The Vandals

 

This is Kathryn Kimball Mizelle. She is a Federalist Society judge who worked for Clarence Thomas. The American Bar Association said she is unqualified to hold office, but Republicans confirmed her anyway after Trump lost.

She just ruled the CDC can’t require masks on planes. pic.twitter.com/EWMNumytaQ

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 18, 2022

The funny old thing about American individualism and "freedumb" and so on is that people who were sitting on crowded planes cheered the decision when advised they could take their masks off as if they had won something. They didn't. What really happened is that they received confirmation that they were no longer obliged to do the least thing to protect themselves and those around them, and it felt like freedom.

Judge Mizelle's decision to strike down the mandate is a small act of vandalism. Putting her on the bench to make dodgy decisions and partisan decisions for decades, was a big act of vandalism.

UPDATE:

 

Trump’s Surgeon General speaks out against court overturning mask mandates on airplanes. pic.twitter.com/Ov5wbKwZlz

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) April 20, 2022

Some people think she misunderstood public law regarding the definition of sanitation, and it's very possible she deliberately misunderstood.  The dual function of undermining public trust in the law and the expertise of health professionals alike is at play in this decision--but the stupid thing is not even being sure this person is capable of foreseeing that ramifications beyond this one decision, now that she's made a precedent, obtain. 

Soup to Nuts

 

Just to clear things up, @RepMTG

Gazpacho: a vegetable-based Spanish cold soup
Gestapo: Nazi Germany's secret police pic.twitter.com/T9q76r706G

— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) February 9, 2022

Surely, there are more important things in the world than Rep. Greene (R. Crossfit) confusing the Nazi secret police for a cold tomato-based soup, but before you send me off to the goulash, maybe we should just admit it's weird as hell that this elected official keeps making weird statements about the Holocaust, or the Rothschilds, or comparing things to Nazis, or talking about the oxymoronic "corporate communism" in a way that demonstrates she is profoundly unconcerned about whether she is making any sense at all, or is just using scary words to scare other underinformed people.

She's a conspiracy theorist by nature, a lovechild of Dunning-Kruger and Robert Welch, Jr. She plays a long game of connect the dots where some of the dots aren't even on the same page. Conspiracy theories are like a choose-your-own adventure book that exceeds even the imagination and arcana of a Dan Brown novel. What she chooses to believe is that the people who disagree with her, all of them, are somehow associated with the actual worst people of history, whoever she at the moment thinks those people must be. 

So, she violates mask rules because the people who told her to do a very basic and sanitary thing that does work offends her. Oh, and let's not even pay notice to whether the fines she has racked up are ones she can easily ignore as a person of personal wealth, when people with far more exposure than she has, like retail workers, don't even make what she has raked up in fines in their yearly salary and have ample reason to want protection. How dare peons tell her what to do though! So they must be the oppressors, and she the victim. (The people who study abusers call the technique she uses quite automatically "DARVO.")

Of course! And no doubt, pointing out that she is a bear of very little brain is only another of the oppressions she faces from the elitists in the Vichyssoise government she finds herself somehow a somewhat participating member of.  

It's a little too pat to say that this sort of thing makes her a propagandist, only really capable of effectively communicating to the like-minded. It's a little raw to say that pointing out her obvious shortcomings only adds to her victim-mentality and feels like a pile-on by "elitists" to people sympathetic to her. Both are a little bit true. But I still think it's valid to point out this damn dumbass doesn't know what the fuckall she's talking about and is a danger to herself and others.  And people who are sympathetic to her are also damn dumbassses and if they want more abuse, my word, it is made fresh daily.  Sign up for the full subscription. 

Or stop being dumbasses, totally your call. 

Not That I Care About Joe Rogan

 

Joe Rogan has deleted his birther tweet. pic.twitter.com/sEClihi5H9

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 25, 2020

I really have been keeping out of the Joe Rogan thing because I don't fucking care about podcasts, but this is what I see: When I saw the same thing from Breitbart, I wrote "Show Me The Plane Ticket" because this was literally the dumbest thing set before me for my rational mind to reject. A person whose backstory was meticulously washed(allegedly) to not make him seem like he was born anywhere but the United States, is caught admitting to being Kenyan for the sole purpose of selling books, because whatever? No. That's not proof of anything. That's dumb. The people promoting it are racist and dumb. Barack Obama is an American-born son of an African man and a White American woman. He's Black all day because that's how society treats him and American forever.

Critical thinking isn't dead, but it isn't exactly being loved, cherished and obeyed by people who could really stand to take up the practice. Anti-vaccination and anti-mask views are bad science championed by "outsiders" because their contrarian behinds got thrown out for making the same arguments that keep getting debunked. They aren't rebels and underground scientists. They are fuck-ups. They've just discovered they can get paid for saying fucked-up things so they do.  Edgy! Far out! 

Researching Your Ginormous Balls Off

 

Maybe it's wrong of me to doubt that Nicki's cousin's best friend's balls blew up (at 31 Flavors, so I guess it's pretty serious) but unless the vax came with a side of chlamydia, I'm guessing that the wedding was called off because friendo was raw-dogging karma and it bit back. I only snark here to make a point--she is saying "pray on it and make sure you're comfortable" and isn't saying she won't get the vaccine ever, just not now and appreciated that some people do have to get it for their job. That's not anti-vax, and it's definitely respectful to people who have reservations, but...

