Anderson Cooper recently gave an impassioned, most likely scripted editorial regarding the worsening Covid situation. He began by making it sound like he was launching into another piece on something Trump was saying or doing and then stopped himself and said, “You know what? This doesn’t matter… he doesn’t matter.” He said more, but the essence was that we have much bigger fish to fry than covering the attention-starved manchild every minute of the day.

He then proceeded to highlight the disaster that is taking shape once again, only worse, in hospitals all over the country because of skyrocketing covid caseloads and the resulting shortage of beds, canceling of other procedures, and the exhaustion of staffs everywhere.

This is what your brand of herd immunity buys us, MAGA Nation. Have you thought this through? Are you ready to own this, ready to claim it as your course of (in)action?

You’ll enjoy your holidays, I’m sure.

Dr. Osterholm dares to suggest that another shutdown is advised and financially feasible, but then takes it back. Why does he need to backtrack on something that, while being brutally honest, still needs to be heard? He’s the one who’s been giving it to us straight this whole time. He hasn’t been blowing smoke or, for the most part, weighing his words. He’s been the prophet saying the hard things.

Seems like the choice we have is pretty straightforward—if we sincerely want to put a dent in the spread, if we really do want that– especially in the midst of what’s currently unfolding– then we commit to shutting things down, minimize circulation, bite the bullet and get through 6 weeks of legitimate quarantining, like we should have done back in March. Even if this means staying put for the holidays.

No more half-hearted measures, no more bended knee to those who just don’t want to make the “excessive and oppressive” (or laughably simple) sacrifices of wearing a mask and keeping a safe distance. And we do these things for no other reason than it takes some of the pressure off our overwhelmed healthcare system and the exhausted staffs.

If we’re going to aquiesce, there’s no shame in it being to a dangerous microscopic virus that spreads like wildfire when people are being careless and stupid. Down the road, when we look back on all this, we might wish we had not tried to carry on as if everything was normal.

Of course, others will look back and say, “We carried on despite the challenges, we soldiered through, we rose above…” And they will be proud. But what will have been proven? The indomitable, American can-do spirit? Meh. It’s been less about that and more about stemming the financial losses.

Let’s leave the real heroics to the vaccine researchers and the many doctors, nurses, EMTs, police officers, firefighters, teachers, nursing home caregivers, poll workers, stay-at-home parents, grocery store employees, and everyone who’s been checking on their neighbors. And not just here, but around the world.

I don’t feel like we have anything to prove. Sure, we’re getting our asses kicked by something we can’t even see, and we’re having trouble dealing with that. But we’ve never really put forth the effort needed to nip this in the bud.

This isn’t a battle we win by being stubborn and ignorant and faux patriotic and taking the advice(?) of Donald Trump and Mike Pence and an underqualified neuroradiologist crony and quack, who at this point don’t care anymore, anyway, if they ever did.

Patience is a virtue, the order of the day. And some help from Uncle Sam wouldn’t hurt, either.

What rankles me is the whining, the wistful pining going on over the lack of “patrons” at The Masters.

Yah, there are no roars this year. Get over it. There’s a pandemic going on. Has been since all year! The golf is still going to be great.

The roars will be back next time. Maybe.

It is telling that the pre-election polls were so inaccurate. One reason for this may be revealing: pollsters may have approached many Trump voters who declined to respond to any questions– one might assume because they were ashamed to admit they were voting for Trump.

But why would one be ashamed to admit such a thing, apart from knowingly intending to cast one’s vote for an incompetent, loud-mouthed racist with authoritarian aspirations?

The Republicans are trying to get us to doubt what we can see with our own eyes. Who are these people?

They must be Americans from the other America.

The truly appalling thing is that they are carrying on as if nothing else is happening in the world- no pandemic, no economic hardship, a planet on fire, the myriad other needs to be tended to. I guess I understand the politics of the stonewalling— for the Georgia run-off and the possibility of a Trump run in 2024. And to pay Donald’s bills. Gotta keep the damned base motivated. Still, this doesn’t make the current ugliness any more palatable or excusable.

Looks like the Republican Party has officially checked out. We’re watching a coup attempt, aren’t we?

