I missed out on most of this memorable Friday the Thirteenth thanks to Seroquel but it’s officially a National Emergency. Wonderful. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I wish I lived during a boring era. The Asian blessing of “May you live in interesting times,” is a punch in the throat, especially this being The Stupid Ages.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how Orange Foolius and his Trumpkin Army spin the inevitable Recession the pandemic is initiating. Plus how poorly the response has been proves that you cannot run the government the same way a business operates, especially with someone who has failed at it all his adult life; Bush the Lesser too! In a sensible reality, this should be the final straw to make him a one-term asshole. However, the Dems will force Biden down our collective throats with claims of “electability” over effectiveness for the next term. Either way, this viral mess will be a picnic when the planet’s climate is irreversible via the GOP’s Jesus-Will-Fix-It answer or the NeoLiberal No-We-Can’t plan. I’m betting on the former, America is a racist, xenophobic country filled with greedy old people planning to run out the clock before the shit hits the fan.
As for CV-19, etc. I remember being told by a cousin (he was my Grandma’s cousin) who survived the Spanish Flu of 1917-19. His name was Frank and while was in basic training during WWI, he caught it. He was lucky though. He said about two dozen recruits died and contracting this prevented him from going to France to participate in the fighting. No recollection of the symptoms. I was a kid so I had a hard time understanding how people died from the flu. It was something we often got every Winter. All else I know is courtesy of On the Media.
The silver lining from the crisis? The Great Depression exposed Kapitalism and the everyone-for-themselves economy being utter failures. Then came FDR leading the charge to reform matters and prosperity for more followed. Maybe America will finally join the civilized world by having a non-for-profit healthcare system. I would prefer something modeled after Germany. Another optimistic thing would be this ending the tide of everything the government does is crap we’ve be living under since St. Reagan. Now we can restructure national functions correctly and eliminate the privatization idiocy:
- Prisons
- The military
- Charter schools