Famous Nobodies

Does it ever seem to you that every other person is a "celebrity" you never heard of? Just logging on to the Internet to check my mail or post this blog, I often come across stories about someone unknown to me. Is it because I'm out of the loop, living up in Maine and not reading People magazine, or is it just that it takes almost nothing to become "famous" these days?

For example, this morning I read about a supposedly well-known "influencer" who jumped to her death. "The world mourns" this 30-year-old woman who was a former Miss USA. Really? Certainly it is sad that a young, beautiful woman committed suicide, but is the world really mourning her passing? (And BTW, I guess being famous doesn't make you happy.)

Another nobody posted pictures on Instagram showing off her recent weight loss. People commented offering their congratulations. I wanted to write, "Who are you and why would anyone care that you lost weight?" But I didn't -- mostly because I can't even lose five pounds as hard as I try, so I guess the woman is worthy of kudos. Still, I never heard of her, even when she was fat.

Film Review: SOME KIND OF HEAVEN

A belly dancing class in The Villages.

If you're a fan of documentaries you may enjoy Some Kind of Heaven. But there are no guarantees. The film, released in 2020, takes a close look at the world's largest retirement community called The Villages, located in Florida. It focuses on the lives of four specific residents, all of whom are extremely depressed. I'm sure there are some happier people living there, but they are not in this movie. (Spoiler alert: Make sure you're feeling good when you start watching, or you might end up swallowing a handful of sleeping pills with a bottle of vodka and ending it all before you ever get to the point these people are at.)

On the one hand, you'll get a good look at a retirement community, which is a whole other way of life and supposedly a good one as the title suggests. Shot in truly vibrant technicolor, the images fairly pop off the screen. People drive around town in golf carts, attend all kinds of classes and activities, play lots of golf and pickleball and do plenty of dancing on the village square seemingly every night. It's party, party, party all the time. On the other hand, just shoot me if I have to live there.

See for yourself. It's on Hulu.

Specious Spousal Behavior

What do you do when your spouse is embarrassing? I ask because this situation crops up fairly often in my life. I mean, does his questionable behavior reflect poorly on me? More to the point, should it? After all, I'm not his mother. Or even a blood relative, so basically it has nothing to do with me.

What I'm referring to at the moment is my husband's upcoming trip to northern Minnesota, planned for the middle of February when the temps are four degrees below on a regular basis. Unless they're three below.

Why would he go, you wonder. Well, to go ice-fishing. Which means, to sit on a frozen lake and dangle a fishing line into a hole in the ice, for hours on end. (See photo) 

The draw is drinking beer, if you ask me, and plenty of it, along with some other guys who are around, all of them talking "man talk." Oh, did I mention he first has to drive two hours to an airport, then fly for three and a half hours, spend the night in a hotel, then drive five hours (across the frozen landscape) to get to the little hole in the ice?

See what I mean? It's embarrassing. Especially since he doesn't fish.

The Bidens Ruin Another Life

Imagine being a cat living on a farm. It's Heaven! You get to chase little mousies, and whatever other critters are scurrying around in the barn. If you're really quick you might catch a few and kill them. What fun! And there are other, bigger animals around, like chickens and cows and horses and who knows what.

Then one day some fancy lady comes along and thinks you're pretty and suddenly your life is a living Hell. She kidnaps you and your life is over. No more fun for you -- you're stuck inside some sort of huge space that's pretty sterile, with not a mouse in sight. And now you have to take a crap in a box of pebbles instead of out in nature. 

There's just two old people rattling around, and a giant dog that scares the shit out of you. How did this happen? Is this a bad dream? Will you ever wake up?

This is the fate of the new White House cat, named Willow by Jill Biden (after her hometown, like the cat cares) who took a liking to it a while back and decided she had to have it. Now there's no more fresh air to breathe, grass to nibble on or butterflies to chase. Not even any little kids to play with! Just lots of silly plastic toys to bat around and some flashing lights once in awhile when the photographers are let inside.

Thanks a lot, Bidens!

Taking a Bullet

After 35 years of marriage I just found out that my husband doesn't really love me -- at least not in the way one hopes to be loved. I discovered this after a conversation with our son, who was questioning his own relationship with his live-in partner. I asked him if he loved her. He replied, "What's love anyway?" I said, "Would you take a bullet for her?" He said, "Take a bullet? No, I wouldn't take a bullet for anyone!" At which point I said, "I'd definitely take a bullet for Dad." 