Donald Trump is like a chronic and painful condition that flares up on a regular basis. A vile, cankerous, pus-infected eruption. A boil, plantar fasciitis, a bad back, a hernia.

Is he really so powerful that the people around him are all in lockstep with his tweets and rants? Or is it, has it always been, the other way around? Is he just your run-of-the-mill gas bag, following someone else’s lead, someone else’s instructions? Has he always just been a mouthpiece, a puppet?

The Republicans appear, once again, to be putting up a united front, claiming fraud and irregularities in the voting results of several states, refusing to give the go-ahead for Biden to start getting ready to take the reigns, refusing to cooperate during the transition.

But the results are the results. The people have spoken. Certainly they are aware that this was no ordinary set of circumstances. There was and is a pandemic going on, so the mechanics of voting were different than normal. What the Republicans are doing is a waste of everyone’s time. They really do like pissing people off. They’re really good at that, but not much else.

We can’t let a minority- even a significant minority- keep hijacking things. 74-plus million people voted for Biden, and he prevails in the Electoral College. The majority rules, yet right now the minority seems to still be pulling the strings, muddying the waters, holding things up. It’s disappointing, and maddening beyond words.

They all seem OK with deepening the wounds and pouring salt in them. Trump and Pompeo and Barr and the rest of the sycophants are vindictive, callous, lecherous, smug, self-serving slugs who need to have their collective shit-eating grin wiped from their faces.

This is all delicious sport to them. They’re all just messing with us, and they think it’s hilarious. They’re like the defeated bully who gets in one last dig about your girlfriend before being unceremoniously tossed out of the dance.

It’s a bit surprising how easy it has been to forget about Donald Trump.

The election, for all intents and purposes, is over. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will take office in January, and already Trump is fading into the ether.

Though not totally, because, well, it’s Donald Trump, and he’s not going anywhere without throwing a hissy fit and giving at least the appearance of wanting to throw a wrench in the works. And he is still the president for another 70-plus days. He can still go scorched earth, unless cooler heads prevail.

The last I checked, Electoral College votes are 279-214. Even Fox News joined the chorus, proclaiming the Biden/Harris ticket the winners. Trump predictably issued a statement saying he doesn’t honor these results and will continue fighting for the result the American people (read: his base) demand.

He really needs to stop saying that.

The noise won’t go away for a while, probably not until 1/20/21. And we can’t really enjoy the Biden victory yet, because we can’t be sure that Trump won’t yet find a way to sabotage things. It’s maddening beyond words, and all so unnecessary.

Trump could concede and tell his supporters that they fought… some sort of fight. He could tell them the race is over and they must try to give Biden and Harris a chance– for the benefit of the country they say they love. But Trump most likely won’t do that, because he can’t. Because he is a child, and apparently because he wants to keep his base fired up. It’ll be a huge missed opportunity, perhaps the most honorable thing he could have done in his life.

One gets the feeling that he and his family aren’t gonna go away. They’re going to find a way to remain in the public eye, and they will whine and accuse and cry “foul!” and bitch about the system being rigged against them. Can you imagine that?

They really are an entitled, ignorant, tone deaf, and wildly unpalatable bunch.

Turns out the only thing that went away after November 3 was the incessant ringing of the telephone signaling another political robo call.

Covid is still here, though. Stronger than ever. And Trump is suing everybody and everything in sight. Imagine that.

While we are or should be invested, what happens here on earth is entirely inconsequential, in the cosmic scheme of things. Everything that happens here on this blue marble is a scream into the void and vacuum of endless space. Even a contested election, which appears to be what we have or will have before too long.

My Pink Floydesque downer of an attempt at trying to dispel the heaviness.

Trump’s reach exceeds his grasp, though not in a good way, and things appear to be playing out just as he wants them. Go away, Orange Man. Or say goodnight, America.

The pollsters really blew this one, kind of like last time. I’ve always thought they were window dressing, anyway. Just a lot of noise and wasted air time and conjecture that creates false confidence, and illusion. Gonna try to stay away from media for a while, though it will be hard. Because this is one gnarly accident scene.