I'm so tired of the vaccine hesitancy because the worst case scenarios of the virus are just way worse than the anecdotal evidence out there about any problems the vaccine might have. I'm talking about parents passing it to their little kids and losing them so young. Or families with young children suddenly becoming orphans. Pediatric COVID-19 deaths in the US have remained in the few hundreds, so it's rare, but we don't know what the long-term effects on these kids could be. The US is 4th in the world for children orphaned by COVID-19, with well over 100,000 kids with lost parents. 

So I guess what I'm getting at is, doing research sounds smart--the rational thing to do, and all. But I think people who start to research what might be wrong with the vaccine start to forget to weigh it against what we definitely know is wrong with COVID-19, and it's a hell of a lot. 

Like, for one thing, it is definitely killing people. Contrary to what the hardcore hospital-protesting crazies want to say, which seems to be that somehow, health care workers are actually contriving COVID-19 deaths for their own nefarious ends. 

(I have never been a fan of turning rubber hoses on protestors, but you know...they pose a risk to public safety and welfare and are interfering with the care of all kinds of sick and injured people, so I see what they are doing as basically terrorism against patients and healthcare workers. But once we allowed anti-abortion protesters space to harass healthcare workers and patients at clinics, this is the creep you get.) 

It has also caused increased lost pregnancies and loss of maternal life or increased risk of serious illness for obstetric patients.  And while there's no evidence the vaccines cause reproductive sterility, there is a risk that COVID-19 can. 

That Authentic Grief Dollar

 

Wow, what a-holes.

The original: @nytimes: "Biden, Still Grieving His Son Beau, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It"

Now: "In Invoking Beau, Biden Broaches a Loss That’s Guided His Presidency" pic.twitter.com/6IHuzr52q6

— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) September 4, 2021

I didn't want to broach this part of The Discourse and all, but when supposedly serious journalists started in on whether President Biden's references to his son were appropriate because they might rub some people the wrong way, I heard Bill Hicks in my head. Something along the lines of: 

The Authentic Grief dollar. That's a good dollar. Lot of authentic grief to go around. Covid-19, endless wars, the opioid epidemic (we really helped that last one along, sir, let me tell you...). But we're not getting positive reactions across the market, so we think you're gonna have to workshop your grief a bit, Mr. President. Just to give it a more broad, universal, generic appeal. You with us? 

And my gut-level response to what that makes me feel about it is very like that of the late Mr. Hicks. Just kill yourselves you fucking fucks. 

The media hovered like vultures over Al Gore's honesty, Hillary Clinton's laugh, Barack Obama's tears and said "Look, they're human. That means they die and we eat." And then both-sidesed people who promoted unregulated fossil fuels in the face of climate change, policies of torture and endless war, and featured columns from people who, with a straight face, suggested little kids could fling their bodies at a mass shooter to stop him. Eventually. 

If it bleeds it leads. The bloodthirsty dollar. Always a great promotion. You know how it goes.

That's right. We have little kids going to school with bulletproof backpacks or with active shooter drills where they pile into a coatroom, but thanks to scum-life mouthpieces, we are supposed to be respectful when ever-growing numbers of kids are getting COVID because god forbid someone's little precious had their freedoms impaired by covering their wee Hummel figurine features with a mask. Because empathy and common sense have been beaten to death in a parking lot for not having the right Q rating.

Leave people's bloody personalities alone (unless they are unrepentant racist rapist narcissistic sociopaths, in which case, report that shit early and often). Report facts. We're fucking dying over here!

Ah the Fear of Death dollar. A very reliable mover. Pretty much our oldest trope....say, can we interest you in a flight to Mars in like, 2037 to escape all this? Some vitamins? A weapon to protect yourself in our future Mad Max Hellscape? 

Fuck. This. For. All. Time. 

The Hostess With the Mostess?

 

Of the gross and galling things I've read this week, I guess the one that gives me the most amusement (FWIW) is this pretty accurate description of how men sometimes talk about female bodies, with this clip where a Republican politician refers to pregnant people as "host bodies" several times. See? The body is a host to the growing thing. An embryo or fetus. Which would make it a....parasite? 

I can't even joke about antiparasitic drugs like Ivermectin because pregnant humans and other mammals have been dosed with antiparasitics, and the results about harmful effects to pregnancies are kind of inconclusive. But pregnant people seeking abortions deliberately have dosed with any number of things deliberately, such as pennyroyal oil, with grave physical consequences. Because of the amounts used to make sure the job was done, because of the grave contraindications pregnancy and childbirth have had for living one's life in so many circumstances. The social and financial repercussions. The physical complications. 

Describing a pregnancy in the stark terms of "host bodies" neatly erases the whole woman-body/mind that experiences the pregnancy, while also inadvertently labelling the pregnancy as a "parasite"--a burden meant to be gotten rid of.  Like a pox, or a burden. Or a punishment for having sex that isn't "consequence-free". (Because the birth control failed--but that's next, I think.) 

