Gotta Love A Grassy Knoll...

 

Hi!

Okay, so this story came to my attention, this week.

When I first heard it, I thought, for sure, it had to be a prank of some kind. 

I mean, actual, real people can't honestly, really, believe this, right? Right?!

Sooooooooo.....

The premise is this, as far as I can gather...

Hundreds of people gathered at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, some on the infamous grassy knoll, not to honour the anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Nope, not that.

They gathered, stood, sat, and generally just milled about. At some point, someone decided they needed a mantra. With all of the great ones out there, you know, like 'no justice, no peace,' 'make love, not war,' 'give peace a chance,' and countless others, they chose this...

"Did we land on the moon?" with the response of "No". 

Yup, with every combination of words known to man at their disposal, every one, this is what they went with.

Okay, so this gives you an idea that this particular group of people may have what you might surmise as a unique take on how the world works, what logic looks and sounds like, and the concept of reality.

Apparently, they were there because, well, because JFK Junior was supposed to somehow show up despite the fact that he died 22 years ago.

Yup, the chain of logic, or lack thereof supposedly goes like this.

JFK Junior faked his death, and has been in hiding for the past 22 years... without anyone finding out or leaking the story. Twenty-two years. Not a single sighting. Nobody giving up the story. Not. One. Person.

And then... they thought he was going to announce that he was re-instating the Grand Cheeto as President of the United States, and he...JFK Junior, would become vice-president. Because... that's exactly how that works.

And then... he, JFK Junior, would declare himself President, he would then make Michael Flynn his vice-president and then promote Trump to King. Just like the authors of the American constitution surely envisioned.

Any rational person can see the flaws, right? It's not just me?

Even if you can put aside the fact that JFK Junior was a Democrat as assuredly as he was a Kennedy, and the unlikelihood that he and the likes of Donny boy even knew each other except by name, he, Junior, is not alive anymore. Not even a little. 

When, shockingly, JFK Junior did not appear and make all these fantastical announcements, a buzz immediately began to circulate. Now, he would emerge at the Rolling Stones concert that was soon going to be taking place. That Keith Richards was really JFK Junior. This is somehow how he had managed to keep his 'fake' death a secret for all these years. 

Sooooo... Keith Richards didn't exist prior to Junior's death? Interesting...

On its face, this reads like a fever dream of a writer drenched in childhood trauma with a belly full of magic mushrooms and rancid moonshine.

On its face.

Beneath the surface, however, it's just sad.

These poor people are being fleeced of their hard-earned money. They buy all the merchandise. They give their credit cards a workout, entering the numbers on sites promising them that they are doing their patriotic duty 'saving' the country. They are marks. They buy all the lies that lead them to these crazy places. 

They never lost the childlike wonder of buying the sea monkeys, and magic rings touted on the back cover of comic books. They still entertain the belief that things will look and perform exactly as advertised on TV.  They allow themselves to be manipulated with scary stories about villains that come from far-off lands, that look and sound differently. They are pushed to fear and hate everything they don't understand. They expect Buzz Lightyear to actually fly.

Like Buzz Lightyear, Trump does not fly. Unlike Buzz Lightyear he doesn't fall with style, he just falls... 

For example... they have been coached to fear, and therefore hate the vaccines for Covid, Critical Race Theory, Social Programs, and countless other things.

When asked to explain why, there are no real answers. Because there can't be. They don't exist. 

In the meantime, I'm planning a dinner party.

Elvis, Robin Williams, and Maya Angelou are coming. They are going to announce that they are going to declare me as Prime Minister. We are going to write the biopic. Elvis will do the soundtrack, Maya will help write it, and Robin will play me in the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire style. Boom. 

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Until next time...

May the veil be lifted before it's too late.

May understanding replace the fear and hate.

May we get to a place of integrity, where doing the right thing matters.

May we get there before too many people's lives are left in shatters.

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Happy Halloween-ish!

 

Hi!

So this halloween is going to be a bit of a hybrid of our regular no-holds-barred, give a good old-fashioned scare to munchkins kind of halloween and last year's severely toned down, Covid version of this most fabulous holiday. 

Next year. Look out, I'm going to have some pent-up Halloween energy that's gonna need to spill. All over the place. Maybe spill isn't the right word... explode. Much closer.

So, as a nation, Canada sits at about 84% of eligible citizens being fully vaccinated. As a Province, Saskatchewan is sitting at about 79%.

