Seems like news reports are nothing but sound bite factories anymore– trying to fit as much information as possible in a ridiculously breathless manner ahead of the next commercial break.

I wonder if these reporters even know what they’re saying. They spew and regurgitate, then the host moves on to the next thing. Everybody’s in a hurry. It’s exhausting and hard to watch, hardly edifying.

What’s up with the President’s provocative statements about Putin being ready to start the attack? Is this some sort of strategy? It seems to be running counter to the attitudes of the Ukrainian people themselves, though I guess they’re starting to take it seriously.

It seems between Biden and the media, the two of them want things to deteriorate. And of course it would give Richard Engel and others yet another opportunity to shine, turn it into a macabre spectator sport. Diplomatic efforts are under way, but the subtext is that they will ultimately be futile.

This is mad, and maddening. The lack of concern over the human cost is sickening, and unforgiveable. Yet again we spiral downward into this ugliness, this bitter pill that we obviously have not evolved beyond needing to swallow. Little learned from the past, except to never trust anyone and spend shameful amounts of money arming oneself to the teeth just in case there’s a next time.

It’s the seeming inevitability of it, the almost sadistic desire willing it to fruition, diplomacy and cooler heads just manifestations of wishful thinking, hapless poster children.

I guess all that’s left is to drum up the cheap, synthesized, simplistic, melodramatic theme music. Yes, and we must call it something, give it a title. So people can tune in and watch the insanity in real time, assuming our lights are still on.

The Freedom Convoy? This is bandwagon stuff, mob mentality, excessive drama. Over-playing their hand. What’s their end game? What do they really want? Unhappy people unhappy for a lot of reasons. Who’s really behind this, or is it an organic reaction to perceived “oppression?”

I don’t know why this bothers me so much.

What’s gonna happen if another pandemic, perhaps more virulent and deadly for a larger cross-section of the population than this one, looms on the horizon? Will any of us have learned anything, or are we just gonna run around like idiots with our hair on fire, again?

There will be tools at our disposal, and they will be ignored, again. Because freedom.

As my wife and I were taking a walk the other day, the simple pleasure of being outdoors on a calm, crisp, and cold winter afternoon was interrupted by the thought of Vladimir Putin, of all people. And others like him.

While we were just taking a stroll on quiet streets enjoying the bright sunshine and blue sky, the revelry was spoiled by the thought of that little beady-eyed twerp plotting an assault, threatening to invade, to visit destruction and heartless chaos on millions of people who, for all I know, also want to know the joy of taking a walk on peaceful streets or country roads on a cold, crisp winter afternoon. People who want to live their lives without the specter of interference and war and death hanging over their heads.

It’s difficult to find the words to describe how wrong this seems. How totally unacceptable it is for anyone to arbitrarily decide, with no thought of consultation, to make life a living hell for others who just want to make it through another day, to find some level of contentment and joy and happiness. How dare he think he has the right to ruin so many lives. It’s an abomination, evil on a cosmic scale.

The world should be tiring of violence, and the world is watching, but of course Vlad doesn’t care. It’s all about playing the great hits of the 50s and 60s for him. Pure power play, a twisted trip down memory lane. Dead bodies and ruined lives apparently mean nothing to him, the son of a bitch.

What do the people in his own country, or the soldiers poised on the front lines, really think of all this? What are they being told? Does he really think that invading Ukraine will make him look like a strong man? He’s just the latest in a long line of petrified delusional anachronisms who rule by fear, who think skewed, selfish thoughts.

Children as pawns.

“Concerned” parents will raise their voices at school board meetings and say that their children are being damaged by having to wear a mask. Others trusted to be in the know argue that children are resilient and may not care all that much about having to wear a mask, or be affected by wearing one.

So, children are delicate flowers who have been denied normal development. Or children are resilient and flexible—perhaps much more so than their elders who seem bent on looking for ways to make mountains out of mole hills would be willing to admit.

