Category Archives: Rants

Filosofa Is Grumpy …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Environmental Issues, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary, voting rights

Apologies in advance … I am in rant mode today!

Of all the men (and a few women, but mostly all men) who occupy seats in Congress and call themselves “Republicans”, there is not one who possesses a conscience.  Not a single one.  Oh sure, a few actually stood up to the former guy last year, but even they have now reverted to form and are toeing the party line … whatever the party line is.  And so, I have this to say to every Republican who has an office in the Capitol …

WAKE THE HELL UP!!!  WE THE PEOPLE PUT YOU IN OFFICE AND WE CAN DAMNED WELL TAKE YOU OUT!  IF YOU TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHT TO VOTE, WE WILL FIND A WAY TO TAKE AWAY YOUR CUSHY JOB, YOUR OFFICE, YOUR FREE TRANSPORTATION, AND HOPE YOU END UP WORKING IN A FACTORY FOR THAT MINIMUM WAGE THAT YOU HAVE REPEATEDLY SAID SHOULDN’T BE RAISED!!!  AND THAT GOES FOR YOU, JOE MANCHIN AND KYRSTEN SINEMA, AS WELL!!!

Whew!  Sorry, folks, but I just had to get that one off my chest.  We the People were guaranteed the right to participate in our government, to have a voice about who represents us, centuries ago and now, all of a sudden, the entire Republican Party is working diligently to steal that right from us.  I, for one, will not sit quietly by watching the demolition of our rights in this nation without raising my voice and maybe a fist or two!

If you live in Orange County, Florida, be advised that your local health department wants you to die.  Yes, you heard me right.  The Orange County Health Department has placed its Director, Dr. Raul Pino, on administrative leave.  Why?  Because he is in favour of people being vaccinated in an effort to eventually end this horrible pandemic that has ruled our lives for the past two years!!!  After finding that out of the 568 active staff at the department, only 77 had received a COVID-19 booster, 219 had two doses of the vaccine and 34 had only one dose, Dr. Pino wrote in an email …

“I have a hard time understanding how we can be in public health and not practice it.  I am sorry but in the absence of reasonable and real reasons it is irresponsible not to be vaccinated. We have been at this for two years, we were the first to give vaccines to the masses, we have done more than 300,000 and we are not even at 50% pathetic.”

And for this, he was suspended from his position.  According to a statement issued by the Orange County Department of Health …

“As the decision to get vaccinated is a personal medical choice that should be made free from coercion and mandates from employers, the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Health is conducting an inquiry to determine if any laws were broken in this case.

The Department is committed to upholding all laws, including the ban on vaccine mandates for government employees and will take appropriate action once additional information is known.”

The ‘Department’ would better serve the people by demanding every one of their staff be fully vaccinated and encouraging the vaccine, rather than punishing people for promoting it!

And speaking of Florida …

According to the Associated Press …

“A bill pushed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that would prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel “discomfort” when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation’s past received its first approval Tuesday.”

BULL***T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Maybe, just maybe it’s about damn time that ‘white people’ start to feel a bit of discomfort for how Black people have been treated throughout the history of this nation and are still treated today!  Maybe if they feel a bit ‘uncomfortable’, they will take a stand and be a part of the movement to end racism in the U.S.  Any ‘white’ person who believes that they are somehow ‘superior’ to others based solely on skin colour deserves to be made to feel uncomfortable, deserves the feelings of guilt that they and their ancestors have earned.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …

@#$%&

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

The United States Supreme Court is no longer interested in We the People and our well-being, but instead have an ‘agenda’ that has NOTHING to do with you or me or John Doe down the street!  Yesterday, the so-called ‘Supreme’ Court struck down a vaccine mandate that would have required employees of companies with more than 100 employees to either be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.  IT’S A NO-BRAINER!!!  Every person who deals with the public in any form or fashion should be required to be vaccinated!!!  With this decision, the Court basically said that We the People do not matter, that our lives are without value.  🤬

We should all file a class action suit against the Supreme Court claiming that our rights to live in peace without fear from our neighbor’s breath have been violated!  It isn’t bad enough that some 65 million people in this nation are too selfish and too stupid to do the right thing and get the vaccine.  It isn’t bad enough that if everyone had been vaccinated at the earliest possible date, this nation would now be Covid-free, but instead we are experiencing on average 2,000 deaths from Covid per day!  2,000 human lives that could have been saved if only people hadn’t been such damn fools.  And now, the United States Supreme Court has given these fools carte blanche to continue killing us all!  Many thanks to Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Barrett, and to Chief Justice John Roberts for showing us just how little our lives are valued.

On the other hand, three other Justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomeyer, and Stephen Breyer issued a scathing and appropriate dissent …

“When we are wise, we know not to displace the judgments of experts, acting within the sphere Congress marked out and under Presidential control, to deal with emergency conditions. Today, we are not wise. In the face of a still-raging pandemic, this Court tells the agency charged with protecting worker safety that it may not do so in all the workplaces needed. As disease and death continue to mount, this Court tells the agency that it cannot respond in the most effective way possible.”

I have officially now lost all faith in the branch of our government that was originally intended to be non-partisan and fair.  I think it doubtful that another fair ruling will ever come out of this body, at least until there is a significant turnover of Justices, perhaps in 50 years or so.

Already In 2022 … Guns And Death

Posted on by under guns, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

As I write this post, it is just after 10:00 p.m. on January 1st 2022 in the U.S. and already 99 people have lost their lives to gun violence in the first 22 hours of the new year.  One of my New Year’s hopes I wrote about in a previous post was that reasonable gun laws would be enacted by Congress before the end of the year.  Had I taken a moment to write to members of Congress after seeing today’s statistics, my letter would have started with …

Hey, you STUPID Jackass, take your head out of your arse and do something right just for once!!!

But, as our friend Keith reminds me from time to time, that isn’t the right approach. It is certainly the one I felt at that moment in time, though.  There is something wrong with a nation, a society, whose citizens demand to be allowed to kill people, and that is exactly what the gun nuts in this country are doing.  Guns are intended to kill.  Period.  The only reason any fool wants to own a gun is to kill, whether they wish to kill fellow humans or animals.  And they will fight for the right to own an arsenal so that they can kill lots of people, before they will fight for the right for their children to get a good education or be able to live healthy lives.  Their guns mean more than their children, spouses, co-workers, neighbors, or dogs.

When I mention ‘reasonable gun legislation’, it is because I know that the sort of gun laws I would really like to see will never pass muster in this nation.  So, by ‘reasonable’, I am willing to compromise and settle for serious background checks on ALL gun purchases, disallowing anybody with a history of violence from owning a gun, and a cessation of conceal carry laws.  You want to carry a gun into Wal-Mart?  Fine, but make sure it can be seen by us all so we can exit and do our shopping elsewhere.  You’ll have most of the store to yourself … just you and your gun.

Last year, there were 42 school shootings in this country.  FORTY-TWO!!!  Thousands of children’s lives were in danger as they attempted to get an education!  Only in the good ol’ US of A.

In 2021, 44,768 people died as a result of gun violence.  Granted, Covid took more lives in the same time frame, and that is also the fault of the people in this nation who refuse to take precautions, but it is a story for another day.  Also, in 2021 there were 693 mass shootings, 310 children killed, 746 injured, 1,223 teens killed and 3,368 injured!  And yet, people just roll their eyes, shrug their shoulders, and go back to watching their televisions or grilling steaks on the backyard barbeque!

Every single year the number of mass shootings, the number of children and teens killed by guns, increases over the prior year.  EVERY YEAR!  No other nation on earth has such an abysmal record!

Last month in Oxford, Michigan, a father purchased a gun for his 15-year-old son.  The next day, the son, Ethan Crumbley, took the gun to school where, with malice aforethought, he shot and killed four of his classmates and injured seven others.  He is being charged as an adult and will likely spend most of the rest of his life behind bars … as should his parents.  The parents are cowards who ran and hid, leaving their son to shoulder the blame by himself.  What parent in his/her right mind puts a killing machine in the hands of a teen???  A gun nut, that’s who.

No other country turns a blind eye, permits almost anybody to own a gun, as the U.S.  In essence, this nation tells people that it’s okay to kill … just don’t get caught!  In 1994, Congress actually got off their collective arses and passed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that prohibited civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms that were defined as assault weapons as well as certain ammunition magazines that were defined as large capacity.  Unfortunately, by the time it expired ten years later in 2004, enough members of Congress were bought and paid-for by the NRA that the law was allowed to expire on September 13, 2004.  Every time that reinstatement has even been mentioned, the gun nuts go berserk and the members of Congress tuck their tails between their legs and slink off to safer turf.

I don’t know about you folks, but I’m sick and damn tired of walking through the grocery store not knowing whether that man perusing the bell peppers is carrying a gun and might just go off on a tangent if somebody accidentally bumps him with their cart.  I’m sick and damn tired of worrying about the children I see walking past my house in the morning on their way to the school bus, not knowing if they will be safe and return home all in one piece in the afternoon.  I’m sick and damn tired of reading about multiple shootings in my city every night, two of which were within a few feet of my front door last year!

DO SOMETHING, Congress!  The gun nuts in this country are destroying our peace of mind, not to mention our safety!  You have a responsibility … a grave responsibility … to every one of the people in this country.  Instead, you are owned, lock stock and barrel, by the wealthy arms industry and cowed by the gun nuts in the nation.  What about the rest of us?  Think about it.

A Little Bit Rant-y

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants

I’m in rather a rant-y mood this evening, so tell you what … I’ll share my angst with you, just in case your life was feeling a bit too peaceful at the moment.  No need to thank me.

Punish the truth-seekers

Jim Banks is a representative in the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana.  Jim Banks is apparently not a very conscionable person, apparently has forgotten that Oath of Office he last took on January 3rd of this year.  He has served in the House since 2017, though for the life of me I cannot imagine why.

That’s congressman Banks above … looks like a real sharp one, yes?

Naturally Mr. Banks was one of many Republicans to contest the results of the 2020 election, even knowing that President Biden had won fairly and honestly, but it seems to be some sort of rite of initiation for those in the GOP to perpetuate the Big Lie and even put their integrity on the line to do so.  But it’s his latest transgression that has Filosofa growling.  Mr. Banks is urging his party to punish every lawmaker investigating the attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.  Punish them?  For doing their jobs?  For trying to find out how and why and by whom our democratic foundations were damn near overthrown???  What the hell planet spawned this dude?

“When we win back the majority next year, we have a duty as Republicans to hold every member of this committee accountable for this abuse of power, for stepping over the line, by preventing them from being in positions of authority. Take them off any committee, get them as far away from positions of power as you can because they’ve shown us that by threatening to do this that they abuse their power, wherever they are.”

I voted in November.  I voted for President Biden.  Many of you reading this voted for him also.  And this jackass is saying that our votes, our voices, our only representation in the government we fund should have been erased and that nobody should even try to figure out how, why, and by whom?  Indianans … you all really need to recall this clown before somebody does it for you!

Oh, and if you want the icing on the cake … the ignominious Tucker Carlson’s son works for Mr. Banks! Birds of a feather …

I have a right to kill my people!

Good ol’ Florida governor Ron DeSantis is back in the news.  On Friday, Florida Judge John Cooper ruled on a lawsuit brought by parents who say DeSantis overstepped his authority when his administration said school districts couldn’t order students to wear masks. DeSantis had warned that “there will be consequences” for districts that defied the ban.

Score one for sanity.  But wait … DeSantis is already threatening (“promising”) to appeal immediately, for he seems to believe that he is God, not the governor, and that as such, he has a right to condemn a large swath of his state to death.

Meanwhile, it looks as if Floridians are finally starting to see the light.  A Quinnipiac University poll released this month had DeSantis’ approval rating dipping below 50 percent, with 47 percent approving of his job performance, and 45 percent disapproving. Those numbers dropped to 44-51 when asked about his handling of public schools. The Quinnipiac poll follows other public polling that shows a similar erosion to DeSantis’ approval rating. A St. Pete Polls survey earlier this month showed 43 percent approved of the job he was doing while 48 percent did not.  And this is the man who was considering a run for president in 2024?  🤣 🤣 🤣

And then in other Florida news, with hospitals nearly full to capacity and 17,000 hospitalized with Covid, turns out the morgues are also filling up.

“The Central Florida Division of AdventHealth has reached capacity of our hospital morgues due to an influx of COVID-19 patients. We have begun utilizing rented, refrigerated coolers at 10 of our campuses throughout Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, & Volusia counties. These coolers are quickly becoming filled also.”

All because one man has a god-complex and thinks that “he alone can fix this”.  Wonder where he got that ego?

Guns And COVID — Both Murder Weapons

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, guns, Law and justice, Rants, Social commentary

If I owned a retail establishment (a ‘store’, for any Republicans who might be reading), I would be well within my rights to impose and enforce a ban on guns in my business.  I would have a sign on all entrances stating my ‘no gun’ policy and anyone caught bringing a gun into my place would be given a lifetime ban.  No exceptions.  Why?  Because guns kill, because guns are dangerous even in the most well-trained hands.  Because I don’t want to have to hire a crew to clean the blood stains off of my walls.

Murder, by the way, is against the law here in the U.S.  So, if you brought a gun into my establishment, lost your temper with, say somebody who accidentally jostled you, and you shot them … you would go to prison.

Now, the gun rights’ activists will tell me that I’m infringing on their 2nd Amendment rights, but frankly I don’t give a damn and that isn’t how I see it.

So now we have another lethal weapon in the public arsenal, this one less obvious at a glance than a bulky gun:  COVID.  Covid is a lethal killer … to date, 4.5 million people worldwide have died of this disease since its inception and there is no sign that it is slowing down in too many places, most notably parts of the U.S.  So, again, I would be well within my rights to refuse entry to my place of business to anyone not vaccinated and not wearing a mask – the only two tools in our toolbox to fight this killer.

If you wish to visit my store, you will show valid proof of vaccination AND you will wear a mask.  Frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass what Governor DeSantis or Governor Abbott have to say about it … I will ban those who cannot follow the rules of public safety.

Today, the vaccine has been widely available and free for a number of months, and this week received full FDA approval, so there is NO remaining excuse for anybody to continue to shun the vaccine.  But if you do, be advised that you, too, will be shunned by good people of conscience.

It seems to me that, Covid being every bit as lethal, though not as obvious, as a gun, then it should be restricted in the same way … that … oh wait, we don’t restrict guns, either do we?  But seriously, folks … the person who refuses to be vaccinated, who refuses to wear a mask in public, is every bit as much a murderer in my book as the person who pulls a gun in a crowded movie theater.  Consider the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally earlier this month.  According to NBC News …

Two weeks after the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, reported Covid infections in the state have risen nearly sixfold.

South Dakota counted 3,819 new cases in the past two weeks, including seven deaths, up from 644 cases in the 14 days preceding it. That makes it the state with the largest percent increase in Covid cases in the past two weeks.

Packed in like sardines and in all the pictures I’ve seen, I did not see a single masked face.

Y’know, my friends, if a person wants to commit suicide, that is his or her business and contrary to what I thought, it is not against the law.  But it does seem that there are more reliable and less traumatic ways to do it than to catch Covid intentionally.  But when we start talking about other people’s lives, then … WHOA!  Put the brakes on, stop sipping that Jack Daniels, stop being stubborn just for the sake of showing the world what an asshole you are, and think for a minute.  Murder, as it happens, IS illegal.  If you intentionally place your unvaccinated, unmasked self into a group of people, you are potentially committing murder.  You may be murdering a two-year-old child or an elderly woman like myself.  You may be murdering a schoolteacher or a nurse.  It’s a game of Russian roulette and I’M TIRED OF IT!

Tell me again, Scott Lawlor, how your right to shun the vaccine overrides my right to life!  Tell us all, you stupid bitches holding up signs reading “My body, my choice”, what you would do if your own child caught Covid and died as a result of your “choice”.

It seems to me that there should be a nation-wide mandate for both the vaccine and masks.  Anybody caught not obeying … there is plenty of jail space.  We could whip Covid in this country in a matter of weeks if EVERYONE did their part … a really simple part, actually.  But no, there are 30% – 40% of the people in this nation who aren’t particularly smart, aren’t at all compassionate, but rather are greedy, selfish bastards.  And governors who would rather see a reduction in the population of their state than make an unpopular decision.  Wow, real tough guys, eh?

Have a safe and happy weekend, my friends, and stay away from covidiots.

Covidiots and Maskholes

Posted on by under education, Environmental Issues, Political commentary, Rants, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Our friend Jeff over at On the Fence Voters is angry, and I don’t blame him … I share his angst and anger on this issue. COVID in the U.S. could be but a distant nightmare today, but instead, thanks to politicians, the Republicans, the former guy, and willful ignorance, we are once again seeing surging cases and a rising death toll. We are still … those of us with any sense … confined mainly to our homes. It didn’t have to be this way … Thanks, Jeff, for sharing your thoughts on this, which are the same as my own.

On The Fence Voters

Please know that the derogatory title to this post only refers to those who refuse to do the right thing and help their fellow human beings by getting a shot and wearing a mask when necessary. By no means do I mean to offend anyone. But if I do? I couldn’t care less.

What’s it going to take, folks? How many more deaths? How much suffering must the American people endure? It appears that for a particular segment of society, there is no inflection point. Their minds are already made up, so the carrots our governmental leaders have extended to them are no longer worth continuing. It’s time to use the most oversized sticks we can find to whack them over their heads.

Enough.

I want to submit to you some statistics from the Del Norte County Public Health website that will give you a glimpse of what’s going on…

View original post 1,332 more words

The Games People Play

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Election 2024, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, voting rights

I titled this post as I did for a very good reason … our lawmakers at every level are playing games … with our lives.  They are playing with our right to vote, with the bridges that just waiting for a heavier-than-average rush hour to collapse and kill thousands, they are playing with the rights of Blacks, Hispanics and those of Asian descent to … well, to live, actually.  And they are playing with numbers … how they can profit the most from the 98% of us who live from paycheck to paycheck.  Oh yes, folks, our lawmakers are great games players, just not very good representatives of We the People.

For the People …

Over the past 2 weeks, I have spent hours pouring over the For the People Act, the legislation that is currently collecting dust in the United States Senate.  This is legislation that, in addition to much else, would guarantee every eligible person age 18 or over the right to vote.  But the Senate seems to think … wait, let me amend that before I go any further … the Republicans and two Democratic members of the Senate … seem to think that We the People should not have a voice in the government we support financially!  The more I study this bill, the more I am growling, for there is literally NOTHING in it that should give rise for concern.  If, that is, we had legislators who put country above party, who truly cared about the future of this nation, who treasured integrity and honesty above profit and power.  Sadly, we don’t.

I will have a post, more likely 2-3 posts, summarizing this bill, what it would mean to you and I, and the Republicans’ objections to it within the next week or so, but for now, suffice it to say that as long as our elected officials care more about themselves than about us, as long as they are tethered to the former guy’s wagon, and as long as there are enough uneducated people in this nation who will fall for their lies, this bill is likely to be burned at the stake before it gets a chance to see the light of day.  It’s a damn shame that we will almost certainly end up trashing the democratic principles on which this nation was founded so that the likes of Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy can stay in power and keep the money rolling in … to their bank accounts.

Now about that infrastructure bill …

There has been much hassle over the infrastructure bill while bridges and roadways further erode, while people are still drinking water that is proven unsafe, but hey … let’s thank those bloody Republicans for keeping our tax dollars safe, shall we?  Oh yeah … rather than spend them on our safety, they can spend them to build and buy more military hardware, better guns, even more nukes that will someday in the not-so-distant future destroy us all!

Today, the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) announced that the infrastructure bill, often touted as a bipartisan bill, though I question this, would add in excess of $250 billion to the already bloated federal deficit over the next decade.  Well duh … bridges, roadways, water & sewer systems … they cost money!  They also save human lives, but hey … no biggie, right?

Now, since the CBO is so happily crunching numbers … I have another request for them.  How about calculating the amount of additional revenue this nation would garner if every single person with a net worth over $1 million was forced to pay a fair share in taxes as the rest of us have been doing for all our lives?  Yeah … I want to know how much of that money required for infrastructure could be covered if the likes of Jeff Bezos, Exxon Mobile, Smith & Wesson, and every other corporation or individual worth millions paid the same rate in taxes as the rest of us do.  I’m betting these assholes could more than cover the infrastructure, upgrade our schools, and cover Medicare for All if they just opened their wallets and paid … the same progressive income tax that the rest of us pay!  How ‘bout it CBO … you game for calculating this one?

During my career years, ages 13-57, I never once begrudged Uncle Sam the amount I spent on federal income taxes.  I am a CPA and for years have prepared clients’ tax returns, but I refuse to lie or cheat on their behalf.  But I admit that I see red when I see that certain corporations paid zero income taxes, or that a multi-millionaire, nay billionaire, paid somewhere around 1% – 2% while the average John Doe is paying 12% – 25%.  C’mon, Congress, close the damn loopholes!  Tax the wealthy … they can afford it … I can’t!

On April 19th, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke these words in his infamous Gettysburg Address …

“ … that these dead shall not have died in vain– that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

That government of, by, and for the people is perishing from the earth.  It has had a dagger thrust into its heart and is just now gasping its last breaths.  Are you content to let it die?  Will we sit back and watch as those with money take power unto themselves and subjugate the rest of us?  Sigh.  And on that note, I bid you a good night.

Lolla-Pa-Whazzit???

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Rants, Social commentary

Take a look at the above picture.  How many people do you see wearing a mask?  Look how close the people are.  Social distancing?  HAH!  I think not!  This was the scene at the 4-day music festival in Chicago called Lollapalooza held this past weekend.  Approximately 100,000 people attended each of the four days.  To attend, people had to either provide a Covid-19 vaccine card or proof of a negative Covid-19 test from the previous 72 hours.  Big f*cking deal.  This event should not have even been held, but to allow nearly a half-million people during the event to mix and mingle sans masks is the height of stupidity.

My daughter is a member of the Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes and Drums band, and as such they typically play at 15-20 events in the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada each year, including a Winter Storm festival in St. Louis, Missouri, in January.  All but one of their events this year was cancelled, and the Winter Storm festival for next January has already been cancelled due to the pandemic.  Yes, the organizers and sponsors of these events are losing money, but they value human life over profit.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Tina Tan said: “When you have 100,000 or more people who are in a fairly enclosed space and there’s no social distancing, the vast majority are not wearing masks, you are going to get some transmission of Covid-19 Delta variant.”

It has already been proven that even if you are fully vaccinated, you can transmit the virus.  Even if you are fully vaccinated, you can catch the virus and become ill.  Doesn’t it just make sense to stay home???  Oh … there’s that word again … ‘sense’ … a lot of people seem to have none.

Chicago is already averaging more than 200 new cases per day, a significant increase from a few months ago. It could be two to three weeks before the effect of Lollapalooza on the city’s case rate is known, and there is also concern about people who visited the city for the festival taking the virus back home with them.  Picture the parents who attended, leaving their children behind with Grandma and Grandpa …  “Oh look, kids, I brought you souvenirs from the festival and one other thing … a killer virus!”

A reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times asked the question, “Why was Lollapalooza allowed to go forward?”  Easy answer … $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The average cost of a ticket was $545, and that did not include food, drinks, souvenirs, parking, etc.  Multiply that times 100,000 people.  Let me save you the trouble … over $54 million.  Hell no, they weren’t going to give that up, no matter how many deaths may come as a result.

I have long lamented that the human species seems determined to bring about its own extinction and this event is further proof to support my premise.  Climate change, chemicals in our food, plastic in our oceans, nuclear weapons, and so much more … all man-made disasters that, if we don’t wake up and work toward fixing the problem, will render this earth uninhabitable not only by humans, but by thousands of species.  And now … the utter greed and stupidity of people as a response to the pandemic that has already killed more than 4 million people worldwide.

Way to go, humans.

Your Rights Or Mine?

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Rants, religion, Social commentary

When the pandemic hit the shores of the U.S., when non-essential businesses were ordered to close and mask mandates became widespread around the nation, I rebelled a bit against the restrictions. However at the time, I had no idea of the scope of this pandemic, no idea that some 16 months later we would still be in dire circumstances.  As I saw the new cases skyrocketing, saw the death toll rise to more than a thousand people a day, I made a conscious decision to stay out of public venues to the largest extent possible, and to dutifully wear a mask when I couldn’t avoid being in a public place.  I may be stubborn, but I’m not stupid!  Other folk, however, might just qualify as being a special kind of stupid and it annoys the hell out of me that they have so little regard for anyone, even their own children!

The Catholics vs the lives of children

I thought I had heard every excuse in the book for not wearing a mask.  They are all bullshit, for if I can wear a mask when out in public, I with severe breathing problems, then almost anybody can.  But those who choose not to don’t even claim to have health issues, they simply don’t want to and they view civil rights as basically being … whatever they want to do.  They are disgusting and crude, but I’ve gotten used to it and usually just tune them out or flip them a middle finger.  But it turns out that no, I hadn’t heard the worst of it.

Resurrection School, a Catholic school in Lansing, Michigan, and two parents are suing the State of Michigan for a mask mandate that was in effect for schools last year when they first filed the lawsuit.  The mask mandate, of course, was put in place in order to keep children, their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends safe from the coronavirus.  But the Catholic school and parents argue that Catholic doctrine holds that every person is made in God’s image …

“Unfortunately, a mask shields our humanity. And because God created us in His image, we are masking that image.”

OH For Pete’s Sake!!!

The school’s lawsuit argued that in addition to physically blocking God’s image, face coverings make people anti-social and interfere with relationships.  In addition, the school argued, wearing masks “conveys the message that the wearer has surrendered his or her freedom to the government.”

OH FFS!!!

In December, Judge Paul Maloney of the Western District of Michigan denied the school’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have banned enforcement of the state’s mask ordinance for kindergarten through fifth-grade students at religious schools. Resurrection School notified the court of its intention to appeal two days later, court records show.  That appeal was heard last week, but as of yet no verdict has been handed down.  Surely no court in their right mind would put a church’s vanity over the lives of the children!  Stay tuned …

Re-defining ‘Rights’

Humans.  Bah humbug!  Give ‘em an inch and they’ll take a mile.  Tell them they have the right to free speech and they will tell lie after lie after lie under the protective dome of the 1st Amendment.  Tell them they have the right to ‘bear arms’ so long as it is as a part of a well-organized militia, not some ragtag group of uneducated bozos, and they will demand that they be allowed to carry assault rifles, grenade launchers and any weapon known to mankind.  Tell them they have a right to free choice, and they will thumb their nose at you, will demand the right to kill their own children in the name of ‘freedom from being forced to be vaccinated or wear a mask’.

I treasure my constitutional rights, but I am not so stupid or unconscionable to try to assume they give me the right to do whatever the Sam Hell I want to, no matter who it puts in the path of danger.  See … I have this thing in my head called a brain, and some days it even kicks into gear and produces coherent thought processes!  Sadly, my late-ex-husband hit the nail on the head when he said that some people, when they were giving out brains, thought they said, ‘trains’ and answered, “No thank you”.

This seems to be the case with those who seem to believe they are immune to the ravages of the COVID pandemic.  In France, President Emmanuel Macron has put into place a mandate that people must show a “health pass”, similar to a vaccine passport being discussed here in the U.S.  The health pass would be required to show proof of vaccination against the coronavirus when entering cinemas, theaters, museums, restaurants, long train trips, bars and planes.  The French people are whining that the President is taking on powers with dictatorial overtones that crush basic freedoms.  Bullshit!  Connerie!

Here in the U.S., people are whining over everything everywhere.  They don’t want to have to be vaccinated, don’t want to have to show proof of being vaccinated, don’t want to wear a mask … wah wah wah.  Big bunch ‘o babies!  EVEN people in the healthcare industry!  Wouldn’t you think they would know better???  How the hell are they going to convince the populace to be vaccinated when they themselves are refusing???

Some areas are moving into a region of sanity.  The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) and the State of California (CA) have made the vaccine mandatory for healthcare workers in their areas.  It only makes sense!  Do you really want to visit the doctor, knowing that his nurse and maybe even himself are walking covid breeders?

And at a time you might expect churches to take the high road, for the most part they have lowered the bar.  Churches have argued against forced closing back when all but the most essential services were shuttered.  And now, some are arguing against protecting their congregation by the requirement to limit attendance and wear masks.  One pastor, Greg Locke, says that mask-wearing is forbidden in his church and anyone entering wearing a mask will be ‘thrown out’.  He claims to be standing up for people’s ‘rights’.  Wait a minute … doesn’t forbidding the wearing of masks intrude on the rights of those who wish to protect themselves by wearing a mask?  Think on that one a minute!

Rights, folks.  Many people aren’t understanding them.  With rights come the responsibility of ensuring you use those rights wisely.  Your rights end at the point they step on mine or somebody else’s.  Rights.  They are enumerated in the U.S. Constitution … I would suggest it be on the mandatory reading list for every single person over the age of 12 in the U.S.  Read it, think about it, then tell me that you have a right to come into a restaurant, unvaccinated and sans mask with the pandemic once again skyrocketing in certain areas.

And then there is Basilico’s Pasta e Vino restaurant in Huntington Beach, California …

When restaurants across California halted indoor dining as the pandemic took hold in March 2020, Basilico’s Pasta e Vino in Huntington Beach continued to welcome patrons.

When officials issued an order for establishments to mandate face coverings to stem the spread of the virus, the Orange County eatery declared itself a mask-free zone and required that diners remove them before entering.

This week, the Italian restaurant issued another decree: Proof of being unvaccinated is required for entry.

We have seen a lot of ignorance, a lot of blatant stupidity, a lot of cruelty since the start of the pandemic, but … this one takes the cake.  I would love to see this restaurant shut down by the Department of Public Health and told never to re-open their doors again.

Voting Is A RIGHT, Not A Privilege!!!

Posted on by under Election 2020, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary, voting rights

In 1965, Congress passed, and President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Please note and remember that this bill was NOT titled the Voting Privilege Act of 1965, but the Voting RIGHTS Act … rights, not privileges.

Several constitutional amendments, the 15th, the 19th, and the 26th, require that voting rights of U.S. citizens cannot be abridged on account of race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex, or age (18 and older).  Are we all in agreement here that every person over the age of 18 has the right to vote?

However, according to a recent PEW Research study, white people don’t think that voting is a right, but rather a privilege that one must earn!  It’s no damn wonder, then, that 42 states are in the process of drafting or passing legislation that would make it far more difficult for people of colour, for the elderly, for college students, and for working women to cast a vote.

More than once I have ranted about those who don’t vote, or who vote for an inviable third-party candidate.  In my view it is irresponsible — we all have a DUTY to vote, even if we aren’t enamoured of any of the candidates.  I have also proposed that we have mandatory voting.  I have proposed switching election dates to Sunday so that all will have time and access to the vote.  I have also proposed that every state should go to an all-postal voting system in order to make voting as painless as possible for everyone. So, you can imagine that I am LIVID to find out that white people think voting is a privilege to be earned.

Why???  We all have to live under the laws that are determined by the president and members of Congress, so WHY THE HELL shouldn’t we ALL have a voice in choosing those people???  Why should some be forced to follow laws made by people that they didn’t even have a chance to vote for or against?  I have long ranted against restrictions in some states that disenfranchise former prisoners who are on parole.  They paid their dues, served their time … now they are out of prison, most are gainfully employed and paying taxes … WHY THE HELL shouldn’t they be allowed to vote???

And this is a partisan issue.  Among Democrats, only 21% see the right to vote as a ‘privilege’, while among Republicans, 67% believe that the ‘privilege’ of voting must be earned.

Quite frankly, I cannot imagine anything short of actually being in prison during election day that should prevent a person from voting.  Qualified?  Well, if they are a citizen, then in my mind they are qualified.  If John Doe is a Black citizen, an employed taxpayer, then why do the tighty whiteys want to take away his right … yes, RIGHT … to vote?  Do they think they are better than he is?  Do they think their opinion has more value than his?  Or … do they just figure he isn’t as smart or as ‘entitled’ as they are? Or … are they afraid?  Afraid that if enough Black people have a say in who makes the laws that govern us all, they might lose their privileged status?  Are they afraid that someday our Congress won’t be 90% white, but will instead be 40% white?  What, exactly, are you afraid of, Karen?

Black Americans are more likely than those in other racial and ethnic groups to see voting as a fundamental right, while White Americans are the least likely to say this. About three-quarters of Black Americans (77%) say voting is a right for every U.S. citizen and should not be restricted, as do 63% of Hispanic Americans and 66% of Asian Americans. White Americans are about evenly divided: 51% say voting is a right, while 48% say it is a privilege.

That 48% … they make me ashamed to be Caucasian … make me wish my olive-toned skin were much darker, for I am NOT white … not at heart … not if this is the way white people think!  Stick your Ango-Saxon heritage where the sun doesn’t shine … I am not as one with you!

Never before in my 70 years here on earth, as a citizen of the United States, have I been so ashamed of this country and its people.  Were it just me, I would leave this country tomorrow, by whatever means I could, including death, and never have a regret – that is how much I despise what is happening in this country.  But I feel an obligation, a responsibility, in part to my daughter and granddaughter, and in part to the people of this nation, to fight the good fight, to fight against the white supremacist forces of evil.