The Three Cees
My stomach tightening begins when I first check the news. I can’t help it. I worked for The Washington Post, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a couple of Canadian and European newspapers. I’m a news junkie; I admit it.
What I see first is a photo of Pence not wearing a mask, but surrounded by people who are and next to a supine Covid-19 patient. Everyone is masked, save him. Then I notice the patient is wearing a golf shirt, socks and loafers, and I think they must have relaxed the rules at the clinic.
Next is a story about how Pence’s people plan to punish the Voice of America reporter who first tweeted the mask story. The Mayo Clinic had advised everyone traveling with Pence that masks were mandatory. Pence didn’t wear one because he wanted to see patients eye to eye (?). He endangered himself and others for a photo op, and his people will gloss over the flouting of clinic rules and seek a scapegoat instead.
Scapegoating is the favorite sport of this administration. The stomach tightening turns to queasiness.
The next item is Trump calling the armed men and women who invaded the Michigan state senate “very good people.” These very good people have assault rifles. They are protesting the Covid-19 regulations. I am reminded that—was it three years ago already—Trump said of white supremacists at a deadly rally that they were nice people too. My stomach tightens a bit more.
Another disturbing Trump story—1000 West Point cadets sent home weeks ago because of the pandemic will now return to West Point so the president can address their graduation ceremony in person. Or eye to eye, as Pence might say.
Ah. Here’s a story that tells me a billion dollars meant to help small businesses affected by the pandemic, instead went to publicly traded companies. I’m relatively sure that’s not right.
Further reading tells me the nation is ready to re-open selected businesses. Tattoo parlors are now deemed necessary, as are nail salons, barber shops, fast-food outlets and liquor stores. I also read that workers who do not go back to work for fear of becoming Covid-19 victims will forego their unemployment benefits. Hundreds of thousands have already lost health care when their employers closed their businesses. The US is the only developed country where losing your job means losing your health benefits. That’s not right either. By now my stomach is in full flux.
BBC says the White House will not allow Dr. Fauci to testify about the pandemic before a House panel. Fauci, in my estimation, is one of the trustworthy scientists whom people listen to. He is, in effect, being gagged. “It’s not the ight time,” says a White House spokesperson. The right time fior what?
There’s an amusing item about a popular gun aficionado and protester who says he would resort to cannibalism if we are, as he believes, nearing end times. He’s a rather portly fellow, so I imagine a few months will pass before he practices anthropophagy but still, I’m sort of glad he doesn’t live in my neighborhood.
On the positive side, I see Canada is banning assault weapons, as did New Zealand. There are oases of sanity, but they’re going fast.
Kim Jong Un of North Korea is alive! Wait. Is that good or bad news?
Oh my. The nauseating, the infuriatingly stupid, the willful ignorant and the plainly dishonest rule the news today.
I’m nauseous.
What I see first is a photo of Pence not wearing a mask, but surrounded by people who are and next to a supine Covid-19 patient. Everyone is masked, save him. Then I notice the patient is wearing a golf shirt, socks and loafers, and I think they must have relaxed the rules at the clinic.
Next is a story about how Pence’s people plan to punish the Voice of America reporter who first tweeted the mask story. The Mayo Clinic had advised everyone traveling with Pence that masks were mandatory. Pence didn’t wear one because he wanted to see patients eye to eye (?). He endangered himself and others for a photo op, and his people will gloss over the flouting of clinic rules and seek a scapegoat instead.
Scapegoating is the favorite sport of this administration. The stomach tightening turns to queasiness.
The next item is Trump calling the armed men and women who invaded the Michigan state senate “very good people.” These very good people have assault rifles. They are protesting the Covid-19 regulations. I am reminded that—was it three years ago already—Trump said of white supremacists at a deadly rally that they were nice people too. My stomach tightens a bit more.
Another disturbing Trump story—1000 West Point cadets sent home weeks ago because of the pandemic will now return to West Point so the president can address their graduation ceremony in person. Or eye to eye, as Pence might say.
Ah. Here’s a story that tells me a billion dollars meant to help small businesses affected by the pandemic, instead went to publicly traded companies. I’m relatively sure that’s not right.
Further reading tells me the nation is ready to re-open selected businesses. Tattoo parlors are now deemed necessary, as are nail salons, barber shops, fast-food outlets and liquor stores. I also read that workers who do not go back to work for fear of becoming Covid-19 victims will forego their unemployment benefits. Hundreds of thousands have already lost health care when their employers closed their businesses. The US is the only developed country where losing your job means losing your health benefits. That’s not right either. By now my stomach is in full flux.
BBC says the White House will not allow Dr. Fauci to testify about the pandemic before a House panel. Fauci, in my estimation, is one of the trustworthy scientists whom people listen to. He is, in effect, being gagged. “It’s not the ight time,” says a White House spokesperson. The right time fior what?
There’s an amusing item about a popular gun aficionado and protester who says he would resort to cannibalism if we are, as he believes, nearing end times. He’s a rather portly fellow, so I imagine a few months will pass before he practices anthropophagy but still, I’m sort of glad he doesn’t live in my neighborhood.
On the positive side, I see Canada is banning assault weapons, as did New Zealand. There are oases of sanity, but they’re going fast.
Kim Jong Un of North Korea is alive! Wait. Is that good or bad news?
Oh my. The nauseating, the infuriatingly stupid, the willful ignorant and the plainly dishonest rule the news today.
I’m nauseous.
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