So I am able to type again. My strength is better but my oxygen is still down lower than I would like. My main concern now is my wife has a fever and congestion and is very weak, though her oxygen is much better.
I am feeling sort of reflective in an odd way. But not in a wistful one. I think of all of the gatherings, and concerts, and masklessness and know that people are dancing with a destiny they have no concept of. I love a good ballgame.
One of my best memories was my grandpa taking me to a game where I met Nolan Ryan and Yogi Berra. I love a good movie.
Has not been many out lately however. I find the best movies are now direct to streaming, but that is just my opinion.
I enjoy a non-animal circus, absolutely.
I like to go shopping.
I have nothing against a healthy economy.
I know there are bean counters all over trying to figure out what the acceptable amount of fatalities is in order to keep markets steady. I know there are a multitude of factors and protocols that are in place to keep a functioning society.
But this is a really bad virus. This version in particular, while we hope it is less virulent, and I hope we don’t die from it, is so efficient and transmission it has been compared to measles. So no, I don’t think anything will be forced to shut down.
I think theme parks will stay open and restaurants will continue to have indoor dining availability. I doubt cruising gets halted again, and I am fairly sure Nevada’s Governor Sisolak has no appetite whatsoever to shut down Las Vegas heading into an election year.
I don’t blame him.
If Governor Sisolak could rely on a cooperative, not predatory opposition party to do what is right, not politically expedient, maybe he could make bolder moves. You know, if he could make a call and get cooperation on two weeks of pay for furloughed workers without those people being labeled lazy, or selfish.
But that would require an America to not have been permanently hobbled by a treasonous ideology that has succeeded in hamstringing our efforts to fight this menace.
The reality is the Governor can’t cut a check anymore. Fox News made labor the enemy in the spring, and no more help is coming. So he can’t send people home to stay away from Covid only to starve.
So what depresses me is not that I got the thing, again. (Although it hurts my heart to see my wife suffering.) What depresses me is that the right wing messaging machine succeeded, once again, into mobilizing a plurality, but not majority, of stupid into strong-arming nationwide and state level Covid policy to bend to their will and essentially, blame the people who tell the truth for the pandemic’s existence.
It is as if they were able to convince a group of voters that is people would just turn their back on the virus, the virus would go away. But, by experts entrusted with the public health continuing to focus on it, and prepare for it, and work to mitigate it, it is somehow their fault it persists.
We say, “The economy under President Biden has created 6 million jobs.”
This is true.
But they panic over their freedumbs. They take to the streets over the idea that Toni Morrison would have an influence over the development of children. They find never-ending spigots of filth faucets with which to flood the minds with disinformation poison.
A mask is an affront. A vaccine is a personal violation. The right wing has succeeded in convincing too much of America that 40 percent of it individually, is more important than 100 percent of it, collectively.
“Get off my porch.”
“Get out of my way.”
“Stay out of my business.”
“Get out of my neighborhood.”
But forty percent is not a majority.
It is if they can rely on ten percent of the country to go, “Whatevs. Who won Dancing With The Stars?”
Then they take their 40 and hope not all of our 50 shows up. Which, thanks to poor message discipline, and part self-sabotage, they almost never do. But even that is not enough. So they rig maps, and create ridiculous gerrymanders, and destroy convention, and fairness, and honor, and all the while too many Democrats in power look around for that one Republican who will do, or say the right things.
Covid-19 should have taught us that out of many we are one, and Fox, and OANN, and similar trash was able to convince their viewers that each one of them, was more important than the many.
Functionally Republicans and their voters make our very name, The United States of America, a lie.
So what do we do? We build up our media presence, for one. We reclaim radio turf, we build a legitimate cable counter to Fox News. We pool our resources and convince donors that it is not just the candidate that needs the investing, it is the messaging. We work to save school boards and we leave no slur, accusation, or mischaracterization go unanswered.
And this post won’t be five minutes old before someone says “Nobody will invest in it.”
To that I say, nickname me “Nobody.” I will invest the duration of my career in it.
I truly wish into my 45th year on this earth that the ability to run this country with honorable disagreement had been preserved. But we are in the midst of a new cold war building with Russia and already have elements of the right wing taking Russia’s side. There used to be a word for that.
This is where we are at. I can stop coughing long enough to realize that. Know your enemy for the call is coming from literally, inside the house.
And ignore the Dave Wassermans, the Charlie Cooks, the Larry Sabatos telling you how 2022 is going to go. We don’t even have a clue how many voters will survive this wave of the pandemic.
No my friends. We do this like the Romans were taught, as gladiators, only politically. We defend every square inch surrounding us. That means we cede nothing. We fight for every vote block by block, even if it means disagreement with our neighbors. We preach our platform, we live it breathe it be able to recite it with moral authority and clarity at an instant.
We mobilize, and energize, and yes, where we can pass the torch on.
And you know something else we do?
WE DEFEND THE FIRST FEMALE AND PERSON OF COLOR IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH FROM THESE COWARDLY ATTACKS!.
Let me say this, really clearly, I am proud Kamala Devi Harris is our Vice-President because she has sacrificed and worked, and studied and stood up to challenges her whole life. I could not pick a single person on this planet I would be more proud of to have as our Vice-President.
So these slimy little bastards with their backbiting stories, writing about levers of government and interpersonal relationships they have no clue about can just, altogether now, SHUT. UP.
This is Claw fed up. This is Claw not backing down. This is Claw angry his family is being run over by Covid, AGAIN, and this is Claw knowing EXACTLY WHO TO BLAME FOR IT.
Not only am I ready to vote, I am ready to walk barefoot on hot broken glass just to check my registration. So yes, Manchin’s betrayal sucks. Yes it is a setback. And I am coughing. And my grandparents are still dead. And all manner of crud is being expelled into the planet and all manner of lies are being told and a wannabe Napoleon is trying to stoke the flames of war.
Some things suck.
But you know what? As long as I am here, I am in this fight. See I can’t just turn my back. It isn’t in me. So Joe Manchin is nothing to me. He is just another relic of privilege losing a grip on power. One unremarkable person is not going to doom this nation and planet. He will be but a footnote in history the future John Kennedys will not do a profile in courage on.
I can’t walk away. It hurts too much. It hurts to know that one person decided to try to doom children to be hungry. It hurts to know that the only thing turning faster than sour milk are the backs of my fellow citizens. But then, at least I know who is in it with me.
What it comes down to is in the end, we will all die, and we know this. The difference is I will not die twice. I am only going to go down once, swinging, spitting, clawing, and yelling. I will not die a first death due to guilt.
I will not attempt to climb to the mountaintop while ignoring the cries in the valley.
I will not turn my back on our history, our sacrifices, and our future. I will not look a child in the eye and merely wish them “good luck” on their future necessitated relocation from the coastline.
I won’t abandon this ship.
I will walk, and call, and knock for every vote, I will scratch out every victory and celebrate the small ones too.
And yes, again I am sick. Well, so are a lot of people. If I survive this, I will be sick again someday. And then I will get up and go fight some more until the day comes where I can’t fight.
But what I will promise is that as long as I am alive, there will not come a day..
where I won’t fight.
-ROC
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Love,
ROC