PEOPLE. ARE. DYING.

My aunt and uncle recently went to hospital with COVID.  My aunt is currently recovering, but my uncle has sadly passed on.

I didn't actually know my uncle very well.  In fact, even calling him my uncle feels weird.  I was already an adult when my aunt married him, and I've only met him a few times.  But he seemed like a good guy, and my heart goes out to those who knew him.

My aunt and I don't see eye-to-eye on a great many things.  I haven't fought with her directly, but we definitely have different ideals and beliefs.  Just a few months ago she was posting on Facebook, talking about why she doesn't wear a mask when she goes out.  And no, she did not get the vaccine.

I'm not going to bash her for her beliefs right now.  This is not the time for "I told you so" or getting preachy about karma.  I'm not going to spend this blog acting holier-than-thou.  Not only would doing so be in bad taste, but also, I just don't want to.  

Because I don't see my aunt as a villain, I see her as a victim.  My ire isn't directed at her, but at a certain news program, a former president, and a political party that decided disease prevention was too big a strain on their freedom.  

I grew up in a Republican household.  I know how enticing their beliefs can be.  Much like the Devil himself, Republicans can twist scripture until evil sounds holy.  Once you're raised with that mindset, it can be difficult to break free.  

As my aunt's condition improves, people keep responding to her status updates, praising God for her recovery.  Her doctors and nurses haven't had a full night's sleep in over a year, but sure, give God all the credit.  The same God who allowed her husband to succumb to the disease.

Back in the 80s, many Republicans declared that AIDS was sent by God to punish gay people.  Now we have a disease that mostly kills Republicans.  I wonder what they make of that.

Even though my uncle died of a preventable disease, and my aunt has gone through hell the past couple of weeks, I still have other family members who refuse to get vaccinated.  Because they think the Fox News hosts know more about science than the people who have devoted their lives to studying medicine.  Meanwhile an even more contagious variant is sweeping the country.  To quote John Connor, "We're not gonna make it, are we?"

I probably shouldn't post blogs when I'm sad and angry, especially when family is involved.  I don't want to type anything I'll regret later.  So, to those of you who refused to wear a mask for political reasons, and who continue to avoid the vaccine...  Today you get a free pass.  I'll save my angry rants and insults for a later date.  At least until my uncle is buried, and my aunt is out of the hospital.  

But for the love of God, please get the vaccine.

An Old Joke

I don't know if the photo above is real or if it's been shopped.  I do know of the church in the picture, and they are certainly crazy enough to make such a sign.  But it doesn't really matter if it's real, I've seen the same sentiment in many other places on the internet, sometimes from my own family.

It reminds me of an old joke.  You've probably heard it, but it seems very fitting right now.

There is a huge rainstorm.  Neighborhoods are evacuated due to flooding.  A man sits on the roof of his house, watching the floodwaters rise.  The water is now halfway up the roof.  Another man rows up in a boat.  "Quick!  Get in!"  

But the homeowner shakes his head.  "I have faith in God, and He will provide."  The man in the boat shrugs his shoulders, but rows away, looking for other survivors.  An hour later, the water is higher than the roof.  The homeowner has to stand up, gripping his chimney for support.  The water is up to his calves.  

Another boat approaches, piloted by an EMT.  The would-be rescuer shouts, "Come on!  Let's get you out of here!"  But the homeowner again refuses.  "I have faith in God, and He will provide."  The EMT shakes his head sadly, but he doesn't have time to argue when there are other people to rescue.  The boat leaves.

An hour later, the water is up to the man's neck.  A helicopter flies overhead, and tosses down a rope ladder.  "Grab on!  We'll lift you to safety!"  But the man refuses yet again.  "No!  I have faith in God!  He will provide!"  The helicopter flies away, looking for more survivors.

The man drowns.  In Heaven, he gets a chance to speak to God.  "Lord," he says, "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be here with you, but I have a question.  Why didn't you try to save me?"

And God answers, "What do you mean I didn't try to save you?  I sent you two boats and a helicopter!"