I later repeated this conversation to my husband, who was appalled at the idea that he would be expected to take a bullet for me. Certainly it wasn't in our wedding vows, he reminded me, when he had balked at having to promise to be faithful. I said I'd gladly let him out of the faithful promise if he would agree to take a bullet for me.

Things are at a standstill.

Hot Chick Picks for the Supreme Court

These women are all under consideration. One of them isn't even a judge!

Hey, if we're going with "black woman" as the only necessary requirement to fill the seat of retiring Justice Breyer, why not make it someone good-looking? I mean is there an unwritten rule somewhere that the justices have to be, well, unattractive (except for Amy Barrett) to be considered thoughtful and wise enough to have the final say on the laws we all live by? After all, if you're sitting just one rung below God, you might as well be a stunner.  I'm praying that Biden might consider the highly accomplished women listed below. So what if they lack a ton of judicial experience? They're born females and they're black, and that's all Joe's looking for.

Halle Berry: She is the certainly the prettiest, no contest. Also, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress! Beat that if you can.

Oprah Winfrey: One of the the richest women in the world, a successful businesswoman, and quite attractive during her thinner periods, surely she's a great pick.

Rashida Jones: I loved her on The Office! What a riot, and also very pretty. Plus her dad is Quincy Jones, so she's probably got some great Hollywood connections.

Janet Jackson: This one would certainly appease the younger litigants trying cases before the Court. And for once she would be all covered up in one of those robes,  thus eliminating any "wardrobe malfunction" possibilities.

Harris Faulkner: A Fox News anchor, Harris is quite beautiful, very smart and although likely too conservative to pass muster with the Democrats, she's fair and balanced and very appealing.

Queen Latifah: Come on, this is a no-brainer! Who doesn't love and respect the Queen? She's classy, talented, funny and probably would be very fair since she was born and raised in New Jersey.

Biden Has a Thing for Black Women

The upcoming retirement of Supreme Court Justice Breyer has opened the door for President Biden to pick his successor. Gee, I wonder how he will go about it, since it's such an important position and there are so many qualified candidates working in our judicial system all over the country. Must be a tough job to narrow it down, right?

Wrong. Joe's all ready. He pledged a couple of years ago during the campaign that he would nominate a black woman for the highest court in the land, just like his VP was chosen for her gender and skin color. Either he's got a thing for black chicks or he believes that his legacy will burn brighter as an anti-racist. Either way, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. surely must be spinning in his grave.

Call Yourself an American!

Mitch McConnell, already despised by every Democrat without exception, raised the level of hatred last week when he said, “The concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.” 

This freaked out all the liberals. What was he saying? Was he inferring that black people are not true Americans? Was he demeaning every black person in America? Duh, no. He simply mistakenly omitted the word "all" in front of  the word "Americans." BFD. Get a life, people, there's nothing to see here. 

And a note to all African Americans: Why not just call yourself an American? Especially if you were born in Newark, New Jersey or Los Angeles, California and have never even been to Africa. What's the point? Should I call myself a Jewish American? Or more to the point, a Russian Polish American? 

All you little people busy sniffing out signs of racism: Give it a rest.

Stupid Sons of Bitches

By now most people have heard that Joe Biden was a bad boy at a press conference yesterday, calling a FOX news reporter who asked him a tough question "a stupid son of a bitch"-- under his breath but over a hot mic. Soon enough his comment was spreading around the world, alerting all people everywhere that America is still run by a jerk.

It goes hand in hand with so many other faux pas made by politicians of all stripes, none of which ever seem to bring them down. These days people can get away with almost anything and still collect a paycheck.

Lawyer Jeffrey Toobin masturbated on camera during a Zoom conference call with his colleagues at The New Yorker, and while I'm not sure the magazine has retained him on staff, he shows up many nights on CNN as a pundit who knows a lot of important stuff. Which is ridiculous, since he didn't know enough not to masturbate during a Zoom meeting, so what could he know about anything?

His actions remind one of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, whose career crashed to a halt when it was learned that he had used his public Twitter account to send photos of his very own erect penis to several young women, ages 15 and 22. One photo showed him in bed with his infant son. (Oy, Anthony!)

Years ago, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke often about his experiences fighting in the Vietnam War. Turns out the closest he got to Vietnam was enjoying a bowl of pho in a Vietnamese restaurant. No biggie, he was re-elected anyway. After all, what's so bad about lying when you're a politician, right?

