/ Joe Rogan/ Candeath Owens who falsely tout Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin or Colloidal Silver or whatever chemical cocktail is fashionable at the moment.
• You can't argue Personal Experience known friends or family members who are immune-compromised, or have contracted Covid, or are suffering from Long Covid effects, or worse yet died, because they blithely avoid basic humanity and compassion for work colleagues, spouses, or family.

Because they don't care.  They don't care. They lie with statistics. 1,000,000 dead out of 330,000,000? Pffft! Big Deal!  Greater than 99% Survival Rate, which isn't true, but even if it was it would mean another couple million deaths.  Thus, proving once again a single death is a tragedy but, a million is just a statistic.  

They trot out the old propaganda falsehoods that the evil government (every Democrat and some Republicans except for New Messiah Ron DeathSantis or the Nebraska Ricketts) counts everyone who dies as a covid death! Car Accidents!  Terminal Cancer!  Fat!  Diabetes!  COMORBIDITIES!!! 

So, as the Christmas Covid infection rate ramps up we'll see Hospitals and medical professionals stressed to breaking, read about more Herman Cain Award recipients, and Antivaxxers will claim that since they are alive and don't know anyone who has actually died of Covid it's all a Plandemic. 

Update:

Over at the Best Website on the Internet Lawyers, Guns, and Money they ask Where is the Back-to-Back 2020 and 2021 Pandemic Champion Ron DeathSantis as Florida spirals up out of control with cases once again.  I'll point out that DeSantis knows by simply ignoring the dead he wins favor with Conservatives across the Nation.  In fact, right-wingers routinely claim by ignoring any mitigation, mask or vaccine mandates Florida is doing great and DeSantis is a Hero.

As the Coronavirus bill comes due; will the Trump led Republican Party stiff conservatives?

Only the ghost of Tamerlane is responsible for more deaths than Ron DeathSantis, Major Traitor Greene, Donald Trump, and the Republican Party.  The Republican Party has, through fits and starts, slowly but, inexorably become Pro-Covid Death Cult.  The Masque of the Red Brain Dead... but my natural immunity! (There is no such thing)

Trump's entire life has been about him not paying his bills.  His rabid base doesn't have that luxury when it comes to Covid.  In fact, many dire warnings concerning Omicron (Oo) seem to indicate the unvaccinated are going to be killed off in continued climbing numbers.  

A large cohort of so-called Republicans are not vaccinated and do not plan to be.  And even the bloated Trump himself can not convince them to get vaccinated. 

The coming post-Christmas bill of Coronavirus will kill thousands of deluded rightwing drones.  It's already exacting a heavy toll on elected Republicans.  But, it's also clear that some Republicans are marks and some Republicans are making a killing. 

Here's Sarah Palin telling the Turning Point Traitors she'll be vaccinated "over her dead body".  Ironic hilarity aside, Palin allegedly had Covid in April of 2021 and since then she's had the epiphany there is money and power to be made in telling conservatives the very mild, incredibly sensible, hardly inconvenient, and life-saving vaccine & mask mandates are the height of tyranny.

There's no point in being coy; Republicans see a huge political upside to the continued Covid Pandemic and are willing to sacrifice large number of their voters, some small fish Republicans, and conservatives writ large to reap the reward.

And apparently, Rose Twitter (A Twitter Account with a Rose is a Magat by any other name), has lost their minds when the WhiteHouse.Gov website put out an entirely accurate post those who choose not to get vaccinated will face the likelihood of death from Omicron (Oo).  Rose Brocialists are going to be FORCED to preemptively declare they don't support Joe Biden AGAIN and are being forced to vote for the Fascists as they did in 2016 and 2020 YET AGAIN!

Update:

I can only hope this Reddit story from two weeks ago about a Doctor of 30 years, a 38 year old father dying of Covid and his pyscho wife is fantasy.

Dopesick; Of The Deserving and The Undeserving

'Deserves' got nothing to do with it... Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven (1992)

Earlier this month I saw another opioid overdose.  It's not first, it won't be the last.   

Certainly it is easy to be hard-hearted and cynical but, it's my duty to myself and to society to not allow such feelings towards the daily deaths make me jaded and uncaring.  To not simply shrug and declare they deserve it.

Opioid induced overdoses have supplanted guns and cars as the biggest killers* in America.  According to CDC data, the United States has suffered 841,000 overdose deaths since 1999, 70% of those are opiate related; 50,000 opioid caused deaths in 2019 alone.

The levels of opiate addiction currently plaguing the US is something we've seen as a Nation in very select few times; i.e. after US Wars.  Those wounded in battle also became addicted to pain medication.  At first due to ignorance of narcotics functioning but now, we've decided to make ourselves victims by empowering the Sackler family and their Cartel Purdue Pharma. 

Watching the Netflix series Dopesick, Michael Stuhlbarg portrays Richard Sackler in a blended pastiche of Hannah Ardent's banality of evil and a wispy voiced Don Corleone.  The series also unflinchingly portrays the Sackler family as the immoral drug dealing kingpins they are; oblivious to anything but money and contemptuous of laws and morality.  The series Dopesick is based on Beth Macy's best-selling 2018 book.

Not everyone agrees with the portrayal of the Sackler family being villains every NPR (Nice Polite Republicans) story on the Sackler's takes great pains to repeatedly mention the Sackler family denies wrongdoing and no member of the family has ever been charged with a crime.  But, it does feel the last few years have changed the narrative and all the ostentatious donations to museums and pitiful donations to fight addiction earn them no credit.  If only the American Justice treated the Sackler family as harshly as it does men selling loose cigarettes on the street.  

In 2015, I watched a film called Heroin Cape Cod.  It was an unflinching look at the drug use.  There were no heroics, no glorious reunifications with the family, no arc of redemption.  By 2015 public health officials had catalogued a tripling of overdose deaths since 1999.  In reality it was most likely an undercount of opiate overdose related deaths.  Since then we had the treasonous criminal Trump in the White House who, of course, ignored it and so the deaths are still being ignored by the Republican Party writ large.

For 50 years, Republicans have linked drug use with criminality.  Worse than that Republicans were quite adamant the drug use was a moral failing and in no uncertain terms those who suffer from addiction are undeserving of care or even the barest compassion.  The Sackler's apparently knew this implicitly or explicitly as they spent decades falsely proclaiming the safety of their narcotics and blaming victims of addiction as criminals.  Conservatives have since Nixon been primed to blame addiction on low character, genetic flaws (i.e. black people), or immoral behavior.

Dualistic thinking dominates the right and all facets of conservative ideology.  There are no shades of gray.  There are no subtleties.  There is no subjective reality.  And more to the point, only their interpretation of objective reality exists and it conforms exactly to rightwing beliefs.  Now there are 3+ generations of conservatives who have steadily and increasingly absorbed rightwing propaganda and can not find grace to treat addiction any other way than those people deserve to die.