The Crazy Time

Crazy as defined by Merriam-Webster:

Not mentally sound. Marked by thought or action that lacks reason.

Whole new level of crazy.

            What a time to be living in!

            Dictionaries may have to rewrite the definition of crazy. Things that would have been considered exceptionally crazy in previous years only reach the level of being average or kinda’ crazy now.

            Everywhere the world is in flux. Everywhere. Politics. Culture. Religion. Art. Climate. Humanity.

            What’s happening?

            What’s rational?

            What isn’t?

            Have we seen times like this before?

            Has the world seen events like these before?

 Stating the observable.

            We are living in a worldwide pandemic that has killed a four million people so far. (It’s probably way more than that.)

            Political upheaval is almost everywhere. Even the countries that are considered stable are affected by all those that aren’t. Most of the South and middle Americas have suffering populations. Europe is being destabilized. Putin is on the move. The Koreas are a powder keg. China is rattling sabers in Asia. Africa is Africa. The Middle East continues to be a multi-alarm fire. India is in turmoil.

            Our ex-President is now our crazy ex-President. Another first. If he wasn’t crazy evil when he went into office, he qualifies now, after killing a few hundred thousand people needlessly, attempting a coup, encouraging civil war and trying to take out our Republic through ongoing sedition.

            Climate change is making everything worse by adding to all of the ongoing chaos.

Perspective

            We have seen times like this before. So has the world. The outcomes were always costly in terms of humanity and damaging to the planet Earth.

            The Spanish flu of 1918-19 killed 657,000 Americans and 50 million globally. (Estimates) They also had their anti-maskers. They didn’t have an anti-vaccine crowd because they had no vaccine. The flu just had to run its course. Populations were smaller then so that was a larger proportion.

            In World War II, depending upon what numbers you want to use, there were an estimated 60,000,000 deaths directly related to the war and another 20 or 30 million additional deaths indirectly related to the war by famine and disease. The figures are in dispute because there are some guesses that as many as 50,000,000 Chinese alone may have died due to the war. That would dramatically increase the number of casualties. This just serves to illustrate that deaths are usually under counted. Naturally Republicans maintain the opposite in spite of evidence.

            Arguably the times mentioned were worse. But these are the times that we’re living in. And they are far worse than they need to be. We shouldn’t have done worse than the Spanish Flu 100 years ago. They didn’t even have a vaccine then. Our supposedly modern society managed to not only repeat past history but compound the ignorance.

Where to from here?

            I don’t believe things will get crazier. I do believe that they will remain just as crazy. Conservative ‘Murica is going to kill a LOT more people. The anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, Republicans, Evangelicals and just the plain old-fashioned stubbornly ignorant aren’t going to change any time soon in regard to politics of civil war or the pandemic. It’s too late to go into another lock-down and frankly it wouldn’t work any better than it worked before. Fifty different responses to a pandemic is simply not the answer.

It’s just going to have to run its course.

Ramses Speaks

 

            "I don't believe in a stimulus check because if $600 or $1,400 changes your life you were pretty much screwed already," Ramsey said. "You got other issues going on."

High on the hog

            Evangelical prosperity gospel preaching Dave Ramsey made the above statement on Fox Pravda. Ramsey is reported in a variety of places to have a net worth of between $50 and $200 million. He lives on the top of a hill in a $5 million dollar mansion. Like a lot of other Evangelicals Ramsey lives high on the hog.  For the Christian elite like Ramses the 40 million people living in poverty in this country have “…other issues going on.”

At least one issue for sure is those like Ramses.

            Obviously Jesus had it wrong when he told the young rich guy to sell all his stuff. Well, nobody ever said that Jesus was good with money. Ramsey could have taught Jesus a thing or two. But in defense of Jesus he did have other issues going on.

            Ramses to Jesus:  giving money to desperate people for food and shelter only encourages them to be lazy.

Other issues?

            Like earning a wage that doesn’t pay for the barest of living expenses.

            Like no health insurance.

            Like living in the wrong place in the wrong time.

            Like no access to birth control or family planning.

            Like too much wealth concentrated with people like Ramsey.

            Like a pandemic?