We are getting there. Our hospitals, though, are still full of unvaccinated people. Our ICU's are full of the same.

I keep hearing from people who are STILL convinced that vaccinated people get and spread Covid to the same degree, or worse than unvaccinated people. 

I've done some digging to be sure and this doesn't match any factual information available. The only places I see this nonsense are in articles and videos that have been debunked after scrutiny by actual scientists and doctors. I can't find anything to back up these claims in any reputable medical journals, or legitimate news sources. I've checked... a lot... international sources. Nothing. 

They are still convinced. No. Matter. What.

We are a month into needing proof of vaccination to get to go fun places and do fun things. Movies, restaurants, bars...

Some businesses are reaping the rewards of doing the right thing. 

Other businesses choose to shoot themselves in the foot.

Choices meet consequences every time. 

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Sorry to write and run, but I gotta run. Time to figure out another Covid-friendly scare for munchkins.

Oh... 

I'm back working on "Once Battered."

Dangerously close to finished.

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Until next time...

May you have the best time trick or treating your way to the highest of sugar highs.

May you get at least some of your most favourite things, chips and chocolate full-sized!

 

I Have A Question...

 

Hi!

I have a question...

How is it that when someone walks away from their job because they don't want to get vaccinated, they are considered by their cohorts to be some sort of freedom fighter or patriot, but if workers don't want to go back to jobs where they don't make a living wage and are constantly harassed and abused by these same "freedom fighting patriots," they are supposedly lazy?

If you work in the public but don't believe in public safety then maybe you were in the wrong line of work.

If you are an educator that doesn't believe in science... well, come on....

If you work in the medical community but don't believe in medicine...

Flipside...

If you run your butt off in the service industry at least 40 hours a week, get yelled at or worse by "freedom fighters" at least twice a week, but still can't pay utilities, pay rent and eat without compromising at least one of those three things regularly, I get it.

Slogging away for less than a living wage is hard enough with just regular levels of abuse, but once you add all this other crap, there is no way it's worth it. 

Another question...

If you are a business that is refusing to adhere to public health mandates during a global pandemic, what assurances do we, the public, have that you adhere to other health mandates? 

What if you don't believe in washing your hands after handling raw chicken, because, you know, science is bad and stuff? 

Personally, I'm dumbfounded by business owners willing to shoot themselves in the foot over conspiracy theories and misplaced passion for diving down rabbit holes littered with deadly misinformation.

You work so hard to open, run, and keep afloat your small business. It's been tough throughout this pandemic, why would you make it worse... on purpose... and to what end?

The vast majority of people, also known as customers/clients are believers in science, and all of the steps needed to get beyond this virus including wearing masks, and getting vaccinated. I don't know that I would gamble the longevity of my business on them developing amnesia. 

They may just remember how refusing to co-operate with mandates dragged this thing out far longer than necessary. 

One more...

How much are you looking forward to not having to even think about this virus ever again?

I can't wait to not have to remember if I have a mask with me.

I can't wait to hug without a second thought.

I can't wait until logic and reason become the loudest voice.

I can't wait to get back to joy without weight.

I can't wait.

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May all your post-pandemic dreams come true, whether it's travel, career, romance, family, or simple peace.

May you find, after this time of weighted anxiety, a way to find unhindered joy, find belly laughter, find release. 

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Do All Opinions Deserve Respect?

 

Hi!

We are but one windy day from naked trees and but a few short weeks from long-night overload.

After the incredibly hot summer we had, the chill feels nice. The fourteen-hour nights? Not the biggest fan, but what are ya gonna do? Make the best of it.

Here's to a long, long, long, long Fall, no snow until at least December, the temp never dipping below -30, and a Holiday season that will provide family gatherings without caveats, without limits.

The vaccinations numbers are slowly ticking up every day, but it will be a bit until that translates into a drastic drop in both new case and hospitalization numbers. If there are any cluster cases that stem from Thanksgiving, they will be rearing their ugly heads soon. How we get to move forward depends on how that all pans out. 

There are still those out there believing all kinds of nonsense when it comes to this virus and the vaccines. I'm not sure at this point what exactly it will take for them to lift the veil of conspiracy and allow themselves to walk in reality. 

To them, everyone is lying to them except their fellow conspirators.

This group of liars apparently includes the entire medical community, all legitimate news sources, every medical journal that has been around for more than 15 years, educators, the UN, the World Health Organization, all of the health organizations, and thousands of assistants, clerks, and data entry persons. 

