“When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead…” -- White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane

 

Photo by Alex Motoc on Unsplash

Republicans have lost it.

If you remember the Cold War, you’ll be familiar with the expression “Better dead than red.” Now we have something just as stupid to replace it with: Better dead than blue.

What’s left of the Republican party (which is fortunately dwindling) is so committed to making Democrats wrong, they are willing to toss science, logic, and common sense out the window. Pundits have long puzzled over what would make an electorate vote against their own self-interests, and now we know: When the desire to be right and to prove another wrong is the only thing that matters.

Republicans are still refusing to get the vaccine and none of the arguments for that position make any sense. The longer this resistance lasts, the more illogical their thinking becomes.

They’ll promote treatments but rail against anyone who suggests they get the vaccine.

The vaccine is free and monoclonal antibody treatments are about $2k a pop. Not to mention the price of the hospital visit. Insurers are no longer waiving deductibles and covering Covid treatments like they did before the vaccine was available. Why advocate paying for treatment when you can eliminate the threat for free?

For months those hostile to the vaccine said that they wouldn’t take it because it wasn’t fully approved.

Well, now the Pfizer vaccine has been fully approved, and they still won’t get the shot—but they’re lining up for monoclonal antibody treatment which is still being administered under an “emergency use” authorization.

Republicans are also pushing Ivermectin (a horse de-wormer) and Hydroxychloroquine, neither of which have been approved by the FDA for Covid treatment.

Republicans just don’t trust the vaccine.

But didn’t the Trump administration develop the vaccine? So, Republicans don’t trust it because…the Biden administration is distributing it?

Do they think a Democrat opens every vial and contaminates it before it gets to patients? Or do they believe that since people died under Trump they need to die under Biden too or else it will make Trump look bad? Newsflash: Trump already looks bad. If you’re worried that fewer deaths on Biden’s watch will make Biden look like a better president, well, Biden IS a better president.

Covid isn’t real. People aren’t really dying. It’s a hoax.

Hmm. Then why do they need monoclonal antibodies, horse de-wormer or hydroxychloroquine to treat it?

Masks infringe on their freedom.

Republicans are fully committed to their right to die and to take others down with them. (They think they have that right, but they really don’t. If they did, there would be no law against murder or driving drunk or yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.)

Vaccine mandates are about control, not health and safety.

Yet, Republicans don’t seem to have trouble with other vaccines. One of the highest rates of Covid in the country is in Mississippi—a state with the most stringent vaccine mandates in the country for school kids. The governor of that state is now calling Biden’s vaccine mandate “An attack on hard-working Americans.”

He says Biden is asking them to choose between a jab and a job. Well, when you put it that way, I guess we should all give up employment so we don’t have to get a shot. Heck, we should give up travel too. I seem to recall needing a yellow fever vaccine years ago before a planned trip to Africa. Damn! If I’d know it was really an attack on me, and it was all about taking away my freedom, I’d have thought twice about that trip.

But today, I heard the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard from a Republican.

Biden only implemented a vaccine mandate because he knows that as soon as he tells people to get it, Republicans will refuse and more of them will die.

It’s all a game, you see. A big fat mind-fuck perpetrated by Biden. Isn’t it obvious? Think about it. Biden is trying to wipe out Republicans so Democrats can take over the country.

Of course, for this to be true, the following would also need to be true:

·       Biden knew if he mandated the vaccine, Republicans would automatically refuse.

·       Biden is relying on this refusal to ensure the virus continues to spread.

·       If the virus spreads, it will kill Republicans because everybody else is vaccinated.

Someone in the Republican party is pushing this trifecta of idiocy because it’s just too far-fetched to believe that Biden wants to save lives by getting more people vaccinated.

That killer, Biden. You can’t believe anything he says. Next thing he’ll be pushing vaccines on kids!

Ah, yes, well that’s exactly what’s next. Pfizer has just confirmed the safety and efficacy of a one-third dose vaccine for children ages 5 to 12. Biden must want them dead too.

-------------------------------------

There is only one reason for all this nonsense, and it has nothing to do with the vaccine or freedom. Republicans backed a crazy man. To deny that reality, they must deny all reality. The only way they can hang onto their misguided belief that Trump is their savior, is to insist that everyone else is evil.

If the truth comes out, they will all go down in history as fools who believed the crazy man’s lies and let a psychopath into the White House.

I guess we should have realized they’d take this approach with the vaccine. They showed us on January 6^th, they’d rather hang Mike Pence and shoot Nancy Pelosi than admit Trump’s a loser. At this point, nothing should surprise us.

Covid Rant

 

Yesterday, a bunch of Senators announced that they have Covid. All were vaccinated. It was announced by several news organizations, yet none of the commentators bothered to point out that the only reason we know they have Covid is, unlike the rest of us, they get tested constantly.

None are sick, and none are expected to get sick, yet now that this has been announced it’s just providing additional ammunition for vaccine deniers to use when they say “See, vaccines don’t work.”

Would someone please tell these people that vaccines don’t stop Covid from getting into your nose or mouth. How could they? A vaccine doesn’t erect a wall between you and the Covid infected person who might be breathing on you. That’s what the mask is for. This tells us one thing and one thing only: The senators in question have probably not been diligent about wearing masks. And that’s okay because they’ve been vaccinated. But can we please stop confusing what a mask does with what a vaccine does?

Masks prevent the spread; vaccines prevent the dead. Is that easy enough for everybody?

I expected more of Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow. But they’ve done nothing to clarify this issue. Instead, like all the other folks who don’t seem to understand how this works, they’re saying it’s because the new Delta variant is so much more contagious. Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe just not wearing a mask would have been enough to get plain old original Covid-19, too. But we have no way of knowing because most vaccinated people who don’t wear masks are not getting tested.

For all I know, I have Covid! I’m not getting tested because I have no reason to. I have no kids who are unvaccinated, so I’m not putting anyone at risk, and I never leave my apartment because now that I committed to writing every day, I don’t have time to go anywhere.

The point is the failure to be clear about specifics is part of the reason people are still so confused. And confused people make stupid decisions. So, let’s stop confusing them!

---------------------------

And another thing: a mask that droops below your nose can’t protect you. Unless you are a mouth-breather who never lets a breath enter your nose, you’re wasting the mask by letting it drop down your face. Why do I see this everywhere I go? I’m guessing it’s because people are too lazy to take it off when they don’t need it, so they pull it down under their chins while leaving the elastic straps over their ears. This causes the elastic to S-T-R-E-T-C-H and then it no longer stays secure. How can anybody not know this?

Here’s an idea: take it off and put the straps around your wrist when you are not wearing it. Unless your wrist is the size of King Kong’s, it won’t stretch out and you won’t forget where you put it. We’re talking about potentially life-saving measures here. Is this really too much to ask?

I’d say something directly to the people I see doing this but I’m afraid one of them might decide to kill me. I’m serious. People have been murdered for asking others to wear masks. I can only imagine what fate might await me if I corrected a stranger’s mask etiquette.

Admittedly, I’m cranky right now. But I’ve been fired up about this ever since I saw Nancy Pelosi tugging away at a crooked mask while standing at a podium pontificating about the threat the virus presented. “Great example, Nancy” was what I yelled at the TV. Thankfully, she’s learned to store it around her neck rather than pull it down over her chin, so recently I’ve found other things to focus on. Like yelling at Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow.

TGIF – this is my last blog for the week. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.