Do As I Do, Not As I Say: Vaccine Edition

Endorsed by Steve Doocey. What could be better?

Ben Shapiro, Mitch McConnell, Sean Hannity, Steve Scalise, Steve Doocey all have one thing in common (besides being horrible people) they've suddenly all come out and admitted they were (or are about to be) vaccinated and are encouraging others to get the shots.  

This is after several of them, and the organizations they work for and with, have been spreading mass disinformation about the vaccines. Some are now even praising Biden's vaccine rollout. Color me stunned. You even get Bill Hemmer on Fox News dragging out Marc Siegel, one of their top medical contributors, and allowing, practically begging him, to rhapsodize about the efficacy of the vaccine.

“The vaccine works, right? We haven’t budged on that, have we, doc?” Hemmer asked.

“The vaccine works extremely well even against the delta variant, preventing infection in 90 percent of cases,” Siegel reported.

He had been set free to tell the truth without hedging around it, or Trump’s precious feelings, or insulting politics. Free at last! Of course, Fox has a vaccine mandate for their staff, but they don’t tell you about that.

What is going on? They could have been doing this months ago, helping their viewers and followers get the protection they needed. But they didn’t. Why now?

It's like the bat signal went up, and the word went out. It reminds me of the threats of lawsuits that made the networks change their tune on the Dominion voting machines, issuing awkward apologies read on air. Are they covering their asses against class actions? Are they spooked by the Dow crashing as it did this week? Worried about voters blaming the GOP for more deaths, more shutdowns and more economic pain to the country? 

Or maybe they're just trying to do the right thing.

Nah.

It's probably a combination of the money and the votes, and fear of being held even more accountable than they already are. The GOP has a lot of blood and violence that can be directly attributed to it; the mismanagement of the pandemic that resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths, the stupid and selfish misinformation designed to politicize the virus which is still adding to the death toll, the encouraging of  far right violent groups and militias which have led to hate crimes against people of color and the deaths of protestors and law enforcement, bringing us the January 6th insurrection, where this has all been leading for the past several decades.

Up to now (and I doubt the right’s new community spirit will last before being shouted down by their own brain-scrubbed supporters) the right has been like people trying to kill safety inspections after major crashes, like someone decrying the use of life boats after a cruise ship sinks, or mocking the installation of fire alarms after a school burns. At every point in this pandemic they have mocked precautions, complained about the least of them, refused to cooperate when that cooperation would help save lives, and refused to acknowledge the danger their behavior was not only to themselves, but to everyone around them.

And they were proud of it, even as bodies piled up in refrigerated trucks in parking lots.

But hey! That’s in the past!

The problem, of course, is that no one will believe this nervous about-face. The people who can, who have been following the science and keeping up with the news have already gotten the vaccine. There are some who can’t because of medical reasons, and some communities who have a justified mistrust of a mostly White medical community who have not always acted in their interests in the past. Hopefully that can be overcome.

But the people these Republican leaders are talking to are the same ones who they’ve been working on hard to spread their own viral pandemic of lies since February of 2020. And it worked. Too well it worked. The GOP realized they’re losing the voters they need to keep sticking it to America. Now they’re trying to undo the done.

At this point, they've got people so worked up that only God coming down out of heaven and telling them to take it would work.

Of course, several would ask who God thinks he is to trod on their rights. Their God-given rights.

I wish it was only them that they were screwing, but we’re all on this planet together.

We’re all stuck in the Eagle’s Hotel California, on pandemic lockdown:

Welcome to Feb, 2020, we didn’t miss you but we’re not allowed to leave.

The Jobs Report is… Disappointing…

Nice, outdoor work. Inquire at the office. No mask required?

The new jobs report has been ‘disappointing’ to those foolish enough to listen to the predictions of people like former Harvard president Laurence Summers, who has never been right, and the rosy projections of those who are looking at vaccination rates, ‘opening up’ stories, and crunching numbers to make the dreams of Summers come true.

The jobs numbers weren’t much of a surprise to me.

Because I’m a genius, who knows more that the most Harvard of Harvard economists, right?

No, I’m just a schmuck with a Macbook Pro and a lot of friends in an industry that has been utterly devastated by this virus, and who sees on social media people looking for vaccination appointments like people looking golden Wonka tickets. All this talk of ‘turning corners’ and ‘what to do after the pandemic’ is lost on many people, the ones with compromised immune systems, who look at the numbers starting to spike again, at the 5,000 reported deaths last week, 50,000 new cases reported in one day. Those cases/deaths are the ones we know about.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation put out a new study, estimating that more than 900,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 in the US since getting hit a little more than a year ago. Uncounted deaths make up the difference between what organizations like the CDC have been reporting and what is more likely reality, with the rate of excess deaths in the country, with more than 7 million worldwide.

About that jobs report with the ‘disappointing’ numbers.

Well. A few thoughts here.

Yeah, I seen the shaming signs posted on businesses, those that say ‘Sorry! We can’t give you the service you deserve, oh dear customer, because lazy, lazy people refuse to work. They’d rather sit on their lazy, lazy butts than serve you, so we can’t open/serve/assist you. Blame them. Thank you, The Management’.

