"Just Shot Me"

Now that the end of the Pandemic seems to be in sight, we are all jostling in line to get The Shot (aka COVID-19 Vaccine).

I see celebrities and government officials doing photo-ops of them getting The Shot.  They rationalize being among the first because of their status as opinion-leaders, or "essential workers" but I am skeptical that seeing Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnel getting a shot is persuading any VAX skeptic to offer their arm to allow  alien sperm to be injected.  Nor do I consider either of them to be "essential" since they have accomplished nothing to ensure that the citizens are safe or well-fed. 

It seems to me that the way to stop the pandemic is to offer the vaccine to people who have the most human interactions.  First Priority should be the nurses and doctors who are personally involved with caring for sick patients.  Then other hospital and group facility staff that directly work with residents (and inmates)  and those who have customer facing positions like cashiers, cooks, servers, barbers, letter carriers, tradespeople like plumbers, repair technicians and electricians who need enter residences to do their jobs, people who work at counters, anyone who has hands-on food preparation or delivery. Also Classroom Teachers doing in person classes.  Then anyone in residential homes setting, including visitors.

If folks at these transmission points can be immunized as a priority.  The spread should be easier to stop. Then I would consider offering the vaccine to "essential workers." Active military, cops, firemen, persons who  need to show-up to keep the wheels of society running.  (This excludes most government workers, especially elected representatives.)

After these folks, then the general public should be next in line according to risk factors such as age, ethnicity, economic status, location, compromising health conditions.   This will be tricky.  I think there should be an outreach to "at risk" communities where infection spread is more of a problem.   Although I would be glad to get The Shot because I am over 75 with high BP  and fat (and therefore at higher risk from Covid complications), I think I would rather see a healthy 50 year old who needs to take public transportation to get to work get immunized before me.    

In other words the risk factor should not be solely based on who is most likely to die, but who is most likely to get and spread the disease.  Since I live in a suburb where there are fewer cases, since I stay home except for food and supplies, and I wash my hands, stay masked and distanced when out.  I am less of a spread risk than someone who is in constant close interaction with other folks.

All this intellectualizing is mere virtue signaling,  of course.  My survival instinct hopes that I am called tomorrow and told I am on "the list".  You can be assured:  I will show-up for my shot.

AFTERTHOUGHT: 

When they give you the second Covid shot you should get a card that certifies that you have had vaccine.  Restaurants and other businesses could then post signs saying "Only those who have had vaccine are welcome inside."  New job title for bouncers:  Virus checker.

Mythomania and Idiocracy

Mythomania is a term to describe an abnormal or pathological tendency to exaggerate or tell lies. 

We immediately imagine Donald Trump's picture next to this word in the dictionary, but while he may be the poster boy for this pathology, many of his supporters display the same character flaw.

The November Presidential election provides a good example of how this inability to accept disagreeable facts is manifested.

In Trump's mind, he is a winner.  He never loses, even when he loses.  Forget all those failed businesses (casinos, airline, university, et al.).  They were part of the winning.   He is incapable of admitting to being wrong. He will never apologize for anything.  Why should he?  

Sensible persons recognize that all humans are subject to error (even your humble blogger), and that occasionally, we need to admit our mistakes.  Generally, we subscribe to Swift's famous observation - "To err is human..." - and we can realistically forgive ourselves for an occasional error.

But what if a person cannot admit error?  What psychosis allows them to be blind to unpleasant facts?  I guess it is the same chemical imbalance that convinces the resident of the loony bin to maintain that he is Napoleon.  Logic cannot fix crazy.

 Trump followers are likewise convinced, so much so that they would support overturning  the results (tossing out the legitimate votes) based on an unsubstantiated belief that the evil Democrats have committed  massive fraud.  That is not Democracy, folks.  It's Idiocracy.

