Sunday, May 31st, 2020.
My last post was back in early March, in the days before The Rona. God, that feels like a lifetime ago. I’ve really wanted to write about COVID and all the craziness with that, but even that can wait. To say that the fecal matter hit the mechanical air circulation device in the past week is a major fucking understatement. But to cover that, I need to touch briefly on COVID-19, or the Coronavirus.
I talked about it a little in my last post Super Tuesday Preview about how we were on the verge of a pandemic, and that it would be a good idea to study the Spanish Flu to see what was going on. What happened after that can best be described as either a monkey paw wish for clean air and no more school shootings, or some mother fucker out there is playing Jumanji. Yes, I’m like 4 sentences in and I’m already dropping a few f-bombs, that’s how fucked things are.
Here’s the short, short version of the last 3 months, more or less. A virus named COVID-19, short for Coronavirus Disease 2019 spreads, well, the fucker goes viral. It’s an airborne disease that can be spread through droplets in the air and while it has a 95-99% recovery rate, that 1-5% is a literal fucking killer. As of this writing, at least 106,187 Americans have died from this disease. That number only counts the confirmed cases, those people that died in hospitals or nursing homes and tested positive while alive. It doesn’t include the tens of thousands of people that died at home or before they got tested. It doesn’t include the people that died from other diseases or trauma but couldn’t get treatment because the hospitals were overwhelmed, and it doesn’t include the suicides and homicides from stress. We also don’t have a clue how many people died at home alone during quarantine.
Oh yeah, quarantine. In the days after my last post, the world went into quarantine to flaten the curve. That sentence had no meaning 3 months ago. Now, everyone knows what it means. Everything shut down. Schools, parks, offices, restaurants, movie theaters, sports, even Disney shut their parks down. The states led the charge because Trump is a fucking waste of space on a good day and actively fucking things up on a bad one. Everyone had to shelter in place. What does that mean? STAY THE FUCK HOME! And this wasn’t just a few cities, this was EVERYWHERE. Some states, all of them Red, chose not to, but for the most part the entire world has been on pause for the last few months. This also fucked up the economy, too.
Ever wonder what 40 million unemployed and nearly 25% unemployment looks like with damn near no help from the federal government? Welcome to the United States 2020. When everything shut down, a fuckton of people lost their jobs. The stock market crashed, unemployment surged and keeps going up. Another new term popped up: essential workers. These are the people that do the real fucking work in our society but are shunned or looked down on by the Karens of the world. Think grocery workers, garbage men, janitors, and first responders. By the way, Karen has become a meme. It represents the middle aged white lady, often with a short femullet hair cut that makes a stink about every tiny issue and demands to speak to the manager. Their white privilege knows no bounds. It’s not socially acceptable to call them a cunt to their face, but Karen works in its place. Not that you can see what they could say through the masks.
One cool thing that came out of this is wearing masks. Since the disease is airborne, it spreads easily. The best way to prevent the spread of a deadly airborne disease is for everyone to wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth. This can be a surgical mask, respirator, bandanna, or some improvised or homemade masks.
The first couple weeks of quarantine weren’t bad. It was rough, but people genuinely tried to pull together and be better. That was until a bunch Russian bots and insurrectionists funded by the DeVos family astroturfed a bunch of Conservatives into thinking that wearing a facemask in public is tyranny and a plot by the “libtards” so they put on their best ill-fitting tactical cosplay, grabbed their AR-15’s, and marched on state capitols. It got so bad in Michigan that the government closed their session. Not a single one of those terrorists was charged. Meanwhile, not a week went by where a black person was killed by the police for being black and a bullshit excuse being given to justify it. Through all of this, medical staff still can’t get proper PPE, personal protective equipment.
Fast forward to this past week. Tensions were already running high with people at each other’s throats on social media, Conservatives going completely nuts over their “freedoms” being infringed all the while the death toll keeps climbing, and Trump attacks everyone from reporters to women and Twitter for fact checking him. He even retweeted a video that said “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.” Enter Minneapolis and George Floyd.
