Panic Porn
27/10/20 07:20
It was quite a night. The swearing-in of Amy Cony Barrett by Justice Clarence Thomas at the White House as an Associate Supreme Court Justice was the icing on the cake. This was a long time coming, folks. Conservatives now hold a 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court. There is one small caveat to that and that is that John Roberts is about as squishy a conservative as they come. He's voted with the libs far too often but he occasionally does the right thing.
His power to disrupt has now been diminished if not destroyed in total. Until and unless Barrett somehow proves herself to be unreliable, conservatives will hold sway over some of the more contentious legal issues of our time. Barrett has been affectionally referred to as Scalia's successor so we'll see how that works out. Her acceptance speech warmed the cockles of every conservative's heart when she reiterated that she will not be, and I paraphrase, legislating from the bench. Pitch perfect!
It was a bad day for the libs. It's been a bad week for the libs and it's only Monday. They are seething with anger at how easily the republicans moved Barrett through the Senate confirmation process. Barrett sailed through with 52 republican votes and no votes whatsoever from the democrats. Not a fucking one. Trump is holding three and four rallies a day and Sleepy Joe can barely get out of his basement. Anyone hoping for Biden/Harris win, and pinning those hopes on intentionally bad polling results, is probably starting to wake up to a new and disturbing reality.
That is to say, the 2020 Trump-Biden campaign is starting to look more like the Bush-Dukakis campaign of yesteryear. There are multiple paths to 270 for Trump and States that may have been in play for Biden are now likely out of reach thanks to Biden's comments in the debate regarding doing away with the fossil fuel industry. Pennsylvania is just one of several states that I think fall into that category. The laptop from hell is gaining traction by the day as well and recent polling shows that 51% of the public think that Joe Biden (the Big Guy) benefitted from the influence peddling scheme run by his son, Hunter (the bagman).
I was happy to have Nancy join me in watching the swearing-in celebration at the White House. She's not always interested in that sort of thing but I pressed her on the historic nature of the event and she came around albeit reluctantly. She may have focused more of the pageantry than the politics but that was fine too. We noticed that Barrett never shook Thomas's hand after the swearing in and thought that a bit odd. In retrospect, shaking hands is no longer acceptable in this the era of Covid-19. Of course. What were we thinking?
Tucker Carlson is having an ex-business associate of Hunter Biden on his show tonight at 8 on Fox. He plans on spilling the beans about the corruption of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate. This gentleman will have voice recordings of the Biden's and their shenanigans for the world to hear. This comes on the heels of Jill Biden's plea to disregard the tapes and have everyone pay attention to what really matters. The main street media and their brethren in the social media orbit have done their best to suppress the "laptop" story by outright censoring it. Nothing goes viral faster than something deliberately smothered by the main street media.
I fear that what we're seeing here is the old double standard where you have one set of rules for the republicans and another set of rules for the democrats. If a republican were accused of doing what the Bidens are accused of doing you would have the FBI breaking down doors in pre-dawn raids to arrest them and members of their family for god only knows what. If the candidate is Joe Biden, he's good to go. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. I'm telling you people are sick and tired of this bullshit. Where the bloody fuck is Bill Barr (AG)???
And now we have to worry about the rules in several states where they plan to count ballots well beyond election night. In other words, keep counting until they have just enough votes to get their candidates over the finish line. Someone needs to step in and fix this. Either it's the State legislatures or it's the Supreme Court of the United States. Just get it done and do it before it's too late. The Supremes handed down just such a ruling in Wisconsin. No votes will be counted after election night. Period. Now do Pennsylvania.
I'm hearing that the dems are sending in the clowns here in New Hampshire. They're coming from all around to shore up the democrat vote and get their flawed and corrupt candidate, Sleepy Joe Biden, across the finish line. I don't have a good sense about how New Hampshire is going one way or another but these out-of-staters coming here tells me it's going to be a close one. Or, if there is a god, maybe not so close. And you know the dems are desperate when the best they can do is to send in that skinhead communist congresswoman from Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley. There, I said it. She's just a real piece of work.
I keep going back and forth when it comes to returning to the gym. It seems like it would be a virtual hotbed of coronavirus germs where the very act of inhaling can kickstart the incubation and proliferation process. If there is a time of day where the people coming and going seems minimal, that might work out. I'm also not sure that I'll much care for the requirements as they are when it comes to wiping down and disinfecting the machines after I use them. I'm kind of a swipe it once and done kind of guy. I also have a real aversion to the hand soap they want us to use at every turn. I hate the smell of the stuff and I hate getting it on my hands. Bigly.