The Good, The Bad, And The Fluffy

All things considered, it hasn't been a bad year for me.  It definitely hasn't been a good year, but looking at all the people who died from COVID-19, or lost loved ones to the disease, or lost their jobs during the quarantine, and so on... I feel like I got off easy.  Not scot free, mind you, as we did suffer tragedies of our own, but things could have been so much worse.

While some people had trouble making rent, we actually did better financially this year than we had in a while.  The stimulus checks certainly helped, but I think most of our success was just because we rarely left the house.  We managed to pay off a few credit cards, and now we have more money left over at the end of the month.  

But of course, life can't just let you get off that easy.  We recently found out that one of our cats has a dental condition called stomatitis, and she may need to have all her teeth removed.  The good news is that cats who have this done can live perfectly normal lives afterwards, and can often still eat solid food.  

The bad news is the price.  Apparently this procedure can cost up to $5000.  We might be able to get it done for $3500 if we drive to Knoxville for the procedure.  We are currently weighing our options, and seeing if there are cheaper dentists.  I've seen people online say they had it done for $1500, but they might live in cheaper states.

Someone in the family has suggested putting her down, but I'm not going to do that for an otherwise healthy, four year old cat.  So it's either come up with the money, or... well, I don't know.  But so much for paying off those credit cards.

"The Party of Christianity"

The US has a two party system.  We'd like to think that isn't true, that anyone has a chance of winning the election, but the truth is that most people are afraid to vote third party.  Until we change the way voting works, most elections will come down to Democrat or Republican.

The primary goal of Democrats is to change the world for the better.  They're not always right.  Their ideas won't always work.  But the point is, they try.  You miss every shot you don't take, and at least the Democrats are taking shots.   

Republicans want to keep things as stagnant as possible, as long as that means they stay in power.  Moving forward is scary, moving backward feels safe.  They think that helping others means there will be fewer resources for themselves.  Which is logical, except that they want to hoard more resources than they could ever use themselves, rather than give any to someone they don't feel earned it.

None of this is surprising.  The world pretty much always comes down to altruism vs. greed, and politics are no exception.  The part that makes me angry is that Republicans like to call themselves the party of Christianity, despite having ideals that are diametrically opposed to what Jesus believed.

Democrats want everyone to have access to food, healthcare, and a place to sleep.  Republicans liken these needs to trophies, as in "Democrats think everybody should gets a participation trophy."  I don't know how to explain to you the difference between being allowed to survive, and a cheap reward that sits on your mantel.  If you're really that fucking stupid, I can't help you, but you have to at least recognize that Jesus would think you're an asshole.

Democrats want fewer mass shootings.  Shootings scare Republicans, but only because they know it will spark more talk of gun control.  A Democrat's first reaction to a school shooting is, "Oh no, those poor children."  A Republican's first reaction is, "Oh no, my poor guns."  Fucking monsters.  What would Jesus do?  Not this.

Democrats believe in science.  Republicans refuse to believe in a pandemic even when their own grandparents die from it.  I have trouble believing that Jesus would be okay with the Republican attitude of, "It's okay, the virus only kills old people."

Democrats want to offer citizenship to people fleeing life-threatening situations in their home countries.  Republicans claim there isn't room, when what they really mean is that there isn't room for brown-skinned people.  This might be a good time to remind you that Jesus wasn't Caucasian.

Democrats want cops to stop shooting innocent people.  Republicans would happily give cops "judge, jury, and executioner" status as long as it only applied to black people.  "If they would follow the law, this wouldn't happen," they say (while breaking the law themselves by ignoring the mask mandate), completely ignoring how many of these executions were a response to no crime whatsoever.  I wonder how Jesus - a man who was literally crucified for telling people they should be nice to each other - would react to these executions.

Jesus believed in loving everyone, even if they're different from you.  A Republican's love is conditional.  Love thy neighbor, unless they're gay, transgender, foreign, or worship a different god.  