Apprentice Oyster Shucker

Not everyone has appreciation for raw oysters on the half shell. Personally, I avoid almost all forms of raw seafood. I come from the Larry Bird school of sushi philosophy -- "Back in Salt Lick, we call it bait." But, somewhere along the way, my wife and I were introduced to the delight of fresh raw oysters and became ardent fans of this lovely bivalve, served on a bed of crushed ice, with lemon wedges --often with cocktail sauce and horseradish. I recall one time when we were being served at a restaurant, the waitress asked, "Can I grab you some hot sauce?" I responded, "Why would anyone want to sully the taste of oysters with hot sauce?" She nodded her agreement, "Maybe someone who doesn't like oysters?" Why anyone who would pay the going rate of around $3 per, would drown the delicate flavor of an oyster with such an odious addition remains an eternal mystery. These days, I have eschewed any condiment beyond a few drops of fresh squeezed lemon juice. Ideally, this dish is accompanied by a dry* Tanqueray martini served straight-up with 3 giant queen olives. My wife prefers a fine** Sauvignon Blanc.

Before the pandemic, like a lot of you, we would go out to eat-in restaurants at least once a week. I won't claim that it was always fine dining, but on occasion, we would splurge for some place like Legal Seafoods, a pricy but excellent restaurant chain in our area. Several years ago, Legal had a wonderful promotion that they called "Six for six before six." Meaning that between four and six PM, you could get a tray of 6 oysters for $6. That promotion went on for a long time and we took advantage of it. We were gravely disappointed when they dropped that promotion. So we started our never-ending search for cheap oysters.

We started going to the Dolphin on Sundays where they offered oysters for $1 each which we call "Buck a shuck.". The normal price for these suckers is about $3 each which is a lot for a little glob of marine protoplasm.

All that changed with the pandemic. Fearful of even al fresco dining, we had gone oysterless for 8+ months.
My friend Rich came by a week ago, bringing with him a half a dozen fresh oysters which he had just received by courier from Damariscotta, Maine. He shucked them for us (in the backyard of course) and we were presented with a delight that we had not known since perhaps last March or even February. It was a wondrous treat, washed down with a cold Sierra Nevada. Heaven, I tell you.

Now, we are obsessed with the prospect of getting our own fresh oysters and having them at home.

Today, I am announcing that I have decided to become an apprentice oyster shucker. I have ordered an oyster knife and a protective glove online from Amazon, and have watched several YouTube videos showing how to shuck an oyster. Thus, I feel armed to venture forth into the world to actually buy oysters that someone else has not shucked. 

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Feetnotes
When I was stationed in Wyoming some of the bars had a jar full of something called "mountain oysters". When I inquired about them I was informed that they were pickled sheep's testicles. That was a delicacy that I eschewed and got polish sausages instead.

*By "dry" I mean that the bartender pours a small amount of white vermouth into the martini glass, swishes it around to coat the glass and then pours out the vermouth before adding the gin.)
**By "fine" I mean expensive. By "expensive" I use the term when one glass costs the same as whole bottle of everyday Sauv Blanc. At Legal Seafoods this is usually the Cloudy Bay @ $14 a pop.

A Disquieting Reluctance to Do The Right Thing

 

I find it disquieting that, according to some polls, most of the voters who cast a ballot for Trump still believe that the election was "rigged."   This, despite the failure of Trump team to produce a single case where there was proven intent to change the actual count of ballots.

No foreign ballot harvesting, no rigged election machinery, no illegal marking of ballots.  No argument presented in court of anything but vague allegations. Claims of hundreds of affidavits, but not one presented to the Court for scrutiny and investigation. Nada. Zilch.

What is appalling is the silence of the Republican leadership.  Instead of disavowing these specious claims, or at least, calling for the immediate proof,  members of congress, governors and leading conservative pundits remain mute.  "Let the process unfold," they say.  What process?   Do they think they can get a case or two bumped up to be ruled in their favor by having the stacked SCOTUS conservative majority help them steal the election?  I don't think this will work.  I apparently have more faith in the Supreme Court to uphold the law and the constitution, and do the right thing.

"Stop the Steal" is more appropriately applied to Trump and his followers.  They are so invested in their ideology that they would prefer to invalidate the legally cast votes for Biden than to stick-up for the democratic process.  