I'm trying to think a little bit about how I want this journal stuff to play out when it comes to the election. I don't want to be five paragraphs in going into Election Day and then have to announce the results of the election. If Biden wins I may not be in the mood to write anything for months. If Trump wins, I'll be there with bells on. Even on election night, and I remember well back in 2016, I think I listened to this or that not wanting to watch the gloating faces of the talking heads as they raised their champagne glasses in unison to celebrate Hillary's breaking the glass ceiling. I only turned on the television once it seemed that Trump was on a roll and more likely to win than not.
It seems that panic porn is making a comeback. The "we're all going to die" crowd is back on the scene whining and wishing for a robust return of the dreaded coronavirus. I'm talking largely about the democrats and their enablers in the media. They point to European countries that are reimposing lockdowns due to fears that their populations and economies may yet be overrun again due to deaths and hospitalizations. It just feels like a last minute push to see if the democrats and the media can't use this to make a difference at the margins when people go to vote on November 3rd.
The U.S. media has long hoped that these fears alone would prevent another four years of a Trump presidency. They've harped endlessly about Trump's role in delivering some 200,000+ deaths and fail to mention any of the Trump Administrations accomplishments which include the fast tracking of therapeutics and vaccines. While Biden is scaring the bejesus out of people with references of a "dark winter" and threats of national shut-downs and mask mandates, Trump rightly points to his own experience as a Covid-19 survivor as an example of how we survive the virus and move on with our lives.
I think most people have come to the conclusion that Trump is not to blame for the virus or the deaths caused by the virus. I think most people are buying into his upbeat and positive attitude about where we go from here when it comes to the economy, our pocketbooks, and hopes for the future. There are headwinds and challenges ahead but we are Americans and we're in it to win it. Third quarter GDP projections are out this morning and just in time for Trump to say once again, "I told you so." I think the annualized rate of 33% or so and this is the largest number maybe on record going way way back.
It will give The Donald yet one more thing to point to on the campaign trail as he holds rally after rally between now and next Tuesday. He can flash those record results on the big screen at his rallies in between clips of Biden painting a bleak and hopeless picture of what's to come should we re-elect Donald Trump. If nothing else, it seems like Biden is starting to believe all of the negativity that he's spewing so inartfully at his 15-person "rallies" where no clear messages are conveyed, no questions are answered, no real media is allowed, and then he is back to the basement where he awaits the apocalypse.
Forget what I said about the gym. I went yesterday after not visiting the gym for several months due to the Covid thing. It went pretty well. Every other machine was available and that provided the distancing recommended by the CDC or other. Masks were required when walking around the facility but not so if you were actually working out. There didn't seem to be any fewer people there than what one might otherwise expect in the days before Covid came along so that was reassuring. I definitely want to get there during the off hours if no other reason than to avoid the issues that go along with being in crowded spaces in the era of Covid.
Even Nancy is starting to let down her guard down a bit. Today, she's off to get her hair cut. It's not something that she has fancied precisely because of the virus and all of the vicious rumors circulating about it being airborne and everything else under the sun. When they tell you that the virus can retain its viability on surfaces for some 72 hours it tends to get your attention. And now we know, or we're starting to figure it out for ourselves, most of these rumors are just nonsense. So the sun will continue to come out, the moon will continue to rise and fall, and we'll all move on and move past this Covid thing. God willing.
I have to tell you, though. It felt good to be back at the gym. It felt good to be getting some exercise again. I feel the need to start using my muscles again because the rigors of a mean winter in the months ahead may demand it. Biking is good but I'm leaving several muscle groups in the lurch when biking is all I do. I kid myself when I think that just leaning into my handle bars while riding offers come kind of isotonic something that may or may not be better than nothing. I kid myself when I think that pumping my legs more ferociously mile in and mile out provides more than a rippling of anything much less the muscles in my legs.
Nancy will be going down to Massachusetts to do a little work for a friend in a day or two. That is also something she wouldn't even have considered doing just a month or two ago. I'm happy to see her getting out of the house. I'm still working on getting her to go to the market more often and without my assistance one way or another. Sometimes, I just have to settle for something as innocuous as her going to pick up a take-out order. Baby steps. I'm not sure how to explain the differences between us when it comes to the fear factor as a result of all things Covid.
Our filters are likely different because of the things we read, the people and things we choose to listen to, and the way we assemble the facts and figures in our noggins. I've often warned her about spending too much time reading publications like the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Their coverage about the virus is more likely than not to spend more time on the number of deaths and less time on the efforts to reduce hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the virus. That's just how they roll, folks. That's how they rolled before the virus and that is how they'll roll long after the virus is gone.
Lastly, I think I'm making some headway when it comes to Nancy and her fear of all things Covid. When I hear her yelling at the television as they spout nonsense about things that we already know to be untrue, I take a mental victory lap. When I see her reacting in a way to stories about the virus that was unthinkable for her just two months ago, it makes me think that if Nancy can have a change of heart and mind about this virus, then there is hope for the world. Nancy may not be a Karen, but it wasn't that long ago that I thought she may have started down that path. I no longer worry about her barking at the moon now. Thank the baby Jesus.