            Oh that’s right, Ramsey the seer is also a Covid denier. It’s a hoax. 500,000 Covid deaths are all about the hype. He kept employees working even if they tested positive for having Covid. Back in December of 2020 Ramsey held a maskless Christmas party attended by an estimated 1,000 people at his HQ. Guests were provided maps directing them to the open bars and pop up casino. Vendor workers were encouraged not to wear masks so as not to upset guests. Nothing upsets Evangelicals’ guests like somebody trying to keep them from harming themselves or others.

            Those like Ramses that live to keep adding to their wealth pile….

Have got other issues going on.

Lifestyles of the poor and anonymous.

 

Poverty

            What does it mean to be living in poverty?

            What is the poverty line; that line that differentiates between living in poverty and just being poor?

            Well the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for 2020 for a family of 2 is $17,240. For a family of 4 it’s $20,200.

            In 2000 there was a low of 31.5 million after a 7 year drop from a high of 39 million in 1993. In 1990 there were over 33 million below the poverty line. (Add another 20 million give or take a few above this line to those that are just “poor” in any given year.)

            As best I can determine from ALL of the various information available the number of people living in poverty had been dropping since 2014. There were approximately 46.6 million people living in poverty then. That run is over.

            For the last 30 years we’ve had at least 31 million people living in poverty on a yearly basis. 31,000,000. That’s the number of people living below the FPL. The number of people at the FPL in 2019 was just shy of 34 million.

These aren’t small numbers.

Crackers

            None of this really addresses the question that this started off with though. What does it mean to be living in poverty? Again we’re talking about poverty not about being poor (low income).

            I’ve been poor both as an adult and as a child but we always had food to eat. We were never impoverished. Not poor now though. Caught some breaks unlike so many others and made it to a comfortable retirement. (Union wages and benefits.)

            My first wife remembered growing up when the only food that they had in the house to eat was crackers. Her Dad growing up had to wear a dress to school for a time because that was all the clothes his parents had and his pants were worn completely out. They literally couldn’t afford to buy clothes.

That was poverty.

            Then there’s homeless poverty. Not just individuals either but entire families. There’s poverty that spans generations; one hopeless generation followed by another. Year in. Year out. No way out. There’s inner city poverty. There’s geographical poverty like what exists in the Appalachia region.

            Who are these people? Do you see them in your day to day life? Are they waiting on you? Are they serving your food? Are they working to bring your food to the table? Are they cleaning? Are they working the hard physical labor jobs at the bottom? Are they working in meat packing plants, driving cabs, cooking food, waiting tables, picking crops, cleaning rooms? Yes is the answer. All these and more. They also populate the medical field.

Poverty

            It doesn’t make any difference whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge. The numbers may go up a little or down a little but things stay the same for tens of millions living in poverty and tens of millions more that are poor. It’s little wonder that many or most of them don’t vote. Why should they participate in a process that makes no difference in their lives?

            I stayed away for the most part about the state of poverty in 2020. We have a few million additions to the ranks of the poor and desperate because of the pandemic. Millions who have had their lives destroyed for all practical purposes. How do they build back to subsistence living? What happens when there’s nothing left to lose?

Capitalism has failed

            Thirty million people living in poverty decade after decade is not a success story for the current oldest Constitutional democracy. It doesn’t speak well for our system of government or the two main parties.

            The rich, however, have done great under this system. They have done it on the backs of the poor and the shrinking middle class. The poor do the grunt work of society. They handle the ugly stuff, the work that others don’t want to stoop to do. They will accept desperation wages. They are what have been known as “essential workers” during the pandemic.

            What does it mean to be living in poverty during a pandemic?

They will die in greater numbers.

 

America Surrenders!

 

 Throw in the towel!

            The draft dodging grab them by the pussy lying President’s Administration says that the pandemic can’t be controlled. So our Super Spreading President is pitching in and holding rallies across the country to have as many of his cult as possible spread the pandemic!

Covid-19 for everyone!

            Trump tells his dupes that we have turned the corner! He says this as the nation hits record highs. He says this as the fatalities mount. Hospital ICUs are filling up! Beautifully done, according to Trump and his rabid followers. Trump survived the virus so it’s every man, woman and child for themselves! Roll the Covid-19 dice for yourself and all those you care about, madman supporters. Roll the Covid-19 dice for complete strangers!