Clueless, cruel and not true.

Everyone I know wants to work, wants to see friends, co-workers, bullshit about nonsense, are dying to be fully busy, relied on, part of something bigger than debating what is the best thing on Netflix at the moment.

Here’s the thing for people who say that something like ‘unemployment is disincentivizing people from working’, slapping workers with that favorite word; ‘lazy’. No. ‘High’ unemployment (sorry, never very high) is not the problem, low wages are the problem. You work a job that pays 300 a week, while unemployment pays 400. The problem is not the 400, it’s the 300.

People are afraid of dying. They don't want to take jobs that will pay poorly for the chance to be stuffed back into an office or workspace so they can work for crap wages and win a chance to catch a still unstopped virus and die. Why would anyone want to do that?

This pandemic has forced many to finally raise their head, look around and say 'Jesus, what am I doing? I've only one life and I'm wasting it here!" Post-pandemic thinking and working is changing, and we’re not even out of it yet. Many things will have to change to meet that thinking, those new/old needs.

Employers loved it when they had the power of the market, now workers are taking it back. So, you get a ton of clueless 'think' pieces, and Republicans threatening workers with 'take these jobs or else' rules. They act like angry parents with a teenager defiantly refusing to clean up their room: “Take your chance on dying doing this low-paying job we'll give you something to cry about.”

We already have something to cry about, the world does.

There was a clueless OpEd in the Washington Post this week from the publisher of the Washingtonian, that was read (rightly I think) by the staff as a threat to those who wanted to avoid going back to an office that could easily be a source of spreading the virus. Here they are, working hard to keep the publication on track, working remotely and taking pay cuts and cutbacks only to have the boss hit them with a ‘gee, you know, if you’re not at the office, you might just ‘miss out’, you know, stuff might happen, it might hurt your career…’ essay in a prominent publication where they were all sure to read it.    

They staged a virtual walkout. Rightly so.

She apologized. In her defense, the magazine has since rescinded many of the cutbacks and are hiring again (the freelancer budget has been decimated, but there ya go). But this sort of ‘on high’ thinking pervades the ‘lazy workers’ debate, the latest job numbers report is just bubbling it to the surface.

That very jobs report gives a good clue, or should to many business owners about a worker shortage. The report shows the gains made have been mostly among men. By the way of thinking being shown, women must not want to work! No, it’s the pandemic again. Kids not in schools must be cared for and the burden of the child care falls unfairly on women, of course. Which is why Biden considers childcare and eldercare part of infrastructure, because it is. Want people to work, give them child care and help them take care of their elderly. Obvious to anyone caring to look and think. But I digress.

What’s the solution?

Pay them. You want workers? Pay them. I don’t see how this is some mystery. If your business model relies on not paying your workers a wage they can actually live on, you don’t have a business, you have a government-subsidized plantation (because your workers will likely need food stamps and other government help. It’s the business model for Walmart). In an equitable society, this would not be tolerated.

Respect the people doing the work, not just with, say, a table of snacks or something, but respect the loss and fear this trial has infected us all with. I guess I’m saying here ‘empathize’. Shouldn’t be hard, most of us have been though this horrible year, but some of us have had different experiences with it. People are scared, people are angry and people want to be paid a fair wage, these are not mutually exclusive. Again, wages are supposed to be higher than unemployment and business should value their workers and not subject them to possible death to make a buck. That should not be too much to ask.

You want your workers back, ask why they might not want to come back and work from there. Listen to the questions you’re asking and the responses you’re getting. No one is responding to your ad? You’re wrong, silence is a response.

Pay more, treat workers better, improve the working conditions, share power and wealth with the people doing the actual work. No, that’s not ‘socialism’, it’s decency.

Remember we're all human beings, here for a short time. Don’t try to make others miserable.

Why Does He Want the Job?

Tried Trump, the end times of TrumpLand are coming…

Why does he want to be president?

Why?

He shows no real interest in the job. He has never really bothered to preform major parts of it unless it put him in a positive spotlight (‘positive’ is subjective here). He doesn’t even try to work with congress, passing Executive Orders of dubious legality instead of working to finding legislative solutions. The only thing he seems to like to do is keep bilking the American taxpayer for millions through the constant use of his own golf courses and hotels, and punishing the people around him with humiliation and firings.

He doesn’t care, unless it’s about him, and even then, he grows tired of having to actually do the job. Yet he clings onto it like a shipwrecked man clings to a battered board in the sea.

And we’re all paying; in blood, treasure, loved ones.

Trump is a fool intent on smashing things on his way at the door. Right now, he's the most dangerous man in America as he's furious, hates losing, blames everyone but himself, and has the full power of the presidency and government behind him. He's a man with the world’s biggest hammer, and we're all nails.

Wham.

If you are the least bit worried about this ramping up of the coronavirus levels In America (and you should be) then it will reassure you to know you are no alone. Most state governments (at least those with Democratic governors) are worried as well, and issuing lockdowns or mask orders to protect their populations.

But.

Where is the federal government?

Where is Trump? Where is Pence?

Is there anybody out there?

They’re AWOL. Buddy, you are on your own because they just don’t fucking care.