The list of Stupid Sons of Bitches in politics is long, headed of course by President Bill Clinton who did you-know-what to the blue dress in the Oval Office. And don't forget D.C.'s Mayor Marion Barry, caught on a live camera smoking crack with a prostitute in a hotel room while in office. After six months in prison he was re-elected by his loyal constituents, many of whom also smoked crack.   

Draw your own conclusions, but it seems to me that Biden's error was small-time when compared to all those others. I guess he'll be around for awhile.

Why Dogs Bark

Being a human these days is tough. Really, if I ever wrote what I really think about what's going on in our society right now, I would be arrested and jailed by day's end. So many rules! So many experts telling us what to do! So many genders from which to choose! And so many pronouns that were never before important but now matter so much to so many! 

One subject that blows my mind is the word games people play in service to political correctness. For example, and as I have mentioned in this space before as it continues to mystify me, it's okay to call a black woman "a woman of color" but racist to call that same woman "a colored woman." This got me wondering if I should be calling my colored pencils "pencils of color." Sounds silly, right? Right, since they both mean the same thing.

Another oddity is that many, many people are still wearing cloth face masks despite all the medical experts proclaiming they are nothing but "facial decoration"  and do nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19. Even Dr. Fauci, a mediocre expert at best but one with plenty of experience at the age of 80, admits that cloth masks are worthless. Yet people still wear them and are outraged by those who go maskless. 

It's possible these behavioral malapropisms are why dogs bark for no apparent reason. They're actually laughing -- at us. 

Happy Birthday to My BFF

I know she's reading this because, well, she reads this almost every day! (Now that's what I call a friend.) I won't name her because she probably wouldn't want me to. And besides, it allows me to praise her to the skies without her getting embarrassed and without anyone who disagrees with me writing a rude comment. 

Her long list of admirable qualities includes:

Kindness: Each morning she reads the entire daily metropolitan newspaper, word by word, to a friend who had a stroke several years ago and who can no longer read.

Adventuresome: She has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, sailed (in a little boat, not an ocean liner) from California to Hawaii with a group of strangers after answering an ad seeking crew members, spent ten days in Haiti, and trapped hawks in remote areas of Utah for months at a time for the benefit of science.

Nurturing: Besides raising three children and currently participating in the daily care of her grandson, she nursed her husband back to health after he suffered a debilitating stroke several years ago. She makes a mean chicken matzoh ball soup.

Intelligent: She plays Bridge like a champ and belongs to a book club and actually reads the books. She played Wordle a few times but stopped because it was too easy and not a challenge.

Talented: She's an exceptionally great cook and extremely organized, preparing huge meals for as many as 20 people for all holidays. She also plans all the meals and buys all the food (with necessary condiments!) for about 10 (or more) people for a two-week long camping trip every summer in the Grand Tetons.

Loves Animals: She's had a long  parade of dogs and cats who, if they could talk, would say she's the best owner any pet could have. She paid many thousands of dollars for surgery when her daughter's miniature schnauzer was attacked by a bigger dog and had his side all but ripped open! She once called a pet psychic for help when her timid indoor cat accidentally got outside in a snowstorm, and she found him!

Funny: She cracks me up, and hardly anyone does.

So Happy Birthday to You-Know-Who-You-Are! And may you have many more and most important of all, outlive me!

Wordle World

The new game taking the Internet by storm is called Wordle, wherein you must guess a secret 5-letter word in six tries. It's not original; many similar games precede it, most notably Jotto which I played on car trips in my youth. But Wordle has caught on, mostly with a young generation who never played any of the games that came before it. It's played on a cell phone, requiring nothing else, so it's got that in its favor. Another thing is that it's so easy even a Millennial can play it.

In fact, it's too easy for me and my baby boomer friends, many of whom have played a few times and stopped because it's not a challenge. I continue to play because A, it takes only a few minutes and B, I keep hoping I'll miss one day and my faith in the next generation will be restored. 

The Mythical Cycle of Incarceration

"Get help!"

I read something yesterday that confused me, so much that I am compelled to share it here. A woman named Attica Scott is running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in Kentucky. As part of her bio, her PR team wrote the following which was included in an email to my husband from one of his rabid lefty relatives:

"Attica’s personal story is compelling. Lots of folks can relate. She knows hardship. Her mother struggled with addiction and died from an overdose when she was 16. Her father was trapped in the cycle of incarceration."