Who’s right? I don’t know. Maybe the answer lies somewhere in the unsatisfying middle, where concessions have to be made because a pandemic has lingered longer than it needed to.

I can’t find the article or remember the exact context, but the numbers are indicative of current conditions: U.S Covid deaths per day: two thousand something; current China Covid deaths per day: three, if one can believe the info coming out of a state-controlled media. But it’s all about freedom. Freedom gets you the second highest death toll of all the countries on earth, behind only Brazil. And let’s add a lackluster overall response since the very beginning.

Freedom, though.

At least we’ve preserved our freedom. Hardly a thought for anything or anyone else. It’s always just been about “me.” Forget about the immuno-compromised or the health care workers running on fumes and contemplating a change of vocation, or the backlog of other procedures foregone because hospitals can handle little else beyond the steady stream of Covid patients. Let’s forget about reason and logic and science, while we’re at it.

Zero tolerance isn’t remotely possible in the land of the supposedly free and the home of the… brave? Nah.

The death toll hovers around 900,000. We should be bursting with pride over such a large number. A beautiful, large number. Nearly the largest of numbers. So beautiful.

Barry Bonds got snubbed in the Hall of Fame balloting in his last year of eligibility. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy…

His “stellar” stats aside, he lives with a giant asterisk next to his name for the rest of his life. By his choice. He took the chance, probably figuring in his own annoyingly boastful way, he’d get away with it or just deny until people gave in. If he didn’t have such a contrary personality, maybe some would have given him the benefit of the doubt by now. Guess he must have really been juicin’. Same goes for Mr. Clemens.

It’s really quite simple: they both cheated. They crossed the line in the perverted quest for that competitive edge.

Congrats to Big Papi, I think.

Rumbles of war. Fucking war. Along with everything else. How can anyone still have a stomach for such bullshit? We’re still a bunch of knuckle draggers.

President Biden is weighing sending thousands of troops to Eastern Europe. He’ll say it’s the hardest thing he’ll ever have to do. Well, then don’t do it! Don’t do the automatic thing and send our brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends into harm’s way yet again because YET ANOTHER tyrant who thinks dead humans are mere collateral damage wants something he has no rights to.

We have loftier, more important things to tend to besides humoring a tiny little man trying to shore up his stature as he pines for the “good old days.” Go to hell, Vlad.

Is the problem with Democrats that they’ve spent too much time waiting for the Republicans to play fair? Are they just idealists beholden to process who haven’t learned that the world doesn’t necessarily work that way? Their good intentions are being left to rot in the morass of stonewalling and filibustering and gerrymandering and a Republican minority’s desire to hold onto power any possible way they can.

The Democrats truly seem weak and impotent. They represent 40 million more people, I guess, but have no power to address their needs. I don’t know if 40 million is an accurate number, but one has to believe that there are many more people who align with the platform of the Democratic party than with the tired Republican talking points of convenient Christianity and tax breaks for people who don’t need them and government downsizing and abolishment of Roe v Wade. Oh, and lily whiteness.

The next presidential election cycle, if it involves T****, is not going to go well. By then we may indeed be waist-deep in civil war. It’s not a sign of health when a minority keeps finding ways to stymie legislation intended to relieve suffering, level the playing field, and create opportunity. Anger is going to spill over. Everywhere.

Surely we know the deal by now: the longer people remain unvaccinated, the higher the likelihood that Covid will continue mutating. Sounds like Omicron may not be the last variant. Can’t we just trust the people who have been saying this all along? Why can’t we believe the ones who actually know something about disease progression and infectious diseases in general?

Nobody has all the answers, but many have no answers at all. They don’t know where to begin. They can’t even ask the right questions. They just tap into the lunacy and over-reacting, claiming it’s all about freedom and rights and avoiding that godforsaken nanny state. Meanwhile, our healthcare system crumbles, and school age children and youth continue missing out on what was once taken for granted—a normal school day.

Don’t blame the teachers in Chicago. Look in the mirror instead.