It is clear that most Trump supporters are both underinformed and gullible.   They are willing to sacrifice democracy to autocracy.  It is un-American and deplorable. 

Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt...

"I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, with no proof, this election was rigged."  Brent Terhune

@Brent Terhune has produced numerous videos as a mock Pro-Trump redneck on Twitter and Facebook.  He has a genius for capturing the oxymoronic stances of the under-informed citizen.

Re: Columbus Day vs Indigenous Peoples Day.   "My ancestors stole this land fair and square."

These videos are far more entertaining and informative than watching the talking heads on cable news.  But they also inform us, quasi-authentically, that some of our Fellow Americans are misguided, obstinately proud of their ignorance, and in the end, they will never accept the outcome of the recent election.

They say, "Let's check out all the allegations of fraud," even those that are fictitious.  Because they would cheat to win if they could get away with it, they cannot believe that the opposition did not engage in conspiracy.   The few actual errors did not amount to fraud.  They certainly would not affect the outcome.

Let us hope that those who falsely signed sworn affidavits alleging illegal voting activities are prosecuted, and anyone who tried to interfere with counting of legal votes is prosecuted harshly, as a lesson for the future.  

As to the disappointed Trump Kool-Aid drinkers,  I repeat: in the end, they will never accept the outcome of the election.

  

Click on the Ad, I need revenue

 

It's not too early to plan for the future

I don't Wanna Go

 Trump wants to stay.

No doubt, he had the same feelings about going into the military.

And The Loser is...

 

I'm writing this on the morning after election day 2020.  At the moment the electoral totals are close for both Biden and Trump, but no one knows how it will end up.  The pundits are leaning toward Biden as the mail-in ballots are still being counted in several swing states.  

However it eventually turns out, I have been proven wrong in my prediction for a landslide victory for Biden.  My calculus was that Biden would pick-up millions of "Bernie Bros." who reportedly sat out the 2016 election because they felt Hillary and the DNC had conspired to keep him from winning the nomination. Moreover, I was counting on a major shift in Trump voters who I assumed would  have been alienated by his unpresidential antics and lies.  I counted on former military supporters to become disillusioned by his lack of respect for military leaders, and that his denigration of captured and dead heroes would have made them vote against him.   I thought that decency and integrity were more important than "standing up" to foreign powers.

I was wrong.

The mere fact that the counts are so close is a shock to me.  It tells me that I am out of touch with reality.   To quiet my mind, I had come to view the past 4 years as an anomaly, something we would someday look back and laugh the way we do about mistakes we made in our youth.   Certainly the electorate would come to its senses in the light of Trump's edging toward autocracy,  embarrassing ignorance of science and diplomacy, his narcissistic obsession to make everything about him, the bombastic and unsupported accusations of fraud and embracing of conspiracy groups.   But I was wrong.

Trying to assess why more people couldn't support Biden, I am flummoxed.    

AFTERWORD:  11/5/2020   In a Globe article  titled "A Liberal Dream meets the crushing reality of America"  the authors attempt to provide an answer to the shared surprise of many liberal/progressive Americans who thought that the electorate would be more decisively anti-Trump.   The biases of both camps created starkly different perceptions.  "It is as if the  two sides were watching different movies." 

VP Debate -- Who Won?

For 90 minutes last night Kamala Harris and Mike Pence did a stunning job of NOT answering the thoughtful questions posed by the moderator, USA journalist Susan Page.   Clearly, both candidates had been coached intensely and they were well prepared with the points they wanted to make.  

That Pence is adept at ducking questions was not surprising , but I expected more from Kamala - who was impressively on-point at the nominating debates.   

I only lasted 20 minutes before I had to leave the room, frustrated with  both candidates for boringly reiterating well worn accusations and talking points.    When asked what discussions she had had with Biden about succession, Harris gave us an autobiographical review --proudly noting  that she was the first woman of color to accomplish her accomplishments. (Ho-hum).  The most interesting thing about Pence apparently was a fly that was trying to lay eggs on his head.  (I did not see that live, because I was already playing Words With Friends on the computer with other bored escapees.)