What exactly does it mean to be "trapped in the cycle of incarceration?" Is quicksand involved? Doesn't it just mean the same thing as "repeat offender," or was the man actually trapped, held against his will and forced to commit crimes that landed him back in jail? And finally, is the Cycle of Incarceration a real place, like the Ninth Circle of Hell?

Whatever it is, Ms. Attica's personal story is sad and depressing but would not make me vote for her. Just because someone had a crappy childhood does not necessarily make them fit to make laws for the rest of us. If it did, almost everyone would be in politics. 

Long Live Fat-shaming

Tess Holliday is the first fat supermodel.

Today the average American woman aged 20 and above and standing 5'4" tall weighs 170 pounds. I found that shocking. I am 5'5" and when I tip the scales at more than 140 I feel like crap. My clothes are too tight, I have less energy and I can't bear to see my protruding stomach and surrounding excess fat in the mirror, so do I have a problem or does everyone else?

In 1960, the average weight for a woman the same height was 140 pounds. So what's going on? More restaurants? More commercials for food on TV? Less self-respect? Or could it be that the term "fat-shaming" has birthed a no-holds-barred attitude towards overeating, sloth and gluttony? 

God knows without the occasional fat-shamer, Americans would be even fatter. So keep at it. And all you fatties out there, take a look in the mirror naked and tell us you like what you see.

Waking Up Unwoke Words

An article in today's Portland Press Herald details efforts being made to change terms for un-woke terminology to "show more respect for criminals." No longer should it be acceptable to call someone a prisoner, inmate or repeat offender; after all, it makes them sound like bad people! So the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers supports rewriting state statutes to remove offensive language, saying, "Words matter. The words we choose and the language we use signals to the world at large the things and people we value -- and those that we don't." 

Hey, just because someone has a rap sheet a mile long and reportedly rejects the limits of the law, they are still of value, right? So from now on, "prisoner, inmate or convict" will become a "resident of a correctional facility" or a "resident of a jail." A "drug user" is more appropriately described as "a person who uses drugs," while "a mentally ill person" should be called "a person who is mentally ill." 

To further wake up our language, I suggest the following changes to some very un-woke words:

Thief - This common word implies that someone is prone to stealing. Instead, say "a person lacking the funds to support his desires."

Dog - Once called "man's best friend," the term has sunk to new lows. Too often a bad movie, an ugly woman and an unjust law are often referred to as "real dogs." To elevate our four-legged friends to their rightful position as just below God, I suggest we say "Creature whose poop we carry."

Baby - The word implies someone who cries a lot, is unable to care for him or herself and who needs help doing the slightest thing. I suggest we replace it with "tiny human with undeveloped potential."

Nurse- Everyone thinks of nurses as people who empty bedpans and do the grunt work in hospitals. More truthful is admitting they actually do everything that matters in a medical setting while the doctors get all the glory just for dispensing drugs. From now on, instead of "nurse" we should say "grossly underpaid medical specialist."

Rapist - Admit it -- nobody likes a rapist. The word immediately makes the person sound bad. Instead, call them "a person who surprises strangers with forced sexual intercourse."

 

It's Hard to Be Happy

Today I had my twice-annual checkup with my dermatologist. He inspected every inch of my skin with a magnifying glass while I held my breath, fearing that any minute he would find something suspicious that would require cutting out, freezing off or, even worse -- watching. But today must be my lucky day because the doctor declared me totally fine. 

Ha! Totally fine on the outside maybe, but what about what lies within? How's my pancreas? Or my liver, or spleen or stomach or lungs and all the rest, don't even think about my breast or ovaries? And what about those two stents they stuck in an artery going into my heart four years ago -- are they still functioning? Are they getting rusty? Who knows?

Come to think of it, my vision isn't great these days. Might  I have a brain tumor? Could it be glaucoma? Or one of those diseases you see advertised all the time whenever you turn on your TV, like IBS or IBSC or Moderate to Severe Psoriasis with Rheumatoid Arthritis? Or god forbid a million times, mesothelioma? 

So big deal -- I don't have skin cancer. At least not today. Whoop-de-doo. 