You are the Zombie hordes!

Self-fulfilling prophecy.

            “We are not going to control the pandemic.” And by “we” they mean all of us. Misery loves company. Vice President Pence is doing his best to be a Super Spreader as well. Even though 5 of his aides, so far, have tested positive, he’s going to stay on the road for his master. He is essential to doing his part in spreading Covid-19 as well. Essential!

Typhoid Larry and Typhoid Mary.

            My apologies to all the Larrys and Marys that are wearing masks, physical distancing and doing their best to keep from spreading the virus. My thanks to all those who are doing their best to keep from spreading the virus.

             Trump’s Covid-19 spreaders are busy in every state and community though. Their disbelief is your danger if you haven’t had it and don’t want it. They’re hard to avoid. They are intentional about their disdain for the safety of others.

Feign surprise?

            Should we be surprised about any of this? Not really. Nothing has changed since Trump was activated by his Russian handlers. Since he first asked for their involvement in getting him reelected, he has been the best defender and advocate of their interests of any President that we have ever had.

            No, those of us that live in the real world don’t need to feign surprise or clutch our pearls like his Republican enablers of Congress.

            Trump has done as well in handling the virus as he has with his bankruptcies. He has bankrupted our nation’s response to dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He survived like he did with his bankruptcies and made others have paid the price. Some paid the full price.

Soon to be 300,000.

Races tighten.

            The Ducé of racist America is beating the election drum. The polls are tightening. The lines are long. The power of chaos maker is within their grasp again. They are foaming for his Amerika. They don’t care about masks. They won’t take a vaccine. They don’t care how many die from the virus. They don’t care if there’s another pandemic.

            Trump sells ignorance.

We don’t have to buy it.

Shoo in!

 A lock.

            Right up until the pandemic hit Trump really had a lock on the election. A lock! That should give Evangelicals a pause.

It didn’t.

            Trump thought that he had created a safe bio-bunker that would keep him protected. He was wrong.  It’s like God was sending Evangelicals a message. You might think that he would get that.

He didn’t.

            Then after Trump contracted Covid-19 he spread it to others. That also should have given Evangelicals pause.

It didn’t.

            Trump thinks Evangelicals are suckers for him to play.

They are.

            Evangelicals like Pool Boy Falwell Jr. and Franklin Graham helped put lipstick on a grab them by the pussy pig.

Then the pandemic got worse.

Much worse.

            Millions of people remain out of work. Not just from the pandemic but because Republicans decided it was okay to kill people and put money first. They starved people out to force them back to work. The end result has been to make the economy worse, much worse, than it would have been.

            The day after the debate where Trump said that the corner has been turned on handling the virus the nation hit an all-time high of 83,000 cases in one day. Hospitals are filling up. Deaths are going up.

Good job Republicans! Good job!

Mission accomplished!

Fix the potholes.

            There’s a simple mantra in small town politics that helps elected officials get reelected. Fix the potholes.

            In national politics keeping unemployment low is similar when it comes to getting reelected. It’s one of the “keys” that Allan Lichtman, the guy that predicts Presidential elections, uses. In the 2020 election he said that was the deciding key of the 13 that he uses. (If you search for Allan Lichtman be careful. There are fake sites using his name. He does have a book for sale on Amazon.)

Trump’s “pothole” became a chasm.

Remember when?

            Remember when Republicans said that President Obama was the worst President and couldn’t get reelected? Then he got reelected. People just didn’t believe that Obama was as bad as Republicans said he was. That’s one of the reasons that I said that I thought < Trump will get another term >. Of course I hope that I’m wrong.

            President Obama accepted responsibility and along with Vice President Biden controlled the outbreaks they had. Obama left Trump with a healthy growing economy. A lot fewer people were out of work.

            The lead into the 2020 election is looking better than it did when Hillary Clinton ran against Trump in 2016. She did win the popular vote by 2%. The margin the polls predicted. It’s only in Trumplandia where citizens believe that isn’t true.

            Another thing to keep in mind.

This isn’t 2016!