I'm pretty sure nobody changed their minds, same as the Presidential debate  shouting match.  So the winner of the debate  IMHO was probably Pence, because I predicted that she would eat his lunch.  In the end he still had his baloney sandwich intact. If you are a progressive you probably thought Kamala won because she repeated all the stuff you wanted to hear.

It really doesn't matter, anyhow, since I have already voted, and dropped off the ballots at the Town Hall collection box.  You?

 

#ByDon

If Donald Got Fired

 

"Maybe I'm Immune, who knows?"

Humor is not gone.

Quo Vadimus?

The other day I had a discussion with an old High School classmate, who supports Trump's re-election. He dreads the thought of another liberal democrat in the White House.  He frames the contest as a fundamental choice between socialism (Biden-Harris) and capitalism (Trump and the other guy.)

 I said that it is more likely that we are heading towards Autocracy rather than Capitalism if Trump gets re-elected. He shows all the signs of a budding dictator:

• Raising the specter that he might not consider the election as legitimate (if he loses),
• rallying his followers to vague action, 
• making up stuff about ballots tossed in rivers  
• stoking fear that cities will burn if Biden is elected.  
• Repeating Nationalist propaganda pretending to be patriotism.
• Blaming immigrants and foreign powers for all ills. 
• Dumbing down the message to the least educated and most impressionable segment of society.
• Discrediting the Press if they print any criticism.  
• Being cozy with Hate groups.  
• Purging from the government positions anyone who might provide real  oversight and transparency.  
• Spreading misinformation and lies.  

When  Joe Biden gets elected president, the economy will be as strong as ever.  Kamala is not  AOC.  Joe is not Bernie.  I would agree that  there is a trope towards social democracy similar to some countries in western Europe. but that's not the end of the world as far as I'm concerned.  Universal health care is not an evil goal.  Affordable education seems like a good idea.   There is no plan to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400K per year.    Canada has universal health care and free college tuition.  They seem to have a thriving economy.

When people like Trump and Jeff Bezos,  and big profitable corporations can get away not paying any taxes there's something wrong with unrestrained Capitalism.   We are  already dangerously close to being an Oligarchy -- with the real strings of power being pulled by obscenely rich patrons of politicians.  

I prefer to think that America can help people who are less fortunate and without compromising anyone's ability to become financially successful, and I believe that will continue.  I don't know of any  popular push to totally eliminate wealth.  Moderate Liberals just want to have the wealthy pay more than they do now.   Don't forget,  they used to have a very high tax on wealth during the Go-Go years of the fifties, sixties and seventies and  this high earner tax rate in 1980 was 70% .  Those higher rates  didn't eliminate wealth and I don't think it will in the future. 

So the election is not about Capitalism vs Socialism; rather it is about Democracy vs Autocracy.

A Few Thoughts on Election Integrity

 Having worked at the polls as a sworn Inspector for the past 15 or so years, I can attest to the fact that everyone I've worked with at the polls takes election integrity very seriously.   We are committed to a fair process that allows every registered voter to have their vote counted.  

Recently, a certain president has made an effort to discredit elections that he might not win. (Don't forget in 2016, he lost several GOP state primary contests and immediately labeled them "rigged." )  

While I'm aware of historical efforts to "buy" election, and rare cases of ballot tampering, elections in this country and this state (Mass.) are reliably managed  by individuals who take the vow of neutrality seriously. 

The effort to discredit mail-in voting has been ramping-up.  The first issue is the registered voter database.  Critics have cited cases where the rolls still contain thousands of names of people who have died or moved away.  They say these are possible means of voter fraud.  They worry that someone could send mail-in ballots for these dead and gone people.  Except that's not what happens in real life.  Some states actually compare signatures on mailed-in ballots against registration signatures. Most of the horror stories that are shared on social media involve some conspiracy theory, easily believed by gullible partisans.  Very few actual cases have been proven. 

The penalties for tampering in an election are severe.  This dissuades most potential tamperer. 