TV Series Review: DOPESICK

Dopesick is one of the best (if not the best) shows streaming right now. As usual I'm late to the party since it debuted on Hulu last October 13, back when I was wasting my time watching the news about the coronavirus. Finally I figured out it's the same thing every night and stumbled onto this series, grabbed by the name; "dopesick" refers to the symptoms caused by opiate withdrawal. I can already tell I'll have those same feelings when this show ends, since after watching just four of the eight hourlong episodes I'm seriously hooked.

A somewhat fictionalized, almost-documentary based on a book, the plot revolves around the 1995 birth of OxyContin, following its initial celebration as the end of pain for all mankind to its downfall as the trigger of America's deadly opioid crisis. At the center is Purdue Pharma owned by the billionaire Sackler family, the heartless manufacturer responsible for the drug's mislabeling and false marketing that would lead to the addiction and deaths of many thousands of people, mostly young. 

Two of the major talents in evidence are director Barry Levinson and actor Michael Keaton. Almost unrecognizable here, Keaton literally disappears into the role of a small town country doctor, and not through wild makeup or outlandish costumes (like in Beetlejuice and Batman) but by sheer acting ability. His performance is simply stunning and rightly won him the 2022 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a miniseries. 

The rest of the cast is also noteworthy, including Rosario Dawson as a DEA Agent, Peter Sarsgaard as a lawyer for the Justice Department, and especially the young Kaitlyn Dever as an Appalachian coal miner who becomes addicted to the drug, with dire consequences. 

Dopesick is instantly gripping and informative about the inner workings of the pharmaceutical industry, albeit gut-wrenching and sad at times. It will transport you to another world, and that's basically why you set aside your real life to watch anything, right?

Rape Me, Please

" Arriving at the intersection of then and now, before and after, memory and forgetting, Spring/Summer 2022 connects  to propose a definitive New York wardrobe. "

The photo above shows the latest in New York high fashion, by a designer whose company name is KHAITE. You can find her/his/its clothing line on the Internet. I saw the ad shown above on my Facebook page, which is odd since all I wear is jeans and garments that actually cover my body, so why target me?

Anyway, my beef is that the woman (I'm just guessing) shown here, who looks to be languishing in a Manhattan subway station, is supposedly dressed for a night out, in very expensive clothes. Just wondering: Is she wearing so little so that men can imagine her naked and have a lot less to rip off her when they attack her in some dark alleyway? Is this a line of clothing designed for women who want to be raped? 

Seriously asking.

or men to imagwein her nae, 

"Big Brother" Might Be Big Sister

This post is not about transgenderism. It's about how we are being spied on in our homes like the hapless citizens of the dystopian society described in Orwell's novel, 1984.

My husband and I were just finishing breakfast when a loud female voice boomed throughout the house. She spoke sharply, saying, "I didn't get that, speak louder or you'll have to say it again," or something close to that -- it was so shocking I might have blacked out for a few seconds. 

We were aghast, since we do not have ALEXA in our home, or ECHO or SIRI or any of those things people have to make life "easier." Neither of our cell phones was nearby or in use. In fact, mine was on a table across the room and my husband's was in his coat pocket, hanging on a coatrack, with the sound turned off. Our large screen TV (which is basically a computer) was off. Both of our personal laptop computers were off.

So you tell me: Who was that?

Hillary Clinton, Older Than Ever

Hillary Clinton will be 77 when she allegedly will run for and conceivably be elected to the office of the president. This news, being tossed around by Democratic insiders and the subject of a lengthy op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal, is both sad and scary, since Hillary's health was already poor the last time she ran and lost. After all, being old is not quite as desirable as being young. 

I speak from experience, being just about the same age as Hillary. While I still retain a semblance of the female form, my body is not what it once was. It's creaky on most mornings, requiring several cups of coffee to get all the parts working together. Once they do I'm fine and can get through a workout with my Crossfit trainer with no complaints -- at least not until the next day.

But despite my relative good health, like most of my peers I have a host of petty ailments that take some tending. Ice packs, eye drops and a blood pressure monitor can be found among my personal belongings, and my bathroom closet looks like a CVS outpost. I still do most of the things I used to, but with reduced vigor and a lot less passion. 

One thing I could not do is run for political office. Another thing I could not do is be the president of the United States. I'm certainly as capable as the present holder of that title, who is a few years older than I and apparently half out of his mind. But his rocky performance makes it obvious we need someone with plenty of stamina to dress up every day, travel constantly, eat bad food, attend early morning meetings and pretend to run the country.