George was a black man who had the cops called on him for allegedly writing a bad check. The cops arrested him, then Officer Derrick Chauvin violated every rule of engagement and handling prisoners and kneeled on George’s neck for 9 minutes, all while three other officers stopped onlookers from offering assistance or even stopping their fellow officer from trying to kill this man. George was pronounced dead by the time he arrived at the hospital following his injuries.
Since this is 2020 and cameras are everywhere, this went viral in a heartbeat. The officers tried to say that George resisted arrest. Security cameras showed that the claim was bullshit. They said he was violent. He wasn’t. It didn’t take long for the anger to rise, but it took too long for the Minneapolis Police Department to do anything. It took a day to fire the four officers involved and a few days to charge Chauvin with 3rd degree murder and manslaughter. The other three officers are still free.
That did it. Thursday night members of George’s community marched peacefully to the police station where those assholes worked. The police fired teargas and rubber bullets at the protesters. The protesters tried to run, but were fired upon. Eventually, some accelerationists started smashing windows and while the black people tried to find things to defend themselves, white people looted the stores. Within a couple days all hell breaks loose and it turns out that White Nationalists, aka Trump Supporters were out trying to cause violence to blame it on black people. The police then attacked the black protesters, and full blown riots break loose.
This scene was repeated all over the country. Peaceful protests turned violent by agent provocateurs looking to start a race war. In Detroit, Trump Supporters opened fire into a crowd from inside a van. In Salt Lake City a Trump Supporter fired into a crowd of protesters with a bow and arrow. In Pittsburgh, a group of Anarchist Cosplayers smashed out the windows of a police van and set it on fire. In New York City, cops ran over people with their police cruisers. Louisville Police fired at a news crew. Minneapolis PD fired paint canisters at people standing on their own porches.
So, let’s do the math, shall we? We have a pandemic that has killed over 100,000 Americans, quarantines that put more than 40 million of them out of work, a piss poor government response to rampant unemployment, a complete lack of PPE for the first responders facing diseased patients, a Federal government led by a narcissist who only cares about people who like him, a generation of people who have shit upon their whole lives because of their skin color, a bunch of Conservatives who think they’re being bullied by libtards and want to hurt anyone they can, a bunch of Neo-Nazis looking to start a race war, and every police department in the country with access to military equipment but no proper training on their use, and what do you get?
The definition of a clusterfuck.
I don’t know what happens next, but it’s not pretty. Real change is never pretty. As I’ve said before, I live in Pittsburgh. I could see the police helicopters over the riot from my porch. I loaded the magazines in my guns for the first time. As if I didn’t already have anxiety issues before, this puts the cherry on the turd sundae.
Here’s what I do know. I no longer will maintain respect for anyone who pushes the Blue Lives Matter or All Lives Matter hashtags, or tries to act like #BlackLivesMatter is bullshit. I have no problem with cutting people out as friends over “political differences” because those differences mean that they are a racist dick. I will do what I can when I can to support people of color, as that is literally the least I can do as a crakity-ass cracka. If I were any whiter, bitches be callin’ me Casper.
I’m here to help, as much as I can. I may look like I’m a fat middle-aged white guy whose never seen shit, but I’ve seen some shit. I’ve worked in places where white people fear to tread. I’ve lived in places where white people wouldn’t dare set foot. You know the old joke “if you can count how many black people have been in your house you’re racist?” Well, back in the day, I was the white guy on the block. I’ve been in the car when the driver was pulled over for DWB, Driving While Black. I’ve seen how the cops acted when a white guy answers the door and how they react when a black guy does the same thing. I’m here to help us get to a world where we are both treated equally. And I hope you’re along for the ride, or at least not getting in the way.
Thank you and have a good one.
None of this is Normal 