Yes, I'm angry.  Yes, I'm insulting Republicans again.  And Christians.  I know you can't insult people into agreeing with you.  But the people angering me aren't going to change their minds no matter what I say, so I might as well blow off some steam.

I'm absolutely sick of Republicans doing anything and everything to persecute those who are already downtrodden, and then calling it Christianity.  I turn on the news this month, and all the Republicans are doing lately is attacking transgender people, defending racist cops, and trying to keep minorities from voting.  You seriously call this Christianity?

Before you tell me "most Christians aren't like that" - Great!  Prove me wrong!  But don't whine to me, whine at all those fake Christians!  They're the ones making you look bad, don't you want them to stop?  By doing nothing, you're complicit in the damage they're doing to your religion's reputation.  Get off your ass and correct them.  

When you see a Republican candidate doing something obviously anti-Christian, call them out on it.  Write letters to your senator.  Protest.  At the very least, don't vote for them.  This "I know he's a monster, but at least he's not a Democrat" attitude has to stop.  Research the other side (Fox News doesn't count as research) and stop electing monsters.

If you don't at least try to talk some sense into your compatriots, then I'm going to assume you believe the same things they do.  Voting for bigots means you're a bigot.  I don't care if you voted for him because you liked his tax plan or whatever, you still voted for the guy who ran on a platform of bigotry.

You can be a Republican or a Christian, but you can't be both.  The very concept of a "Christian Republican" is laughable.

Seriously?

Let's see what's going on in the world today...

Tennessee is trying to ban books that even mention LGBT people from public schools.

The Catholic church opposed a suicide hotline because some of the people it helped were LGBT.

North Carolina bill encourages state workers to report children who act outside gender norms.

The world is more unhinged than ever.  I'm going back to bed.

Study: 400k Lives Might Have Been Saved

Article:

U.S. COVID Response Could Have Avoided Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths

In short, research indicates that nearly 400k deaths might have been avoided if someone sane had been in charge during the earlier days of the pandemic.  And for those too heartless to care about the lives, it also would have been less expensive for our country.

I get no pleasure from saying "I told you so."  Hell, I wish to god I'd been wrong about Trump.  I would wear a MAGA hat in my Facebook profile if it would bring back those 400k lives.

Again, if you voted for Trump in 2016, I blame you.  I'm not saying this to hurt you (though I do hope it hurts), I'm saying this so you won't do it again when the next obviously unhinged political candidate tries to run on a platform of xenophobia.  

Your decision to vote for that racist, misogynistic monster led to the deaths of 400 thousand human beings.  You helped bring this about.  You have killed.  You are a mass murderer.  

Don't say, "I couldn't have known," because we warned you at the time.  No, we didn't know about the upcoming pandemic, but we did warn you that Trump wasn't mature enough to handle any potential crisis that might come along.  We warned you, you ignored us, and now you're a murderer.

But no, some of you are going to read this, and shrug it off.  You're going to say the study is flawed, even though you haven't read it.  You're going to rationalize that Clinton would have somehow been worse.  Maybe you're actually that irrational, or maybe you've brainwashed yourself because it's the only way you can sleep at night.  

If you're that far gone, then there's nothing I could ever say that would convince you, and I'd appreciate it if you'd just stop reading my blog.  There is nothing for you here.  You will not learn, you will not grow.  Go stagnate somewhere else, you worthless piece of subhuman garbage.  You are no longer welcome here.

Twitter Laugh

It always gives me a cheap thrill when a celebrity (whether major or minor) likes, retweets, or comments on something I posted.  Legendary comic book author Gail Simone is especially good at interacting with her fans.  

Today James Gunn tweeted about Michael Rooker playing a character called "Savant" in the new Suicide Squad movie.  

Gail Simone replied with, "I created this guy!"

I replied, "You created Savant, or you created Michael Rooker?  Either way, good job!"

Gail replied to my tweet with, "I created Savant, I feel Michael Rooker was created when a case of bourbon fucked a motorcycle."

James Gunn replied with, "How did you know?"

I'm really proud to have been part of that exchange.

Link.