Hopefully a woman will be president someday, but do we really want her to be an old lady?

Dummies On TV

Actor Bob Saget died yesterday at the age of 65. I am not familiar with him as I never saw his TV sit-com, Full House, which ran from September 1987 to May 1995. Since my son was born that November I was busy being pregnant, and then occupied with being a new mom working part-time for several years after. Judging from all the accolades being heaped on Saget, he was a great guy, very loved by his friends, family and fellow actors. How nice.

But then Fox News anchor/blond bimbo Ainsley Earhardt, while reporting the story, said the following, and I paraphrase: "Since we will all die someday, it's important to be kind to everyone -- the waiter, the parking lot valet, strangers you meet in stores -- because when you die you want all the people who knew you to say nice things about you."

Really? I thought you were supposed to be kind for the benefit of the other guy, not yourself. Ainsley's  statement contrasts greatly with what Jesus Christ said on the same topic: "When you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do, to be honored by men. When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." (Matthew, Chapter 6)

Next up, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a live interview,"We all know that children aren't supposed to die." Huh? I never knew that. I donate frequently to St. Jude's Hospital for Children and Shriner's Hospital for Children, so it's clear that plenty of kids get quite sick, and lots of them do die. In fact, globally 15,000 children die every day. 

Walinsky said that when asked about the veracity of the claim by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor that "100,000 kids are currently in serious trouble in hospitals" and "on ventilators" due to Covid. Turns out that roughly 5,000 kids have been sickened with the virus thus far, which earned Sonia a slap on the wrist from the Washington Post this morning.

It's best to do your own research and don't believe everything you hear on TV. And send a check to St. Jude's today, because if you ask me, kids aren't supposed to be sick.

Loving a Fake Life

Today's New York Times contains a 4-page, full-color pullout section that is an expensive advertisement for fake chicken made by a company called Daring Foods. The authors of the ad copy claim that Daring has "fixed" chicken because chicken is "broken." The way they fixed it is to make it entirely out of plants. Which to my mind is a whole other thing entirely, but that's just me.

They claim their plant-made chicken is "a lot braver, a lot bolder." They don't ever say that it is "a lot faker." 

They say they are "committed to bringing a bird to the table with some big ideas about what chicken can be and what it can inspire." Only what they bring is a not-bird.

Somehow we are to consider a totally fake rendition of something we expect to be real to be "good and inspirational." This magical thinking might apply to the presidency and its current title-holder Joe Biden, so if you find him to be good and inspirational, you just might love that fake chicken.

Shout Out to Seniors

Now that I am old enough to be called a "senior," I'm officially out of touch. I don't have dementia, I still remember who and where I am, what year it is, and sadly, who's the president, but I don't recognize anyone but my friends and family. I have no idea who any celebrities are these days, except of course the dead ones, which is both funny and strange since it keeps me out of the loop, what with celebrities being all anyone talks about besides face masks or how bad Donald Trump was, is and certainly will be when he runs in 2024.

Like just today I read an article about a man I've never heard of or seen before who had a baby with a woman I've never heard of or seen, just two weeks after divorcing a different woman I've never heard of or ever seen, and it was supposedly shocking news. 

That's the main way I know that I'm old, which is important. Otherwise I'd still feel like my life matters, and as we all know, according to advertisers, movie makers and politicians, it doesn't really. 

A Disease Worse Than COVID

If, like me, you are confused as to why so many once-rational people blindly follow the swiftly changing rules regarding COVID quarantine periods, the wearing of masks and what kind, and general testing and vaccine protocol despite the seeming senselessness behind much of them, relax. Now there's a name for that, and it's a disease completely separate from coronavirus. Sadly, if you watch a lot of CNN and MSNBC you probably already have it.

It's called Mass Formation Psychosis, and it might even be worse than COVID.  Following are a few definitions from some experts in the field. Alas, Dr. Anthony Fauci has yet to weigh in, although many believe he has the disease himself and is its primary super spreader.

"Mass formation psychosis may represent a situation where mob influence can leave an individual with rather disturbed thoughts and perceptions and unable to fully distinguish what’s real from what’s not." (Forbes)

"Mass formation psychosis is when a large part of a society focuses its attention to a leader(s) or a series of events and their attention focuses on one small point or issue. Followers can be hypnotized and be led anywhere, regardless of data proving otherwise. A key aspect of the phenomena is that the people they identify as the leaders – the ones that can solve the problem or issue alone – they will follow that leader(s) regardless of any new information or data. Furthermore, anybody who questions the leader’s narrative are attacked and disregarded."- SWFI (Sovereign Wealth Fund Investor)

"According to Professor Mattias Desmet of the psychology faculty at Ghent University, mass formation psychosis refers to a generalised sense of anxiety that leaves a population in a hypnotic state, vulnerable to suggestion."