That is a LOT of people to be working covertly to... to... I'm still unclear as to what the end game is supposed to be. 

I can't wait until normal conspiracies make a comeback. You know, the flat-earthers, the fake moonwalkers, the harmless ones, the ones that don't kill people. 

I've recently been accused of being too hard on conspiracy theorists. That I don't give enough credence to their opinions on these things. 

Honestly, I think that's been what has helped this crap grow. 

Coddling the bullshit has given it shelf life. How many people would still be alive if we hadn't worried so much about hurting the feelings of those perpetuating this crap?

How many wouldn't now have to find a way to live with the long-term symptoms of this virus if we all had collectively, as a sane society, stomped the misinformation from the beginning?

When I think about all of the needlessly empty chairs that the conspiracies have provided this holiday season, it just pisses me off. 

If the powers that be would have shut this crap down the second it reared its ugly head...

The second it became obvious...

I can't, I won't coddle it anymore. If you get offended because I don't respect your "opinions" about how the virus is a myth, or how some new world order is behind the vaccines, I really couldn't care less.

My hands are sore from being sat on, if I bite my lip much more, I'll be chewing right through. 

I get told that every opinion deserves respect. 

No. No, they don't. 

If it is your opinion that some races are superior to others. Just shut up. Nobody needs to hear that antiquated crap. 

If your opinion requires me to acquiesce to homophobic, or transphobic, or gender phobic beliefs, then not only does this opinion not deserve respect, it deserves the utmost disdain.

If your opinions have a misogynistic twist, be prepared to eat them. 

If it's your opinion that peer-proven facts aren't real. Come talk to me if and when you get your sanity back. Until then, lose my number. I no longer have the time, will, or energy to deal with your crazy. 

If it is your opinion that Joe Rogan knows more about the virus and vaccines than all the world-renowned epidemiologists who have devoted their lives to studying these things, I don't even know what to say. 

For me, it boils down to this.

Don't come at me covered in bullshit and expect me to listen to it, pretend that your thoughts have merit, or be pleasant in a debate about it. If you choose to come at me covered in bullshit, be prepared to be buried in it.

I look so forward to a time, hopefully in the not-too-distant future when sanity once again falls upon the land.

When up is up and down is down again. When 2+2 will always equal 4. When 'alternative facts' can become the butt of every joke, as they should be. When following health measures is once again just what we do to keep each other as safe as possible. When we can breathe.

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May sanity roll in like a London fog, blanketing us, leaving nothing untouched.

May those who cling to the crazy, learn to let it go, cheeks unclenched, pearls unclutched.

Vaccine Etiquette... Anyone?.... Anyone?...

 

Hi! 

This holiday, "Thanksgiving" is heavy in it's history.  

Its beginnings have been buried by years of sugar-coated curricula, slanted lessons that try to create the narrative of colonial heroes, when that couldn't be further from the truth.

For now, today, I am thankful for strides being made to correct the wrongs perpetrated my those who came before us. I am equally thankful that more and more people are coming to understand just how far we have left to go.

Maybe someday, Thanksgiving can be just that. When absolutely everything that can be done to reconcile the wrongs committed, when a truly even playing field becomes the norm, when every single one of us can feel thanks without a caveat. Maybe. Someday.

For now, I, for one, am going to try and be as thankful as possible for every good thing in my life.

I have an incredible husband.

I have my health.

I have awesome kids and grandkids.

I have four walls and a warm place to sleep.

I have access to nutritious food. 

I live where healthcare, although imperfect, sends you home without thought of a bill.

I live in a place where vaccines are free and plentiful.

I live in a place where people have the luxury of not knowing what true oppression is. 

I live in a place where freedom and responsibility walk hand in hand.

As the weather chills, and different holidays start to roll their way through the calendar, gatherings are bound to happen.

As there remains a stubborn few who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid, what is the etiquette?

It's tough.

We all want to feel safe.

How do we do that without addressing the rather obvious giant elephant in the room?

A lot of us have family and/or friends that remain fixated on the anti-vax conspiracy crap.

Do we simply not invite them to things?

Do we ask them straight out, making them explain their crazy out loud?

Should it be mandated that all gatherings of more than a few people have vaccinations required? 

Do we just sit and wait to see if the proof of vax mandates that are currently in place have the positive impact they are hoping for?

Vaccine Etiquete... is it a thing? Should it be? Anyone?... Anyone?...

Here's hoping that conspiracies lose oxygen as facts take bigger breaths. 