His power to disrupt has now been diminished if not destroyed in total. Until and unless Barrett somehow proves herself to be unreliable, conservatives will hold sway over some of the more contentious legal issues of our time. Barrett has been affectionally referred to as Scalia's successor so we'll see how that works out. Her acceptance speech warmed the cockles of every conservative's heart when she reiterated that she will not be, and I paraphrase, legislating from the bench. Pitch perfect!
It was a bad day for the libs. It's been a bad week for the libs and it's only Monday. They are seething with anger at how easily the republicans moved Barrett through the Senate confirmation process. Barrett sailed through with 52 republican votes and no votes whatsoever from the democrats. Not a fucking one. Trump is holding three and four rallies a day and Sleepy Joe can barely get out of his basement. Anyone hoping for Biden/Harris win, and pinning those hopes on intentionally bad polling results, is probably starting to wake up to a new and disturbing reality.
That is to say, the 2020 Trump-Biden campaign is starting to look more like the Bush-Dukakis campaign of yesteryear. There are multiple paths to 270 for Trump and States that may have been in play for Biden are now likely out of reach thanks to Biden's comments in the debate regarding doing away with the fossil fuel industry. Pennsylvania is just one of several states that I think fall into that category. The laptop from hell is gaining traction by the day as well and recent polling shows that 51% of the public think that Joe Biden (the Big Guy) benefitted from the influence peddling scheme run by his son, Hunter (the bagman).
I was happy to have Nancy join me in watching the swearing-in celebration at the White House. She's not always interested in that sort of thing but I pressed her on the historic nature of the event and she came around albeit reluctantly. She may have focused more of the pageantry than the politics but that was fine too. We noticed that Barrett never shook Thomas's hand after the swearing in and thought that a bit odd. In retrospect, shaking hands is no longer acceptable in this the era of Covid-19. Of course. What were we thinking?
Tucker Carlson is having an ex-business associate of Hunter Biden on his show tonight at 8 on Fox. He plans on spilling the beans about the corruption of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate. This gentleman will have voice recordings of the Biden's and their shenanigans for the world to hear. This comes on the heels of Jill Biden's plea to disregard the tapes and have everyone pay attention to what really matters. The main street media and their brethren in the social media orbit have done their best to suppress the "laptop" story by outright censoring it. Nothing goes viral faster than something deliberately smothered by the main street media.
I fear that what we're seeing here is the old double standard where you have one set of rules for the republicans and another set of rules for the democrats. If a republican were accused of doing what the Bidens are accused of doing you would have the FBI breaking down doors in pre-dawn raids to arrest them and members of their family for god only knows what. If the candidate is Joe Biden, he's good to go. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. I'm telling you people are sick and tired of this bullshit. Where the bloody fuck is Bill Barr (AG)???
And now we have to worry about the rules in several states where they plan to count ballots well beyond election night. In other words, keep counting until they have just enough votes to get their candidates over the finish line. Someone needs to step in and fix this. Either it's the State legislatures or it's the Supreme Court of the United States. Just get it done and do it before it's too late. The Supremes handed down just such a ruling in Wisconsin. No votes will be counted after election night. Period. Now do Pennsylvania.
I'm hearing that the dems are sending in the clowns here in New Hampshire. They're coming from all around to shore up the democrat vote and get their flawed and corrupt candidate, Sleepy Joe Biden, across the finish line. I don't have a good sense about how New Hampshire is going one way or another but these out-of-staters coming here tells me it's going to be a close one. Or, if there is a god, maybe not so close. And you know the dems are desperate when the best they can do is to send in that skinhead communist congresswoman from Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley. There, I said it. She's just a real piece of work.
I keep going back and forth when it comes to returning to the gym. It seems like it would be a virtual hotbed of coronavirus germs where the very act of inhaling can kickstart the incubation and proliferation process. If there is a time of day where the people coming and going seems minimal, that might work out. I'm also not sure that I'll much care for the requirements as they are when it comes to wiping down and disinfecting the machines after I use them. I'm kind of a swipe it once and done kind of guy. I also have a real aversion to the hand soap they want us to use at every turn. I hate the smell of the stuff and I hate getting it on my hands. Bigly.
I'm trying to think a little bit about how I want this journal stuff to play out when it comes to the election. I don't want to be five paragraphs in going into Election Day and then have to announce the results of the election. If Biden wins I may not be in the mood to write anything for months. If Trump wins, I'll be there with bells on. Even on election night, and I remember well back in 2016, I think I listened to this or that not wanting to watch the gloating faces of the talking heads as they raised their champagne glasses in unison to celebrate Hillary's breaking the glass ceiling. I only turned on the television once it seemed that Trump was on a roll and more likely to win than not.
