I know it has been a few days since I last posted something. But lately there has been a lack of new news. The Republicans continue to kowtow to Trump, and Americans continue to die from Covid-19 in record numbers. The only new news happening in the near future is the two Senate elections in Georgia that are happening next week, which will determine the fate of the Senate.
I’m actually posting to thank everyone who reads this blog, and especially those who leave comments. You’ve helped to keep me sane during 2020. I hope everyone survived ok, and wish that 2021 is much brighter for everyone. I’ll keep posting, as long as you keep reading and commenting.
You might think with all the movies coming out where we see footage of actors transmogrified to change their age, height or other attributes, people would understand that just because you see someone say or do something, it doesn’t mean it is real. No, that wasn’t young Luke Skywalker appearing in the final episode of The Mandalorian.
Just to prove how your own eyes and ears can be fooled by a fake song and dance, here is a deepfake of the Queen of England. The video was created by Channel 4, and according to them is intended to give a “stark warning” about the threat of fake news.
Can anyone think of a worse year than 2020? I mean, there have been bad events in other years, including 9/11 (in case you can’t remember, that was in 2001). Or Hurricane Sandy (2012), although the Galveston hurricane of 1900 was the deadliest natural disaster to strike the US, ever.
Way (way) back in May of 2020, The Atlantic published an article comparing the still quite young 2020 against 1968, the year that previously was considered the worst year in most of our lifetimes. 1968 featured the Vietnam war, including the My Lai massacre, assassinations of MLK and RFK, domestic race riots and bloodshed, the rise of Richard Nixon (with his racist Southern Strategy) and George Wallace, and even the H3N2 pandemic.
Now, at the end of this year, we see that 2020 has left 1968 in the dust of history for the most horrible year.
May the pendulum swing the other way in 2021, and lead to reforms and revival.
Christmas is fast approaching, and the holiday parties are upon us. Most sane people will be having them remotely, or at least practice social distancing. Well, except for one very white house.
Doesn’t the right-wing media have anything better to complain about? I mean, seriously? We are having a 9/11-level catastrophe every single day with the coronavirus, Trump and the Republicans are doing everything in their power to destroy our democracy, Congress is teetering on the brink of having a shutdown, Russians have hacked into our government’s secret and sensitive computers (along with a majority of the computers of our largest companies).
Instead, the Wall Street Journal and Fox News (both owned by the Murdoch family) is bitterly complaining about our First-Lady-elect using the honorific “Dr.” in front of her name. Which she has every right to do.
What’s hilarious about this is that they are claiming that only medical doctors should use the “Dr.” in front of their names. Why is this hilarious? Because “Doctor” means “Teacher” (not “practitioner of medicine”).
Don’t get me wrong. I have a PhD, and I don’t use the honorific Dr. in front of my name, even though I worked hard for years to get it. And yes, I have taught classes in universities (including at the graduate level), so I definitely qualify as “teacher”. I have a bit of a thing against most honorifics (my readers have probably noticed that I typically don’t use them for politicians). Most people I know personally who have PhDs also don’t use their title. But I would definitely have the right to use it if I wanted.
However, I am very happy that Jill Biden uses that title. Why? Because I am sick and tired of right-wing attacks on science. We should be overjoyed that our new first lady has a PhD, and in education no less, something that we should surely celebrate and honor! On top of that, women have long been treated poorly in the sciences, and they richly deserve more recognition. Note that both of the people attacking Jill Biden for using this title are men, and neither of them have earned a doctorate. What gives them them the right to complain?
Here’s a graph of the deaths from Covid-19. Note how fast the deaths are rising now. And if you think vaccines will solve this problem, remember that it will take around six months for the required 70% of Americans to start getting vaccinated, and that is assuming that significant numbers of Americans don’t refuse the vaccine. Also, you need two vaccine shots a month apart, and then an additional two weeks for the shots to become effective. Given that Covid-19 is doubling every two months (and that number could get worse because of people gathering for the holidays), that means that the number of deaths will likely go up at least eight times in six months. You do the math.
On Wednesday, the US had the worst day ever for the pandemic, setting new records for Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Yes, it is bad in the US. In just one day, 3,656 people died from Covid-19 (more than the number who died from the terrorist attacks on 9/11).
The US will pass 17 million cases today. In two states, more than 10% of the population have contracted the disease.
In some states, hospitals have run out of beds for new cases and are now rationing. Health care workers are overworked and burned out. The number of cases is doubling every two months, so this will get much worse.
Be safe. Stay home. Wear a mask if you have to go out. Thanksgiving was a super-spreader event. Christmas will be even worse. We are not out of the woods yet, and vaccinations will take many months to have a significant effect.
Monday, the electoral college voted and Joe Biden got the most votes. I’m sure the big bad Trump will huff and puff and try to blow the house down, but to no avail. He’s fired.
Saturday Night Live displayed a brilliant analogy of just how out of whack our news media has become. What if the right wing media treated sports news the same way it treats political news. The analogy is apt, because sports fans can show the same kind of fervor as Trump’s base.
Filed in Irony|Comments Off on Taking Propaganda to the Next Level
This video shows how Fox News responds to two different protests, and they couldn’t have been any more hypocritical.
First are the Staten Island Protests, which were protesting a bar that was shut down for defying both city and state Covid-19 closure orders. Deputies attempted to arrest the owner for serving patrons in violation of the law, but the owner tried to drive away, and struck one of the deputies and kept driving for about 100 yards with the officer hanging onto the hood where he was struck. Note that there is strong evidence that bars are one of the worst spreaders of the deadly disease caused by Covid-19.
Next are the Black Lives Matter protests. Can you guess the Fox News response to those compared to the Staten Island Protests?
Republicans seem hellbent on destroying not just our democracy, but also our country. Why? So they can blame it on the Democrats.
They have given up on their claims of fraud in the presidential election, and now they have resorting to just trying to overturn the election. They will fail at this, but it is a distraction we sorely do not need right now while we are trying to end the pandemic and keep the economy afloat.
They are refusing to pass a stimulus bill sufficient to keep our economy running, so when the economy goes south they can blame it on the Democrats. They also refuse to send needed money to the states and local governments, even now that red states have become the hardest hit by the pandemic.
Trump is threatening to veto the Defense Authorization Bill, unless Congress adds a completely unrelated provision to punish social media sites for supposedly discriminating against conservatives.
They are doing everything in their power to hamstring Joe Biden even before he becomes president, and I’m sure they will continue to block everything Biden and the Democrats do for his entire term (just like they did for Barack Obama).