The conspiracies are rife with intrigue, plots of world domination, symbols of evil, and grand schemes that require herculean efforts by, and the compliance of hundreds of thousands of people. It would also require all involved to keep it completely secret.

No wonder.

I mean, the reality of it is that it's a virus. A scary one. An all-too-often deadly one. But a virus all the same. One that now has a vaccine available to keep it pretty much at bay. No intrigue. No nefarious agendas. Just a bug. And a vaccine to help protect us from it. Boring.

I mean the whole conspiracy thing is much more exciting. What with all the secret-keeping, the international spying thing, the 'one world order' crap, whatever the hell that's supposed to be. It's all very alluring. An action movie in the making. Fiction.

I love fiction. My first novel is fiction. My second novel will also be fiction. All of my kids books are fiction. I love fiction. I get it. 

Fiction doesn't have boundaries. You can create all kinds of worlds. Happy ones. Emotional ones. Sad ones. Scary ones. You create villains and heroes, plot twists, and intrigue. You create it. All of it.

Reality just is what it is. A  place to live, family, friends, work, sleep. A virus. A vaccine to help protect us from it. Boring. 

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May we be thankful for all that we have.

May we be hopeful for a future filled with all that we need. 

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Same Space, Different Year...

 

Hi.

A sea of golden trees, towers of fire threaten to overtake the infinite blue, paths laden with the fallen memories of a summer never to be lived again.

One  season slips into the next, the passing of time both painstakingly slow and whiplash quick. It feels like time has both stood still and flashed before our eyes. 

The deja vu of being exactly where we were last year at this time, while simultaneously being completely and utterly exhausted by pushing against the marathon of idiocy. 

The solutions lay before us, there for the taking, yet some refuse to accept them.

The tales of world domination, intrigue, and monumental conspiracies dance in their heads, stomping so loudly they drown out any hope of reason or logic.

"There's so much out there." That's the answer to the question of how and why.

The UN is behind it, our government borrowed money from China, all of the epidemiologists and the entire medical community are in on it. If we didn't watch the news, Covid would somehow disappear...

In the meantime, the rest of us have to live in the real world.

"I'm on the fence." 

What fence? Where is this fence? Is it the fence that separates fact from fiction? Alice's looking glass?

So, here we are.

Same space, different year.

Only this time, we wouldn't have to be. It's a choice.

A choice made by the delusional few.

Postponed surgeries, organ donations on hold, ICU's full to the brim.

People trying to make opinion and fact interchangeable, equal.

People, who once danced at the edge, now taking up permanent residence down the rabbit hole, no longer even coming up for air.

So how will we get through this?

Will will have to drag their dead weight to safety. We will do all the things. Again. We will have to sit by and watch our health care workers fight to save these so-called freedom fighters as they drop into their hospital beds, gasping for air. 

The same healthcare workers they accuse of being part of the grand, dark scheme they choose to believe in. The same exact ones.

At what point will reality scratch the surface? When it's a spouse that's sick? A child? A parent? Themselves? 

They are impervious to the smell of smoke, they choose to ignore the fire alarm, they refuse assistance to get out of the burning building. Do they just sit there and allow themselves to burn to death all while pretending the flames aren't real, watering their plants with gasoline? 

I honestly don't even know anymore. I hope not. 

It's incredibly sad. But, my deepest sympathy is saved for the little ones who can't make the choices for themselves and the medical staff that is being pushed beyond any limit. 

As for the others? The believers of everything and anything but truth and reality? I have nothing left to give you, well nothing good anyway. 

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May we, the ones with our feet solidly planted on this, our globular earth, get each other to the other side of this with our sanity in tact.

May those who love to live in the darkness of bunny holes, someday come to recognize the distinction between fiction and fact.

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Until next time... stay safe.. stay healthy... find joy in everything you can.

Maybe Ninjas Lose Their Mojo In The Desert...

 

Hi.

Protests against protecting kids.

Defending those protests.

Pushing to get rid of safeguards.

It makes no sense.

Stumbling around, grasping at threaded tendrils of misinformation, refusing to accept reality even as it puts more and more unvaccinated adults and babies in the hospital, the ICU, the morgue. 

Fall is here, and as the weather cools, people will be spending more time indoors. That's a given. 

Those of us who have chosen to continue to take the necessary steps to keep ourselves and our families safe, will enjoy a more "normal" winter.

Those who continue to choose to do anything and everything but the things that keep Covid at bay may have a different experience.