It seems that panic porn is making a comeback. The "we're all going to die" crowd is back on the scene whining and wishing for a robust return of the dreaded coronavirus. I'm talking largely about the democrats and their enablers in the media. They point to European countries that are reimposing lockdowns due to fears that their populations and economies may yet be overrun again due to deaths and hospitalizations. It just feels like a last minute push to see if the democrats and the media can't use this to make a difference at the margins when people go to vote on November 3rd.
The U.S. media has long hoped that these fears alone would prevent another four years of a Trump presidency. They've harped endlessly about Trump's role in delivering some 200,000+ deaths and fail to mention any of the Trump Administrations accomplishments which include the fast tracking of therapeutics and vaccines. While Biden is scaring the bejesus out of people with references of a "dark winter" and threats of national shut-downs and mask mandates, Trump rightly points to his own experience as a Covid-19 survivor as an example of how we survive the virus and move on with our lives.
I think most people have come to the conclusion that Trump is not to blame for the virus or the deaths caused by the virus. I think most people are buying into his upbeat and positive attitude about where we go from here when it comes to the economy, our pocketbooks, and hopes for the future. There are headwinds and challenges ahead but we are Americans and we're in it to win it. Third quarter GDP projections are out this morning and just in time for Trump to say once again, "I told you so." I think the annualized rate of 33% or so and this is the largest number maybe on record going way way back.
It will give The Donald yet one more thing to point to on the campaign trail as he holds rally after rally between now and next Tuesday. He can flash those record results on the big screen at his rallies in between clips of Biden painting a bleak and hopeless picture of what's to come should we re-elect Donald Trump. If nothing else, it seems like Biden is starting to believe all of the negativity that he's spewing so inartfully at his 15-person "rallies" where no clear messages are conveyed, no questions are answered, no real media is allowed, and then he is back to the basement where he awaits the apocalypse.
Forget what I said about the gym. I went yesterday after not visiting the gym for several months due to the Covid thing. It went pretty well. Every other machine was available and that provided the distancing recommended by the CDC or other. Masks were required when walking around the facility but not so if you were actually working out. There didn't seem to be any fewer people there than what one might otherwise expect in the days before Covid came along so that was reassuring. I definitely want to get there during the off hours if no other reason than to avoid the issues that go along with being in crowded spaces in the era of Covid.
Even Nancy is starting to let down her guard down a bit. Today, she's off to get her hair cut. It's not something that she has fancied precisely because of the virus and all of the vicious rumors circulating about it being airborne and everything else under the sun. When they tell you that the virus can retain its viability on surfaces for some 72 hours it tends to get your attention. And now we know, or we're starting to figure it out for ourselves, most of these rumors are just nonsense. So the sun will continue to come out, the moon will continue to rise and fall, and we'll all move on and move past this Covid thing. God willing.
I have to tell you, though. It felt good to be back at the gym. It felt good to be getting some exercise again. I feel the need to start using my muscles again because the rigors of a mean winter in the months ahead may demand it. Biking is good but I'm leaving several muscle groups in the lurch when biking is all I do. I kid myself when I think that just leaning into my handle bars while riding offers come kind of isotonic something that may or may not be better than nothing. I kid myself when I think that pumping my legs more ferociously mile in and mile out provides more than a rippling of anything much less the muscles in my legs.
Nancy will be going down to Massachusetts to do a little work for a friend in a day or two. That is also something she wouldn't even have considered doing just a month or two ago. I'm happy to see her getting out of the house. I'm still working on getting her to go to the market more often and without my assistance one way or another. Sometimes, I just have to settle for something as innocuous as her going to pick up a take-out order. Baby steps. I'm not sure how to explain the differences between us when it comes to the fear factor as a result of all things Covid.
Our filters are likely different because of the things we read, the people and things we choose to listen to, and the way we assemble the facts and figures in our noggins. I've often warned her about spending too much time reading publications like the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Their coverage about the virus is more likely than not to spend more time on the number of deaths and less time on the efforts to reduce hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the virus. That's just how they roll, folks. That's how they rolled before the virus and that is how they'll roll long after the virus is gone.
Lastly, I think I'm making some headway when it comes to Nancy and her fear of all things Covid. When I hear her yelling at the television as they spout nonsense about things that we already know to be untrue, I take a mental victory lap. When I see her reacting in a way to stories about the virus that was unthinkable for her just two months ago, it makes me think that if Nancy can have a change of heart and mind about this virus, then there is hope for the world. Nancy may not be a Karen, but it wasn't that long ago that I thought she may have started down that path. I no longer worry about her barking at the moon now. Thank the baby Jesus.