"The president has not attended a coronavirus task force meeting in 'at least 5 months"

Reported in the Washington Post. It’s not about him, it’s not important.

He's given up. Like I said, he doesn't care, he never cared. He lied, he denied, he downplayed, he mocked, he called it a hoax, he claimed it would 'go away', he pushed quack cures, he sidelined experts, he did everything he could to shove it off stage so he could win an election for a job he doesn't like doing. He just hates losing. He say he did everything he could...

...except trying to actually fight it. He never tried to rally the people, never tried to give straight information about the virus, never tried to really help the states or the frontline workers who put themselves in danger to help people.

To Trump, helping others means you're a 'sucker', a 'chump'.

If Donny doesn’t want to do the job, he should step aside, allow Biden access to what he need to safely take over, to finally deal with the virus that is again, engulfing us, burning through the country at rates higher that those previously seen. But, he won’t. He can’t. His fruitless lawsuits keep annoying the judges forced to hear them, the ‘window’ of opportunity narrows (held open only with lies) as votes are counted, or recounted, and states certified.

He lost, but he literally cannot admit it, it goes against every fiber of his being to say, “I lost.”

Trump’s cannot lose, ergo, Trump did not lose. Trump won. All those votes against him (and yes, many voted not so much for Biden as against Trump) must be false, because Trump cannot lose. Biden is the loser, Trump is the winner, thus it ever shall be.

Today, 253,000+ are dead, record numbers of infections, and he hasn't bothered to read a report or take a meeting in five months.

January 20th cannot come soon enough.

And for many, even some alive today, it will be too late.

If Only We Had a Leader, Not a Whiner

Pouty McPouterson, pouting.

“Oh, you libtards! You blame Trump for the pandemic!”

No. The pandemic is not his fault (not the fault of China either, but that’s another post), no, we blame him for his response to the pandemic.  The fact he wasn’t ready hasn’t helped much. I mean, firing the people responsible for dealing with a global pandemic, cutting funds and eliminating the programs that were set up to deal with a major health crisis didn’t help when one actually hit (as he was warned it might) all pretty damn stupid, and thoughtless.

Now, 165,000+ dead. Virus is burning though the country uncontrolled. Double digit unemployment, economy cratered and not coming back any time soon. Ugliness reigns.

No matter how you look it (unless you just want to lie about it), Trump has screwed this up, big time.

Simply no other way to look at it. He didn’t act fast enough; almost all of his actions have been reluctant, half-hearted, like a kid told to clean their room and after an hour they’ve picked up one sock. He ignored his own experts, he undermined their advice and when guidelines were actually put out, he immediately ignored them, recommending the opposite. Trump is so focused on his reelection that he just doesn’t care about anything, or anyone, else. And this is for a job he didn’t want in the first place….

He just doesn’t give a damn.

I was making this very argument on the Book of Face yesterday while deep in the enemy territory of a Trumper’s post, and I got one of those smarmy replies; ‘well, what would you do, it you were President? With the laws and powers available and not overstepping them.”

You see the trick here is that he would consider anything Trump did within the ‘law’ and anything done by a Democratic president to be far, far outside it (see Obama, Barack). I see this smug little game all the time, if we talk facts to Trump supporters we all see it. But, we’re in lockdown, I ain’t doin’ nutin’, so why not?

The First Week of the Tom Stewart Presidency,: (What I would do if I ran the zoo)

I would put out national guidelines based on science AND FOLLOW THEM. Weird, huh? I do this because Trump immediately undermined his own recommendations, and his doctors. He never took it seriously, at all. It was like he was trying to 'will' the pandemic away, hoping if he ignored it, it would all just ‘blow over’. My mom used to try this with the light bill. She was soon sitting in darkness.

I would have a national testing and tracing plan in place, relieving some of the burden on the states, and I would work with the affected states, making sure they had what they needed, you know, instead of pissing, moaning and complaining about them, as Trump did. Trumpy’s way really worked well for all involved, especially the 165,000+ dead.

I would also use my power to order more ventilators and PPE manufactured (Trump threatened this, but didn't do it, because of many, many reasons… I’m sure) and then I would ensure the equipment got where it was needed through FEMA and the CDC. This is instead of walking away and letting all 50 states fight it out like a pack of hungry dogs over a bone.

I would reach out to our allies, ask for assistance and offer ours in return. I would learn from them (look at S Korea and New Zealand, they could have told us a lot, if we had leadership prepared to listen). I would have used my national platform to inform the people, stepping back to let the doctors give real, unvarnished information, (not get up, lie about the efforts, undermine what they just said, push phony cures, whine about how mean people are to me, etc…)

…and I would talk about the lives lost. The people, the friends, family, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters lost to the awful pandemic, and offer my empathy and prayers to the ones left behind.

No finger pointing, no crying about the election, no name calling other countries, none of that bullshit. There’s no time for nonsense while people are suffering, and people are dying. I would try my best to be a leader. 

We don't any of that right now. In case you haven’t noticed.

Now I’m going to sort my comic book collection and pray for better times, better leaders, and better hope than the tattered one I have left in my broken heart.