I believe Trump has been tampering with the election process since he was nominated and even more so since he was inaugurated.   I will not be surprised when, after being soundly defeated in the coming the November election, Trump and some of his appointees are indicted for election tampering.    This time he will not have a claque of enabling senators to save him. 

Secret ballot.  Some have raised the question of mail-in ballots not being secret.  Again, in my experience poll workers are sworn to maintain secrecy.  Typically, absentee ballots were aggregated as received, and not opened until voting day, when the Warden would feed the ballots into the voting machine, only examining a ballot if there was a malfunction (e.g. mis-marking of the ballot, causing it to be rejected).  Sometimes a voter will have their ballot rejected by the machine.  The Warden will always ask for permission to look at the ballot to determine the problem.  If the voter says "No," the problem ballot is destroyed and a new blank ballot is issued.  I am not sure how they do this in places where there is not a paper ballot.

Provisional ballots.  These are ballots that are given to people who show-up to vote but are not on the rolls.  At the discretion of the Warden, a ballot may be issued but is not tabulated until the claim of the voter can be reviewed/cross checked.  (In practice, there are only  handful of provisional ballots and are counted only if they could affect the outcome, say, in a recount situation)

Ballot Harvesting.  I think this is a recent concern stemming from the recent changes to allow large numbers of mail-in (versus "absentee") ballots.  Ballot Harvesting is when a third party (other than a relative or postal worker) collects ballots to deliver to a polling place.  Massachusetts does not address the legality of this practice, but it does seem open to possible abuse, and I would support making ballot collecting or harvesting illegal. 

Due to the pandemic, I will  not be working the in-person polls this November, but I feel confident that the results will not be "rigged."

Pop Quiz

"Thin-skinned, self-obsessed, small-minded, intellectually lazy, and ill-disciplined" Who is the first person to pop into your head?

Plague Notes June 2020

 

During normal times, a few of us regulars would routinely gather our favorite Irish pub on Monday afternoons.  We would sit elbow-to-elbow at the bar to trade stories or chat about world events while quaffing a few pints.   Someone got the bright idea to call it "Book Club." 

Instead of telling our wives "I'm going to have a few beers with the guys," and getting The Look, we would say. "Off to Book Club." Now, who could scowl at such a noble endeavor?  Ironically, we are all active book readers, so in fact, the conversation often does turn to books that we've recently read.  No in-depth analysis of themes or symbolism; just a few words to describe how we liked it.  Thumbs up or thumbs down -- end of discussion.  Back to the news.

This is one of the routines I have missed most during the lockdown.  So we have decided to convene Book Club in the safety of my back yard, weather permitting.  This is our new normal:  Bring your favorite drink and sit at a safe social distance.   Sorry, I don’t provide chicken wings. The rest room is over there -- behind the shed.

new Uncle Dinny

Solitary - another experiment

A few thoughts about Conservatives vs Progressives

Conservatives vs Progressives

CONS: 

Penchant for name calling.

Likes simple explanations.

Easily swayed by lies & right wing memes.

Mis-informed and doesn't care, devoid of empathy for others.

Afraid of camels noses and slippery slopes

Watches Fox for information and MSNBC to find out what the evil left is thinking.

Believes abortion is murder when strangers do it.

Thinks of the 2nd amendment as a gun permit

Never sacrificed anyone or anything.  Wants others to fight for American eminence.

Justifies cheating because "everyone is cheating"

Refuses to believe in "Global warming"

PROGS:

Respects other views, except Conservatives who are evil.

Able to see complex causes for current crises, questions absolutes.

Is skeptical about biased sources, but believes NYT

Often the smartest person in the room. Empathetic but intolerant of idiots who disagree.

Likes skiing and camel riding

Watches you tube reruns of Daily Show and SNL

Values the sanctity of all sentient life. Believes life starts with a breath.

Wants to limit access to people-killing devices by nutjobs.

Served in Military when country needed him. Hates war.

Believes that all cheating is wrong, feels guilty about underpayment of taxes.

Doesn't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowin'