Stop the Idiocracy

Friday, September 3, 2021

'For the week ending August 26, children accounted for 22.4% of reported weekly COVID-19 cases'

Getty Images

Future generations are going to wonder how we could have been so stupid and careless as to let this happen. That is, if there are any future generations and we don't all kill each other off first. CBS News -

As the school year starts for districts across the United States, child COVID-19 cases are up, with about 204,000 cases added last week. For the week ending August 26, children accounted for 22.4% of reported weekly COVID-19 cases, according to the American Academy of Pediactrics.
While child COVID-19 cases declined in early summer, they have "increased exponentially," with more than a five-fold increase the past month, according to the academy. The U.S. saw child cases go from about 38,000 the week ending July 22 to more than 200,000 the past week.
The rate of child COVID-19 cases last week was well above the average throughout the pandemic. Since the pandemic began, children represented 14.8% of total cumulated cases. In total, 4.8 million children have tested positive for COVID-19, and new variants are posting a higher risk for children, most of whom are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines. (Read more)

U.S. Navy aircraft carriers likely to remain in the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf to patrol Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern hotspots

Politico -

The American military’s involvement in Afghanistan could soon become largely the Navy’s responsibility, an ironic twist for a counterterrorism mission in a landlocked country.
Although the Navy has long privately bristled at the requirement to deploy one or even two aircraft carriers at a time to the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf to support the ground fights in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the lack of U.S.-controlled airfields near Afghanistan could mean more planes taking off from decks at sea.
And that could set off a fresh round of requests for more funding — and more hand-wringing among those who want the U.S. military to focus more on China.
“I think a lot of that mission is going to fall on the Navy,” said a Navy official who requested to speak on the condition of anonymity because the Pentagon’s plans have yet to be finalized. “This is a great example of why we need more money to operate forward — things like this are what we’re built to do, but we need the funding and support to keep doing it, and that hasn’t always been there.” (Read more)

Hurricane Ida: Owners of flooded cars may be unable to recoup their losses, even with insurance

Shutterstock

NBC News -

Residents across the country are still mopping up from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which hit the Gulf Coast before sweeping up into the Northeast, leaving parts of New York City and its suburbs under water this past week.
Dozens were killed, many after being trapped in their cars by flood waters. News and social media from across the New York-New Jersey region show cars that were abandoned along major highways as well as neighborhood streets.
The flooding from Ida caps a summer season that has left many parts of the country waterlogged. That, in turn, has created major headaches for car owners — and car buyers. Thousands of vehicles have been seriously damaged or completely ruined. But many owners soon could find that, despite carrying insurance, they are out of luck when it comes to recouping their losses.
In the months to come, meanwhile, some of those flood-damaged vehicles may show back up on the used vehicle market through an appropriately named scam known as “title washing.” Someone buying one of those vehicles could be in for a number of headaches.
When a vehicle is submerged, it is subject to developing all sorts of issues, starting with mold. Body panels and other components can rust. Water can damage engines. And then there are all the electronic circuits that control everything from power windows to a car’s safety and infotainment systems. They can suffer intermittent or complete failures.
"A car that's been in a flood, with the engine emerged for any length of time, will never be the same," said Carl Sullivan, a veteran inspector for California-based AiM Mobile Inspections.
Drying out a car as quickly as possible, especially if it’s been submerged in salt water, is critical, Sullivan and other experts stress. They also warn drivers not to immediately try to start up a vehicle after a flood, especially one where water might have gotten into the engine. That could lead to a catastrophic failure known as hydrolock. Instead, find a repair shop trained in dealing with water damage and have the vehicle towed in.
Motorists should take detailed pictures that can help support an insurance claim. Unfortunately, many owners discover too late that their coverage doesn’t include flooding.
“If you want to be covered for flood damage of your car you’re going to need comprehensive coverage which takes in acts of god such as hail damage or flood damage,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, an analyst with website MoneyGeek.
If your vehicle is new and still covered by a loan or lease, Fitzpatrick noted, you likely carry comprehensive insurance, as it’s normally required as a part of your agreement. But older vehicles that have been paid off, he added, often have just the more minimal insurance coverage most states require. In that case, repairs — or even the replacement of the entire vehicle — may have to come out of pocket. (Read more)

White House unveils $65 billion plan to combat future pandemics

Getty Images

One better believe there are going to be more pandemics. We were caught unprepared for this one, so we better start preparing for the next one. The White House has put forth a plan, now we wait for congressional glory-hounds to start nit-picking and obstructing. -

The Biden administration laid out Friday a $65 billion plan U.S. officials say will help the nation combat the next biological threats after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides.
The next pandemic will likely be “substantially different” than Covid, and so the U.S. government must prepare now to deal with any future viral threat, Eric Lander, President Joe Biden’s science advisor and director of the Office of Science and Technology, said on a background call with reporters Friday.
The plan – released in a 27-page document titled “American Pandemic Preparedness: Transforming Our Capabilities” – calls for investing billions of dollars over the next decade to improve vaccines and therapeutics as well public health infrastructure, enhance the nation’s real-time monitoring capabilities and make upgrades to personal protective equipment that could be used against a wide range of pathogens.
The Biden administration’s plan has been organized into five “pillars,” officials said, each addressing different parts of the public health system. It proposes $15 billion to $20 billion to jump-start the administration’s efforts. The funds would be go to a new “mission control” office at the Department of Health and Human Services that’s closely overseen by Congress, officials said.
Lander said the ongoing Covid pandemic has exposed “fundamental issues” with America’s public health system, including inadequate funding and lack of coordination across federal, state and local governments.
The nation is still grappling with the worst Covid outbreak in the world, with more than 39 million cases and at least 643,776 deaths as of Friday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Many recovered patients are still living with the long-term effects of the disease, he said.
“We need better capabilities ... because there’s a reasonable likelihood that another serious pandemic, that could be worse than Covid-19, will occur soon, possibly even within the next decade,” he told reporters on the call.
Officials said the administration’s call to invest $65 billion is “modest” when taking into account that the current pandemic has cost the U.S. an estimated $16 trillion in lost economic output.
It’s also smaller than what the nation spends on other programs, such as missile defense and anti-terrorism, which cost U.S. taxpayers $20 billion and $170 billion a year, respectively, they said. (Read more)

ABC/WaPo poll: President Biden’s approval rating drops to 44%. And so what?

Looks as though the American people are having a bit of a hissy-fit about the president right now, highly encouraged to do so from many corners. Screw these ingrates. The older I get and the crazier the times become, the more I see that governing and serious decision-making should not be held hostage to the court of public opinion. Public opinion is considered sacrosanct in America, yet so often and so tragically wrong. Isn’t it funny, though: Donald Trump drew these sorts of numbers routinely. If nothing else was consistent about his presidency, his approval ratings were always between the high 30s and mid 40s. 44% was actually on the higher end of his four-year average, and all his supporters thought that meant he had wide public support and was going to be re-elected in a landslide. Now that it’s President Biden with a low-ish number, it’s a different song they sing. No matter, true leaders actually lead and do not follow. President Biden is not going to govern by the polls, but most GOP public officials have become pathetic followers pandering to peasants – and to Trump - in desperate bids to remain in power at all costs. The greed and ambition of these politicians, and the populism they pander to have been killing us these last few years. As in, literally killing people. So, don’t mind me if I don’t get too worked up over President Biden’s lower-than-average approval rating, because I’ve long known that more than half of the population is useless, malevolent, entitled, and full of hate, and COVID-19 has made it all nakedly clear. They would gladly watch the country burn if there were a few bucks in it for them. If this country can be saved it is going to be in spite of the majority and not because of it.

Monday, August 30, 2021

American withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete. They're on their own, and they can rot

Reuters

Not our problem anymore. All of you who haven’t paid attention to Afghanistan for years but are now suddenly so concerned about the humanitarian situation there, and are so angry at President Biden for doing what everybody wanted him to do, go f**k yourselves! For real. That very much goes for the corporate, pro-war mainstream media, who continue to inundate us with one sob story after another and simply will not let it go. The nationalist populist right, merely seizing on an opportunity to denigrate President Biden, need to practice what they preach and really put ‘America first’ now. Terrible things are happening to people in terrible places all over the world, including in our own country. America is a dysfunctional basket case of a nation and we’re not even capable of taking care of ourselves, yet alone solving the world’s problems.

Kentucky senator accuses the FDA of not studying ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 merely out of ‘hatred for Trump’

Shutterstock

Memo to Sen. Rand Paul and everyone else who needs to hear it: Not everything in the world revolves around Donald J. Trump. Just stop, for the love of God. -

Federal researchers will not objectively study ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19, the Kentucky senator Rand Paul claimed, because “hatred for Donald Trump” has tainted their view of those who say the drug used to deworm horses can aid the fight against the pandemic.
Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic, does have uses in humans, to treat worms, lice and skin problems. But despite it having been discussed by doctors in testimony before Congress, it is not proven to combat Covid-19.
Doctors have also warned against its potential toxicity. Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a terse tweet: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that a meeting with constituents in Cold Spring, Kentucky, on Friday, Paul said: “The hatred for Trump deranged these people so much, they’re unwilling to objectively study it.
“So someone like me that’s in the middle on it, I can’t tell you because they will not study ivermectin. They will not study hydroxychloroquine without the taint of their hatred for Donald Trump.”
Trump both promoted and said he was using hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, when in office. Doctors warned against side-effects and studies said it had little or no effect in preventing hospitalisation or death from Covid-19.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, studies have not produced proof that ivermectin can treat Covid-19. The same source lists 31 completed, withdrawn or ongoing US clinical trials.
The FDA says taking large doses of ivermectin is “dangerous and can cause serious harm” and adds: “Never use medications intended for animals on yourself. Ivermectin preparations for animals are very different from those approved for humans.” (Read more)

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Deadly Hurricane Ida batters Louisiana and the Gulf Coast

GOES-East NOAA

Prayers for all in the path of Ida ...

The Weather Channel – Continuing coverage

Ongoing coverage from WWL TV in New Orleans

President Biden’s remarks before virtual FEMA briefings on Ida preparation

As Ida arrives, New Orleans veteran meteorologist reflects on Hurricane Katrina 16 years later

Saturday, August 28, 2021

President Biden warns more Afghanistan terror attacks ‘highly likely’ in next few days, vows more airstrikes against ISIS-K

AFP

There was never going to be a good or easy way out. -

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden vowed Saturday to keep up airstrikes against the Islamic extremist group whose suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members. Another terror attack, he said, is “highly likely” this weekend as the U.S. winds down its evacuation.
The Pentagon said the remaining contingent of U.S. forces at the airport, now numbering fewer than 4,000, had begun their final withdrawal ahead of Biden’s deadline for ending the evacuation on Tuesday.
After getting briefed on a U.S. drone mission in eastern Afghanistan that the Pentagon said killed two members of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate early Saturday, Biden said the extremists can expect more.
“This strike was not the last,” Biden said in a statement. “We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.” He paid tribute to the “bravery and selflessness” of the American troops executing the hurried airlift of tens of thousands from Kabul airport, including the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in Thursday’s suicide bombing at an airport gate.
The evacuation proceeded as tensions rose over the prospect of another ISIS-K attack.
“Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours,” Biden said, adding that he has instructed them to take all possible measures to protect their troops, who are securing the airport and helping bring onto the airfield Americans and others desperate to escape Taliban rule. (Read more)

Arkansas doctor under investigation for prescribing ivermectin to his patients, as well as prisoners under his care

KATV

It is absolute lunacy that in America we allow so many unqualified quacks to practice medicine. NBC News -

The Arkansas State Medical Board is investigating a doctor who used ivermectin to treat his patients, as well as inmates at the Washington County jail, suffering from Covid-19.
The board said Friday that it has an open probe into Dr. Robert Karas, who owns Karas Health Care, which has facilities in Fayetteville and Lowell and provides medical services to detainees at the jail.
"Once the investigation is complete, the information will be provided to the full Board to review and to be discussed at the next scheduled Board Meeting," board Director Amy Embry said in a statement. "No additional information is available at this time."
Karas declined to be interviewed Friday because of his schedule but said in an emailed statement that he began using the drug in late 2020 to treat patients and inmates "who had become significantly sick from Covid."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have warned against using ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid. On Thursday, the CDC said that there has been a rise in calls to poison control centers for reports of overdoses after people have taken the drug.
The FDA on Saturday urged people to stop taking it. It said that while FDA-approved ivermectin tablets can treat certain conditions caused by parasitic worms in humans, the drug is not an approved medication for the coronavirus. Generally, ivermectin is used to treat or prevent parasites in animals.
"You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it," the FDA tweeted, alongside a consumer update detailing why the drug can be unsafe for humans. (Read more)

U.S. retaliates following Kabul airport attack, at least two ‘high-profile’ ISIS-K targets killed; names of dead American servicemen released

May our lost soldiers rest in peace. -

Two targets were killed and another person was injured in a drone strike against the Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K in retaliation for the Kabul airport attack, the Pentagon now says. And the Department of Defense has released the names of the U.S. troops killed in Thursday's attack.
Department officials announced Friday evening that a drone strike killed an ISIS-K target in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. On Saturday, officials updated that to say that two "high-profile" targets — described as "a planner and a facilitator" — were killed and one other person from the terrorist group was injured in the retaliatory strike.
Pentagon officials offered more information Saturday about continued operations in Afghanistan, including evacuation efforts and the drone strike.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the names of the drone strike targets would not be released. (Read more)

Thursday, August 26, 2021

United only in hatred for humanity: ISIS-K, offshoot of the world’s deadliest Islamist terror group, but also sworn enemy of the Taliban

NYT

Say, didn’t the former administration claim to have destroyed ISIS? What is ISIS-K? The terror group believed to be behind Kabul airport explosions -

Washington: Explosions outside the Kabul airport that have caused multiple casualties come as Biden administration officials have been alarmed in recent days by threats at Hamid Karzai International Airport by IS-K or ISIS-K, a terrorist group that is a sworn enemy of the Taliban.
A senior US intelligence official said while no formal attribution has been made, all signs — and recently gathered intelligence — point to IS-K, an offshoot of Islamic State, as the culprits.
US officials, including President Joe Biden, had been warning of the threat of Islamic State terror attacks at the Kabul airport, which is being guarded by the Taliban as Americans and Afghan allies seek to leave the country.
Douglas London, the CIA’s former top counterterrorism chief for the region, including Afghanistan, said the threat posed by IS-K is now higher because of the vacuum created after the Taliban toppled the Afghan government within a matter of days.
The Pentagon inspector-general, in a report released last week, noted IS-K had lashed out in the last months of the now-ousted Afghan government, seizing on its weakness.
“[IS-Khorasan] exploited the political instability and rise in violence during the quarter by attacking minority sectarian targets and infrastructure to spread fear and highlight the Afghan government’s inability to provide adequate security,” the report said. (Read more)

No more Mr. Nice Guy: President Biden’s hand being forced by out-of-control domestic critics, may have to become more authoritarian in his approach

Getty Images

Seeing a lot of MAGA folk, the left-wing ‘Woke’ mob, and the cretins in the media happily speculating that Kamala Harris will soon be president. F**k you, not even in the mood for any more of this bulls**t. We’re seeing clearly that there are multiple organized efforts to bring down the president, to distort reality and the actual record, and whether those participating realize it or not it is ultimately all for the benefit of true tyrants (Putin, first and foremost.) The brainwashing is working on the American public to an alarming degree, but the actual record shows President Biden is a normal and traditional president, and he has been fairly successful in achieving his goals up to this point. After the last four years, it would appear Americans have forgotten what real leadership looks like, and they’re mighty confused. So, I guess now President Biden is just going to have become more authoritarian and begin demanding the respect he is due from a nation of belligerent, nihilistic, useless idiots. Fine by me if he starts baring his teeth, because the lack of respect is out of control and counter-productive to the extreme, and I’m sick of all those doing the whining and the crying.

Kabul airport bombing; scores killed or injured, including U.S. servicemen

Getty Images

BBC - Kabul airport attack: What do we know?

Finish getting our people out of the s**thole as quickly as possible, and then Afghanistan and everyone left in it can rot for all I care. Americans, among other nations, gave these barbarians twenty years of blood and treasure, and this is the thanks we get. F**k Afghanistan and everyone living in it, they deserve what they got, and that is all there is left to be said. Not our problem anymore.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

CDC: Unvaccinated are twenty-nine times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID, five times more likely to be infected

AFP

CNBC -

Unvaccinated people are about 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than those who are fully vaccinated, according to a study released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new study, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also found that unvaccinated people were nearly five times more likely to be infected with Covid than people who got the shots. The results are based on data from Los Angeles County between May 1 and July 25, the agency said.
“These infection and hospitalization rate data indicate that authorized vaccines were protective against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 during a period when transmission of the Delta variant was increasing,” the agency wrote in the study.
The data is in line with comments from federal and state health officials, who have been saying for weeks that millions of unvaccinated Americans have been putting themselves at serious risk of the delta variant, the most contagious coronavirus strain yet.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday the data shows that “if you are not yet vaccinated, you are among those at highest risk.”
“Do not underestimate the risk and serious consequences of this virus,” she said during a White House briefing on the pandemic. “Vaccines are the best tool we have to take charge of this pandemic.” (Read more)

Study said to have claimed vaccines are causing new COVID variants to emerge – widely cited by anti-vaxxers – is actually about rare disease in chickens

AFP Fact Check - Vaccinated people are not 'creating' coronavirus variants

Classic deception tactics by the conspiracy theory industry, a prime example of how they hook people - with half-truths, gross distortions, and outright lies that sound plausible to the ears of the target audience (confirmation bias.) It’s almost too easy a way to scam money out of people, and absurdly effective. As Winston Churchill said, ‘a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.'

Proud Boys leader sentenced to five months in prison on weapons and vandalism charges

Getty Images

CBS News -

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Monday to more than five months in prison for burning a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a church in Washington, D.C., and for carrying two high-capacity firearm magazines when he was arrested weeks later, the Department of Justice said.
Tarrio pled guilty to one count of destruction of property and one count of attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device in July. Tarrio said Monday that there was "no excuse" for his actions, adding that he made "a grave mistake" that day.
"I'd like to profusely apologize," he said, adding, "What I did was wrong."
But D.C. Superior Court Judge Harold Cushenberry was not convinced.
"Mr. Tarrio has clearly, intentionally, and proudly crossed the line from peaceful protest and assembly to dangerous and potentially violent conduct," the judge said. "He could not have cared less about the laws of the District of Columbia." (Read more)

Following FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine, ‘anti-vaxxer social media influencers and Republican politicians are finding new reasons to oppose the vaccine’

Sen. Ron Johnson. Getty Images

The least surprising news one will come across today. The biggest joke is the contention that somehow approval was rushed. Are you kidding me? It’s been nine months since the vaccines first became available. The anti-vaxxer movement is a giant, deadly scam. -

The Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday has boosted hopes that at least some of the millions of unvaccinated adults in the U.S. would change their minds. But right on cue, anti-vaxxer social media influencers and Republican politicians are finding new reasons to oppose the vaccine.
Even before the FDA gave full approval, Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who has for months criticized the outreach campaign to get people vaccinated, argued that the approval process was rushed due to politics.
“I see no need to rush the FDA approval process for any of the three COVID-19 vaccines,” Johnson wrote in a letter to top Biden administration health officials. “Expediting the process appears to only serve the political purpose of imposing and enforcing vaccine mandates.”
Responding to a speech from President Joe Biden calling on American companies to require vaccines, Johnson tweeted: “No one should be pressured, coerced, or fear reprisal for refusing any medical treatment, including the Covid-19 vaccine.” (Read more)

Congressional Democrats need to get it together and pass the president’s infrastructure bill

Reuters

Via NBC News: House Democrats hatch plan to break logjam amid standoff over Biden's agenda -

WASHINGTON — House Democrats regrouped Tuesday after delaying a vote to advance President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill and multitrillion-dollar social safety net expansion, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggled to tame a rebellion from centrist lawmakers.
At a caucus meeting Tuesday, Pelosi told Democrats she was optimistic a deal was close as she eyed an afternoon vote that would include concessions to appease the moderates.
"I’m sorry that we couldn’t land the plane last night, and that you all had to wait. But that’s just part of the legislative progress," she said, according to a Democratic aide. "I think we’re close to landing the plane."
The stakes are high for Biden's top two legislative priorities.
The president and his staff have called a variety of House members, including centrist holdouts, to advocate for Pelosi's plan and stressed that both the infrastructure and budget bills are critical to his agenda, a White House official said.
The House Rules Committee met again Tuesday morning with the aim of setting up votes on the budget resolution that will allow them to begin work on the $3.5 trillion package, as well as tee up votes on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
The procedural vote to kick off the process was initially expected Monday night, but Pelosi faced defections from a group of nine moderates who threatened to vote it down. The lawmakers are insisting that the $550 billion infrastructure bill get an immediate vote and be signed into law before they start crafting the larger bill.
Democratic leaders plan to promise that the House will vote on infrastructure bill by Sept. 27, said a leadership aide, who added that this meets the request made by moderates of an assured date for the vote. (Read more)

Centrist Democrats have a valid case. Yes, pass the damn infrastructure bill first and foremost, and the bigger spending bill the progressive wing wants can be negotiated on afterward. An ‘all or nothing’ approach is doomed to failure. Overall, these Democrats are not doing President Biden any favors. I don’t expect or desire they become mindless sycophants like the majority of Republicans toward Trump; but I do expect them to work with him, to put aside their personal agendas and ambitions, and get something done. Repairing our infrastructure is vital.

Charlie Watts, 1941 - 2021

Hayoung Jeon/EPA, via Shutterstock

It’s a sad day. One of the world’s most iconic drummers has left us. Rest in peace, Charlie Watts. Have never thought to do so before, but perhaps I need to make a list of best Charlie Watts performances. ‘Honky Tonk Woman,’ ‘Mother’s Little Helper,’ and ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ immediately come to mind. Without Charlie Watts and his backbeat – to say nothing of his quiet and reserved presence - the Rolling Stones may have become something, but not the all-time great icons they are. He will be missed.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

The president’s approval ratings drop amid crisis, but he is not the problem here

NBC News poll: President Biden’s job approval ratings drop as Covid cases rise and crisis in Afghanistan mounts

Advanced age aside, Joe Biden is the most normal American president in about 30 years. Unfortunately, the American people have changed dramatically in that time and ‘normal’ no longer exists. America is unrecognizable to me from what it was during my youth in the ‘80s and into the ‘90s. We see it all around us: In politics, entertainment, our everyday lives, etc. - Americans of today are ingrateful, unappreciative, delusional, spiteful, close-minded, and hateful people. And big babies, at that.

I am a center-right independent who feels no sense of belonging in the Democratic Party, and I utterly despise what the Republican Party has become. I vowed never to be a sycophant for President Biden or to any politician - a la the sad sacks in #Cult45 or the Bernie Sanders/AOC loons - yet he is a decent man and proven leader who will never be given appreciation or respect in this day and age. Had he served in an earlier, more normal time – prior to when a certain generation took the levers of power and ruined everything – I have no doubt he’d be a widely popular president. But President Biden is a member of the Silent Generation, all of whom are quite old now or no longer with us – and we all know that old people are considered dispensable and unwanted by the rest of society. Joe Biden would not have been elected president in 2020 if he did not have the good fortune of facing the most corrupt, buffoonish president (rather old himself) during a harrowing time in the nation’s history.

Frankly, at this moment I feel as though perhaps this nation of crybabies and malevolent morons are not worthy of President Biden. They better start doing some critical thinking and reassess who this man is, because we just spent four years living under a sociopath, and a whole host of sociopaths are licking their lips in anticipation of Mr. Biden’s demise. Perhaps a certain vice president may be among those, and then you bozos on the far-right (and most of the rest of us) are *really* going to have some things to complain about. Between the GOP and the Democrats, there are very few politicians left in D.C. who are vestiges of moderation and old-fashioned American values, but President Biden is absolutely one of them. The masses have been brainwashed by mass media and the vultures who manipulate the media into giving themselves over to extremism. I went down that road myself for many years, and it was Trump’s arrival on the political scene that ‘scared me straight’ (so to speak.) The majority of people went the other way, but I saw the light concerning populism and extremism. Not certain if that is a blessing or a curse, but I digress, for I never have fit in and ran with the pack. And never do I want to belong among the majority of spoiled rotten, good-for-nothing, ingrates that pollute this country.

I am more supportive of President Biden than ever, because more than ever it is crystal clear that he is not the problem here. He told us pulling out of Afghanistan – something most everyone wanted - was going to be ugly and would come at great cost. He has been telling everyone all along to take the proper precautions against this killer virus. He addressed our crumbling infrastructure and got a major bill passed by a bi-partisan coalition (almost impossible in these days of hyper-partisanship.) As a senator, he was responsible for the 1994 crime bill, and the record shows that overall crime rates in America dropped significantly in the years that followed. Not a single one of his critics – in Congress, in the media, and *especially* among the general public – have a damn solution for any of what ails us. No, in fact, it is they who are abject failures and have the blood on their hands for the terrible shape this country and its culture are in. I am ashamed of my country, but I am proud of its president. Screw what the rest of these jerks think.

Saturday, August 21, 2021

A nation of ingrates: The absurd and flat-out disgraceful finger-pointing on Afghanistan

Most of the very same people who are tearing President Biden to shreds following the fall of Kabul would be defending Trump if this exact situation happened on his watch. And it would have had he been re-elected, don’t believe any of the revisionist bulls**t he and his minions are spewing out now. They are the ones who signed the treaty with the Taliban to begin with, even invited them on American soil at Camp David. Lucky for Donald Trump, he wasn't re-elected, and now Joe Biden has to clean up this s**tstorm while a nation of know-it-alls, malcontents, and f**king ingrates point fingers. Enough already, I’ve never been more disgusted with the state of American politics. #MyPresident #YourPresidentWhetherYouLikeItOrNot #ShowSomeRespect ...

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Parent threatens school board members in Massachusetts town with new 'Nuremberg Trials’ following vote to require masks in schools

WCVB

A year-and-a-half into this thing, and I’m still flabbergasted at the lengths people are going to avoid having to wear a piece of cloth. And it’s only getting worse, to the point now where I’m expecting mass violence in the months ahead. Via WCVB -

DRACUT, Mass. — A Massachusetts school committee's vote on mask mandates amid the growing number of delta-variant fueled COVID-19 cases ended with threats and insults.
The Dracut school committee approved masks in schools earlier this week.
Following the 4-1 vote, a person who attended the meeting compared the move to the trials for Nazi war criminals.
"Excuse me, we're not going to like what's coming for us, was that what you just said?" the board member said, addressing the unidentified person in the audience. "Yes, the Nuremberg Trials," the person said. "You're torturing my child."
During the raucous meeting, one parent suggested the state should take cues from places like Florida and Texas, where COVID-19 cases are exploding.
The policy approved will require masks indoors, but not outdoors at Dracut schools.
There is no statewide school mask policy in Massachusetts but state officials have recommended masks for unvaccinated students.

Nationalist populist terrorist is taken into custody following Capitol Hill bomb threat; had ‘demanded’ to speak with President Biden

NYT

Yes, at least a portion of the MAGA crowd are becoming more akin to Islamic Jihadis than Americans. Ironic, considering they hold themselves to be the epitome of what it means to be an American. Thank God nobody got hurt, but this is only the beginning of what is to come. -

WASHINGTON — A man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress surrendered to the police on Thursday, after hours of negotiations and evacuations of several government buildings in the area.
The man surrendered peacefully, according to a law enforcement official.
The man drove a black pickup onto the sidewalk of the Library of Congress at about 9:15 Thursday morning, and the police responded to a disturbance call, Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Capitol Police said in a news conference.
When the police arrived, the man said he had a bomb and one of the officers observed what appeared to be a detonator in his hand, Chief Manger said.
The police spent hours negotiating with the man, he said. It was unclear whether the man did actually have explosives.
“We don’t know what his motives are at this time,” Chief Manger said. He confirmed that some of those negotiations had been streamed live on social media.
“We’re trying to get as much information as we can to try to find a way to peacefully resolve this,” he said. Chief Manger declined to describe the conversation between the man and the negotiators.
The man, whom officials identified as a resident of Grover, N.C., named Floyd Ray Roseberry, about 50 years old, was making anti-government statements, according to a law enforcement official.
A spokesman for Facebook confirmed that the company had taken down a post with a video broadcast from man in the truck. In the rambling video, he addresses President Biden, demanding to speak with him or a representative, and sometimes shows a metal object in his lap. He describes himself as “a patriot” and expresses grievances with Democrats. He repeatedly says he does not want to die or hurt anyone but warns that the device will explode if the police fire at him, though the man offered no evidence to support that. (Read more)

Alabama doctor announces he will no longer treat unvaccinated patients

Cannot help but love what this doctor is doing. Extreme dogma, lies, and mass delusion do not have to be tolerated. Especially in the midst of a bloody pandemic. Enough already -

In Alabama, where the nation’s lowest vaccination rate has helped push the state closer to a record number of hospitalizations, a physician has sent a clear message to his patients: Don’t come in for medical treatment if you are unvaccinated.
Jason Valentine, a physician at Diagnostic and Medical Clinic Infirmary Health in Mobile, Ala., posted a photo on Facebook this week of him pointing to a sign taped to a door informing patients of his new policy coming Oct. 1.
“Dr. Valentine will no longer see patients that are not vaccinated against covid-19,” the sign reads.
Valentine wrote in the post, which has since been made private but was captured in online images, that there were “no conspiracy theories, no excuses” stopping anyone from being vaccinated, AL.com reported. The doctor, who said at least three unvaccinated patients have asked him where they could get a vaccine since he posted the photo, has remained resolute to those who have questioned his decision in recent days.
“If they asked why, I told them covid is a miserable way to die and I can’t watch them die like that,” wrote Valentine, who has specialized in family medicine with Diagnostic and Medical Clinic since 2008. (Read more)