Month: March 2020

Posted on

Okay I may have pissed a friend off

I think my friend wanted or needed compassion and reassurance. I failed him utterly, and I feel bad about that.

We were having a text conversation about Trump and Covid-19.

He was, I think upset about allegations that Trump is withholding resources from States whose Governors hadn’t kissed the ring.

While that might be true and I have no reason to doubt it, and said so, given Trump…

I was perhaps too cold and calculating, Maybe he needed someone to say it’s gonna be okay.

I probably misread the situation…

For me this Covid-19 thing was blatantly obvious back in January.

Look at the data: China closes an industrial center, but doesn’t stop air travel or domestic travel. Travelers from Wuhan arrive in multiple countries either as carriers or not yet sick. Airports are contaminated and a viral outbreak begins.

The logic is this. Once the first carrier arrived in the US, we were going to see deaths. I jumped past all the fear, confusion, mis-information, and panic to Triage mode.

In a coldly logical manner I accepted that deaths were going to be high, (making the assumption that China was not entirely truthful, otherwise why close a major industrial center?) and that the entire world would be affected. From that perspective – I’ve accepted that we were probably unprepared, and that resources would be limited.

Those resources would therefore logically be allocated based on need (raw numbers of infected and dead), not want. I accepted that we would not be able to create what we didn’t already have in less than a couple of months and that our production ability would be hampered by the disease taking it’s toll in a global environment.

A vaccine would be at least a year out if not more.

Politicians or governments wouldn’t be able to do anything but shit themselves, while waving their hands so that they looked like they were doing something in the eyes of a largely ignorant populace.

Their efforts would be to maintain political power. If they survive, their hope is to come out on the other side looking like effective leaders so they can keep their power.

To me, this is all completely logical. It’s the way things work in our world. I neither condone or condemn it. I simply accept that it is a fact.

It’s like water is wet, fire is hot, wind blows, the ground is hard, and Scientists are usually ignored until shit hits the fan.

I call it realism. But perhaps it’s a sign of something darker that I’ve been all my life.

Does this make me a bad person? Does this make me broken?

Posted on

Really Pelosi???

90.jpegYou’re going to go with “As the president fiddles people are dying.“

Really Madam?

Was it not you, that delayed the stimulus bill with your own bullshit pork?

Was it not you and your party, creating distractions with bullshit impeachment proceedings at exactly the time that the virus first appeared in Wuhan? You & your party created distraction for the President and the American people, when the focus of the President and his staff should have been more global, instead of concerned with defending himself?

Was it not your supporters, that criticized Trump’s restriction of flights from China, as racist and xenophobic?

You say or imply that the President downplayed the severity of the virus. Yep, he probably did. Given that Toilet paper and bottled water disappeared from California store shelves in 24 hours. That may have been a wise move. Given that gun sales skyrocketed in the days after the President started talking about emergency procedures, perhaps downplaying the severity publicly, wasn’t a bad idea. 

The last thing you want is full blown panic of the populace even as you’re working to move emergency materials to places they’ll be needed, while trying to educate the medical personnel about the virus and what is known.

Anyone with a lick of sense knows… Once the virus hit our major airports & population centers, it was over!

A full hazmat quarantine of every person returning to the country in December, might have stopped the spread here. However, that would require complete control of our borders, which you oppose. 

The President wandering the halls of the Whitehouse wringing his hands weeping, or making impotent decrees will not stop the virus. The only option at this point is to mitigate the effects. 

Yes, we as a country should have been better prepared. That would require a little thing called cooperation between the Democrats and Republicans, something you personally have done nothing to engender.

If anything you’ve personally fomented one of the worst schisms in our political process in at least a century.

By the way, that preparation would have been something that should have started during the Obama administration or before. Yes! Remember the previous administration, the one you were such an integral part of?

Where was your concern then?

Regarding mitigation of the effects…

Accept the harsh reality of people dying. There’s little that can be done to stop it now. People will die. Bitching about what was, or what should have been, is pointless.

Our only path forward is listening to and supporting the Scientists and Doctors while they try to map a path forward. They’re as much behind the 8 ball as the rest of us. This virus is new and they are working very hard to figure it out as they go along.

At this point, we’d be better off turning our entire response over to the Doctors & Scientists and then without question, doing what they suggest.

Just to be clear, I think the President should put the professionals front and center in the briefings. He should be introducing the Doctors and Scientists and stepping to the side to let them do the talking. The president is not a Scientist and has a tendency to get the science wrong. 

Science should not be political. Science should be nothing but truth.

When MIT can produce a ventilator that costs $100. When American companies can retool and start producing necessary supplies… That should say something to even someone who hates the President as completely as you do. Our nation isn’t politics, it’s people.

The message you should be getting is that we’re a very resilient and creative nation.

If you want to show leadership, you should be encouraging our inherent creativity & resilience and making every effort to grease the wheels removing regulatory obstacles so that goods get where they’re needed as quickly as possible.

But you’re not a leader. You’re a partisan politician whose been in office far too long. 

I look forward to you losing re-election. 

I genuinely hope you survive this pandemic and live a long life.

I want you to experience the pain of seeing all your cherished “work” dismantled.

Retire to your walled, guarded, mansion. Maintain your isolation from the people you were supposed to represent. Enjoy frothing at the mouth as you watch the daily news seeing our nation adapt, succeed, and survive.