I don't doubt though, that the people who passed this law and the people who support it are ignorant as hell about how it will affect women. I mean, look at this beardo:

M'kay--this guy does not seem to know how menstrual cycles work, which is not actually shocking even here in the 21st century, somehow.  But like, does he think a "Check Uterus" light comes on when a woman catches pregnant and they're just ignoring it for the next 6,000 miles or what? 

Sociopaths Shouldn't Be in Government 2: Ted Cruz

 

"There should be no mandates -- zero -- concerning Covid'' -- Ted Cruz pic.twitter.com/oY0wpmTQCi

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 10, 2021

Really? Not even private companies protecting their employees, customers and assets? No mandates because it's somehow discrimatory against special assholes who think their FaceBook PhD's in Advanced Bullshit Studies overrides what people who do public health for a living recommend? The cynical signifying to not be outdone by Governor DeathSentence, who seems to be employing a kind of "disaster capitalism" shock and awe to probably end public schools as we know them in Florida by the nasty look of things, or Cruz's own Governor Abbot, who is asking people to put off elective surgeries because he won't allow mandates for masks or vaccines, and is soliciting aid from health care workers in other states is dense with clown shoe obviousness, because it's Ted Cruz: Clown Shoes.

It feels like a race to the bottom of humanity, to see who can show the least empathy or good sense. 

Just like I cite "Galt's Glitch" as the obverse of the "Galt's Gulch" coin--the reality of libertarian freedom without responsibility is a positive feedback system for selfishness and destructive behavior, the obverse of the derision of Goo-goos or so-called "virtue signaling" is shitty government and "vice signaling"--being goddamn proud of unnecessarily horrific policies. It's how you get Gitmos and Abu Ghraibs and apparently, it's how you get mass Covid-19 deaths. 

Because not wanting them makes you a pussy. Don't let Ted Cruz's face merkin fool you, he definitely wants you to believe he is not a pussy, and his ugly wife and JFK-assassin dad would definitely back him up on that. 

You have to break eggs is all. You might not even be a big omelet enthusiast, but fuck those chickens. 

Am I calling Ted Cruz a sociopath based on his cynical pronouncements? Yeah. He's determined that his party has set no limit on acceptable numbers of bodies of actual human beings to step over and he's okay with building a Jacob's ladder of them. 

Only that ladder doesn't ascend, does it? It shouldn't. 

Freedom's Just Another Word For....

 

Now that the Delta variant of Covid-19 is ripping through red states, some of the elected officials are just nonplussed at the gosh-awful irresponsibility folks are showing about not getting vaccinated. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey would like people to get vaccinated and show some common sense because they "are letting us down". Well, she's right as far as that goes--grown people should take responsibility for themselves and understand the risks their behavior poses to themselves and others. But it doesn't count for a lot when you consider she knows that there is a certain population that has no choice about getting vaccinated whatsoever, and she would not impose one necessary requirement that would reduce Covid-19 spread.  Vaccine passports were prohibited. And she certainly doesn't think people should be going door-to-door proselytizing the Good News of the vaccine to people. 

But otherwise she's done all she can--what the heck? 

The problem is, folks are still thinking freedom means also being free from responsibility, and that just isn't the case. It doesn't come home to them that there are consequences for what they do sometimes until it is too late. And sometimes even after rueful experience, people convince themselves they still want to persevere in their unique denial--posing a health risk to others. 

The "mask hysteria" remains, for me, the most puzzling aspect of GOP signifying, Margarine Tater Grease recently went off on the subject of children being masked even though a child (too young to be vaccinated) recently died in her district. She's obviously doing not one single thing to mitigate the illness and death her constituents and their families may face. Because "freedom".  She's indignant people even ask her about her own vaccination status, because she would not dare to be a good example for others. She wants the power of being a member of congress and the attention it brings, but appreciates none of the responsibility. 

Grandma, What Did You Do During the Pandemic?

MAGA anti-masker making a point. Not sure what it is but she’s making one... pic.twitter.com/oQm8aBj93m

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) September 21, 2020

There's an absurd unreality show going on out there. This is a contestant who wants to "Make a Deal" for Trump as Monty Hall's* future behind door number two. But you know what? It's going to be more COVID-19 and more dystopia. Also, she has balls on her face.

There's something weird about the mostly-female phenomenon of "Karens Gone Wild" that bothers me: they do get filmed, and they seem to rather like it. Like the ladies getting their turn on what should be a "Walk of Shame" are acting like they passed their "Star Search" auditions. They are happy to get stared at, and I don't get it. I guess it isn't just middle-aged biddies who are doing this foolishness. (Disclaimer: I am a white lady who just turned 48 myself, so I consider myself at least a young biddy.) But I have to assume they like it like that. Because until you go be legendary, who even are you?

And this is where I am going to be mean: worse, but with people watching! And while many people on Twitter will deride, there's a certain martyrdom available to people who are willing to fuck it up for ideology. (This woman violated the privacy of a customer and claimed victimhood and welp! she got it.) There will always be an audience for people who want to spectacularly represent, even if their point is a little weird or misguided.