You claim this is all about freedom.

Ok, then.

When your vaccinated relatives, especially those with young children, choose not to have you put their young children at risk, you need to accept that. You may not be invited to holiday parties. You might not get to see grandkids. You might not get invited to weddings. You don't get to stomp your feet and cry about how you should get to do what you want. You chose this.

If your entire circle of friends and family believe that vaccines are dark-magic potions, that wiping Lysol under your nose, or eating horse de-wormer, or drinking bleach, or shooting ultraviolet light into your body, or Jesus himself will save you, or that, somehow Covid somehow isn't real at all, then accept the consequences of those beliefs without complaint. 

If you remain lucky enough not to get very ill, and that's kinda the best-case scenario, the next while won't be much fun.

When your child can't play hockey, or go to dance class, you have no one to thank but yourself. 

When you can't go to a movie, or a concert, or a restaurant, or you have to home school, thank yourself.

 When you can't travel to somewhere warm in the dead of winter, thank yourself.

Denial is a coping mechanism. When denial becomes delusion, it's dangerous. 

We are not obligated to live in your warped reality. We are not obligated to acquiesce to your unwillingness to accept what is actually happening. We are not obligated to remain hostages to the misinformation you choose to believe.

After last week's ramblings hit, the trolls came at me. Good thing the slaps of idiot sticks don't leave much of a mark.

One, in particular, called me bitter. Well, Mary, if that is indeed your real name, you are 100% correct. 

I'm bitter at the fact that people who can't tell the difference between fact and science fiction have dragged this thing out way longer than necessary.

I'm bitter at your complete disregard for the safety of others. Somebody should probably check to see if Mary drives after a few shots. They might be shots of booze, or they might be shots of bleach, Lysol, Ivermectin, who knows?

I'm bitter because watching the movie "Idiocracy" play out in real-time is exhausting. (It's a real movie, check it out, stars Maya Rudolph and Luke Wilson circa 2006) Who knew it would become such a prophetic documentary?

I'm bitter that the soulless hypocrites that feed misinformation to the gullible, uneducated masses are they, themselves, vaccinated. Their eligible children are vaccinated. Fox News requires proof of vaccination to work there. The conspiracies are chum in the water, the more they throw, the hungrier the misled become. When the lies fail to come true, they up the ante. Bigger lie, more outrageous, higher ratings. 

I'm bitter because the viewership of the Tucker Carlsons of the world is filled with staunch believers. Staunch believers who are filling hospitals, and cemeteries. The monster they continue to create, to nurture, to feed, is dying the death of a thousand cuts. Believers consumed by conspiracy. The hypocrites know they are feeding lies, they simply don't care. Viewership at any cost. 

I'm bitter because healthcare workers are being pushed beyond their limits. These are people who have devoted their adult lives to caring for people. They are breaking. They are working their asses off to save the very people that scream at them and call them liars. 

I'm bitter because we shouldn't be here anymore.

I'm bitter because the vaccines are the literal outstretched hand that is there to help pull us from the rapids and you keep slapping it away.

So, as the weather cools, and as new rules and restrictions set in, completely because of you, enjoy the consequences of your choices, I'll be over here, going to movies.

Soooooooo.... Arizona

Can you imagine starting a "go fund me" page to raise money to fight getting fired from your job? Okay, maybe you can.

But, can you imagine doing so, knowing full well that you had no respect for, and were really shitty at the job, treated the board of directors, and co-workers like crap and stole tons of money from your employer? Okay, maybe you can.

But, can you then imagine hiring ninjas to do the accounting, soaking up money and time, full of promises of magical outcomes, only to find out that not only did the board of directors vote you out, but it was unanimous? 

So Cyber Ninjas took months to do what should have taken maybe a week. They accepted a shitload of money to do it. Money from the Cheeto Crook's friends. They discovered that not only did Joe Biden win in Maricopa County just like all sane people already knew, but he actually won by more votes than previously tallied.

It's like Trump can't help himself. He insists on bringing the fact that he's a loser to the attention of as many people as possible, as many times as possible, in every way possible. 

Next? Texas.

This is really baffling. He actually won in Texas. So he wants to prove what, exactly?

It would be completely hilarious if they, spent their millions, and did their song and dance of an audit just to find out that Biden actually won there too. 

Maybe Ninjas lose their mojo in the desert. Or maybe they just know easy money when they see it. 

Maybe the scammers got scammed. Gotta love Karma. 

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May the consequences of your choices be worth it.