"Mass Psychogenic is a brain illness in which a person is unable to identify the real and fake. This disease is also called mass sociogenic, epidemic hysteria, mass hysteria, and mass formation psychosis. In current times it is spreading worldwide, especially in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. However, it has no infectious agents but has been seen in COVID patients."

 Mass formation psychosis is a situation when a large section of the society always thinks about the leader or focuses on every small issue." -Rational Insurgent

Kacklin' Kammi's Krazy Komments

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Our ineffective, unimpressive, unremarkable VP, she of the cappuccino skin tone that got her the job, has again proven her ineptitude, stupidity and downright silliness by stating that today reminds all Americans of that day one year ago, January 6, 2021 (one unarmed American killed by a Capitol cop), when our Democracy was as threatened as it was on September 1, 2001, (2,977 unarmed Americans killed by terrorists) and December 7, 1941 (2,403 sleeping American servicemen killed by Japanese military).

Kamala also said that "every American remembers where they were that day." Well hey, I don't, I have no idea. But I do remember in staggering detail every second of the day when the Twin Towers came down, and I wasn't born when Pearl Harbor happened but I'm pretty sure it was a bigger deal to the country.

Someone should put duct tape over Kamala's mouth.

Smash-and-Grab In My Own Backyard

I am proud to say that I am not woke. In fact, half the time I'm not even awake. But I was awake enough this morning to notice that our bird feeder that hangs outside within full view of our living room windows and which I filled early yesterday was completely empty today, something that usually takes more than a week to happen. Besides the theft of the seeds the feeder was bent out of shape, clearly a sign of foul play, or rather squirrel play as we do not keep chickens. (Fowl, get it?)

This pissed me off to high heaven, especially since the feeder in question is called the "Squirrel Buster." The accompanying literature claims it is "truly squirrel-proof" and "pays for itself in saved seed." Well, not at my house this morning. There's spilled seed all over the snow, but not as much as you'd think since most of it went into the big fat tummy of the big fat squirrel that's been lurking around our house ever since we hung the feeder.

So, back to my not being woke: I hate squirrels. I have no respect for them and believe they should be punished for their smash-and-grab tactics, perhaps rounded up and incinerated, or at least incarcerated and kept away from decent society. I certainly don't think they should get off scot-free. Hopefully they have not yet become a protected class and I won't be carted off to jail for cursing them out in the privacy of my own home, which apparently you can't do anymore in 1984, I mean 2022.

The Leaky Faucet

I clearly remember, as a child, that when we had a leaky faucet in our kitchen or bathroom, my father, no handyman by anyone's definition, would go to the hardware store, pick up a few different sized washers, and fix it in no time. Those days are definitely not these days, as I found out when our bathroom faucet started leaking. 

Drip, drip, drip. Nothing too bad, but we understood that in time it would worsen and since the bathroom is adjacent to our bedroom, the dripping was destined to keep us up all night, and soon. A plumber was called.

The request from the plumber was the name and model number of the faucet so he could order the parts needed. Parts? How many, I wondered. Anyway, I assured him that I did not have that information as the faucet was installed about ten years ago and all the pertinent paperwork was long gone. A call to the manufacturer was suggested.

That call took the better part of an hour. Finally I got through to Vicente in customer service who promised he could help. First he asked if the hot water or the cold water was leaking. I had to say I didn't know. Then I had to take picture of the faucet so he could find out what parts would fit. Email would work, he said. The he gave me his email address, which was very long and foreign, with him saying, "V like in Victor, I like in Isadora, N like in Nancy, C like in Carol, E like in Edward," for the whole damn thing. It took forever since his last name was really long and so was the name of the service provider. I was sweating by the time he finished.

After Vicente got my photos he called me back to give me the parts numbers, which were roughly 16 characters each. After struggling to write them down I suggested he email them to me. He agreed that would work. Now I'm hoping the plumber, a very nice young millennial, can handle the job. Who knew putting in a new washer would be such a big deal?