You see, unlike you, I have faith in the exceptionalism of my Nation. I still have faith that my Nation and our People are amazing in our ability to innovate, create, and rise to any challenge.

Your efforts to thwart the American People not withstanding.

Posted on

It’s the end of the world as we know it…

R E M It s the End of the World as We Know It And I Feel Fine United StatesThat old R.E.M. song has been running through my head for days now.

I do feel fine. 

Since I was traveling I’ve been self quarantined since I got back. I’m supposed to be clear on April 2. Not that it matters given the rest of the country is locked down. 

My natural avoidance of crowds and having few friends does make the lockdown and quarantine perhaps a little easier on me personally. 

I do find myself wanting to go drive and enjoy the open freeways. I’ve got a growing case of cabin fever. The cabin fever has been cooled due to the weather. It’s been cold, gray, and intermittently snowy. None of which make me want to be outside even for much of a walk.

Once the sun comes out and the temps rise though… I’m probably going to lose my mind.

The Government passed a stimulus bill. Great! That’ll add one more month to my ability to pay my bills. It’s unclear if I’ll be able to restart unemployment and my job future is even more unclear. I am a bit annoyed at our government for approving more H1B1 visas. Corporations will choose the lowest (apparent) cost option, and that will make the job market even tighter.

While the uncertainty does drag at me, I have to say that generally speaking I’m okay. I have no idea what the world will be like after this passes. Will we have a new reality, or will we complacently go back to life as usual, pre-pandemic?

Will companies having proven that they can work remotely go back to the old “Manager Lording over the underlings” way of doing things, or will they wake up to the concept that it is cheaper and more efficient to have people working from home?

Change is hard. I’m betting they’ll have everyone back in the Petrie dish cubicle farms quicker than lightening. Otherwise, how will a manager know they’re important? Is a manager really a manager if the workers aren’t cowering their cubicles? 

Will the dating / sex apps continue? Or will people be a little more circumspect about who they’re hopping in the sack with?  I believe that once the quarantine is lifted there will be a significant uptick in people getting together but that after the initial thrill, folks may just be over it.

On one of the dating apps, I just blocked someone entirely. Their only communication has been two words “Fuck Me” and this person has sent that message daily or multiple times daily for the past 4 days.

Uh… You’re not my type, we’ve never communicated before, you’re not paying attention to my profile which clearly lists my likes and dislikes. That list includes the fact that I need more in an initial contact than “Hi” or “Hey”. I specifically say that you’ll need to complete a sentence demonstrating that you have a brain.

“Fuck Me,” while qualifying as a sentence, is insufficient to garner my attention unless You happen to be someone that I know. In that case… I’ll be right over!

Clearly, this person is wanting something beyond my sexual prowess. My suspicion is that they’re wanting to trade sex for something. Probably money, and it’s likely they have no intention of providing the stated service, but will ask for money to drive, get a hotel, or buy something plausibly necessary, then they’ll be unable to make the tryst.  They’ll find some sucker, but it’s not gonna be me.

It could simply be boredom on their part and that’s the only way they know to start a conversation. That being said, if that’s all they’ve got, well it would be a very short conversation.

I know that after the quarantine is lifted, I’m going to be spending time in the sheets with a few “special” friends. I’m really looking forward to it.

Back to the job search and cleaning another room in the house.  I think I’ll start boxing clothing that is worn out for disposal, or stuff that I no longer wear for donation to those in need.

Over the years a lot of stuff has accumulated that isn’t needed anymore, if it ever was in the first place.

IMG_0038.jpegIt sounds strange to say, but I miss the clarity and uncluttered life that I had just after the house fire that totaled most everything I owned.

After the fire, I had a clean start and I remember thinking that I’d like to keep things as simple as possible. But, we’re all collectors of things, aren’t we?

It sounds harsh to say, but perhaps this pandemic is nature doing some spring cleaning. 

On the other side of it, maybe we’ll be changed for the better and have a clarity about what is, and is not important.

I noticed that grocery stores are once again allowing plastic bags. Can straws be far behind? I’ve always questioned if banning plastic bags and straws was really that important. Plastic grocery bags were used in my bathroom as trash can liners. Now I have to buy trashcan liners. Did a plastic bag ban really accomplish anything, or did it just move the problem around?

Now that almost all of our interpersonal communication is digital; will we appreciate physically being around other people and regain lost social customs like courtesy and politeness in public? Not because those things are culturally important, but because we’ll enjoy having other people around?

Will we demand a higher standard of service from our elected officials and eschew the pettiness of divisive politicians, parties, or causes?

Having seen our weakness, due to globalization, in health care, and in disaster planning, laid bare, will we constructively correct our deficiencies?

Perhaps… Perhaps not. 

Change is hard. Humans are harder headed than any other animal. Maybe brutally indiscriminate hammering by a natural force is necessary to wake us up so that we re-evaluate what is really important.

Hint: It isn’t stuff, regulations, or odious laws. It’s family, true friends, personal responsibility, & community.

I could be wrong, I could also be gone tomorrow.

These are just some of the random things that have been running through my head over the past couple of weeks.

This post lived up to the Blog’s tag line. “Random Ideas, Comments & Thoughts, Sometimes Political, Sometimes Adult… Hope you don’t choke.“

Live well. Love well. Be good to each other.