It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. I slept poorly last night, because it was so muggy. Today is the cool day this week, with a forecast high of only 80°. From your comments, some of you don’t understand my pain meds. Fentanyl is a narcotic opioid, just like Oxycodone. It shares the same dangers and side-effects. They have me on the lowest dose (12.5 mg patch) and do not intend it to replace Oxycodone. My medical team intend it to provide a continuous level of pain relief, but understand that I will need to supplement it with Oxycodone. Their hope is that my Oxycodone use will decrease from 40 – 50 mg/day to 5 – 20 mg/day. As much as I would prefer not to need pain management, spinal cancer is extremely painful, as is esophageal cancer. Without meds, I would be in too much pain to do the things that make staying alive worth it. WWWendy will be coming late this afternoon to de-stink the vile, rancid TomCat and make a lot of goop. I ate almost all the goop in the house. In a late change of plans, WWWendy is coming at Noon. Rush mode engaged! Happy Hump Day!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:37 (average 7:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Trump* Virus Update:
The EU curve shows a proper response to Trump* virus. The US curve shows a Republican response.
Cases: 2,425,424
Deaths: 123,500
We don’t want criminal Fuhrer Trump* taking credit for the recoveries, which he makes less likely, NOT more likely.
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Robert Reich: America is Not Exceptional
Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich, id the Fifth Reich, exceptional in their hate, greed, megalomania, and incompetence. RESIST!!
From YouTube (CNN Channel): EU considers blocking US travelers due to coronavirus surge
Considering the difference in new cases charts of the EU and the US (see TVU above), it is clear that the US has become the world’s Typhoid Mary for the spread of COVID-19, aka Trump* virus. Therefore, if the EU fails to ban visitors from the US, they are insane! RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
Ah… the memories! RESIST!!
Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!
15 Responses to “Open Thread–6/24/2020”
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Woosh! Have a productive day! Love to WWWendy!
Keeping up with the Lincoln Project is a full time job these days. But that’s OK, in the circumstances.
And – since I brought up T-shirts – and you can’t see all of it in the video – this is the T-shirt:
Cartoon – Even more so that all other men at the time, he was in a position where the babymaking function of women was all that was important. And since no one had a clue about X and Y chromosomes, anything that wasn’t what the man wanted was always the woman’s fault.
TVU – Good decision on the recoveries, especially since the antibodies apparently don’t work for long, and besides that, we don’t know how many and what kind of other issues the virus can leave behind.
RR – Great minds. I don’t understand why we haven’t all been saying this for 3 1/2 years. I know some have, and with receipts no less. Good for Robert for spotlighting it.
CNN – Good decision by the EU – if they make it. I hope they do. What with Brexit, could Americans still go to the UK? (I’m pretty sure Boris Johnson is not smart enough to adopt the same rule.
Past – Not all of the music then was woke. There was also a good share of escapism.
When I made a donation to Lincoln Project, I told them that I thought it’d be a good idea to produce some merchandise – like t-shirts, mugs, etc.
Not only would it be a money-maker, but it’s good advertising.
But I never heard back from them, and I still don’t see anything at their site. (I’ve seen a couple of knock-offs, but I really want them to benefit rather than just a t-shirt company.)
Cartoon: Of course he is. ugh!
TVU: Texas now has 120,370 cases, trailing NY, CA and NJ and IL. We are reporting an all time high. Unfortunately.
RRC: Depressing, truthful and cruel, but so true! Sad !! Thanks, Mr. Reich.
CNN: I can’t blame them. It’s for their safety and protecting their citizens.
BFTP: Saw The BB’s in concert a few times, great vibes, and a great song!
HI, Wendy!! Thank you, Tom, for clarifying your meds and intake(s), and your written conversation re: your health. I appreciate you, and pray for the very best for you. Hope that you have a good rest of your day, take good, good care, and Thanks, Tom.
*This just in: “At his Tulsa rally, dt bragged that he asked his staff to ‘slow down’ COVID testing because it was making him look bad. 122K Americans are dead, and our President is publicly admitting that he cares more about saving face than saving lives.” ~ Ro Khanna ~
2. “Doctors are treating the COVID critical patients differently and earlier, putting them on their stomachs, using high oxygen flow instead of ventilators, using treatments of light steroids, plasma, blood thinning drugs and remdesivir. It’s making a huge difference in survival. ~ Mary S. ~
3. “Trump’s Make Corona Great Again tour is off to an infectious start.” ~ anon ~
4. “GOP only opposes mail-in voting when Democrats use it. ~ Sue M. ~
5. “You look at the polls, and think ‘he can’t win’. But Trump’s path to victory does not depend on persuading Americans. It depends on voter suppression, mass disinformation to reign interference and unabashed use of executive branch power to shape events and perceptions this fall.” ~ Bill Kristol ~
And Bill Kristol is spot on.
Word.
Right now the only ways in which the U.S. is exceptional are bad ones. Highest infant and maternal mortality rate in the developed world. Highest incarceration rate in the entire world. And those are just for starters. Vote blue no matter who top to bottom – the Democrats may be Democruds, but a major Blue Wave should teach the Republicans a lesson. Should.
And to think that this is still only part of the FIRST wave of COVID-19.
Ever since *Rrump refused to let the Grand Princess cruise ship dock in the first week of March because of the coronavirus, I saw the writing was on the wall. So I stocked up my larder, got masks & hand sanitizer and started social distancing.
Looks like I’ll still be in that mode for quite some time. Wish I could convince all the idiots at the grocery store, etc. that don’t wear masks that they’re making things worse … for EVERYONE!
TC, you do what you need to do to keep your pain level at some sort of tolerable level.
‘Toon: The GOP would love him. trump would call him, as he did with Putrid, a “real leader.”
TVU: Trump is beyond engaging with this issue. DeSantis is essentially useless, as Florida spikes at a record number, again. Several counties in the Tampa area are now requiring masks at indoor businesses. Some woman, as seen on the local news, a bit ago, was ranting about invasion of rights, in the typical Libertarian way.
RRC: We have not been exceptional in any but negative ways, for a long time!
CNN: “…could bar AMERICANS….” That has to be because we have become so GREAT that the EU countries do not want to have our GREAT citizenry arriving o their shores and looking down on them with disgust. I mean, how embarrassing would it be for the EU, to have snobby, exceptional Americans in their midst?
BFTP: Saw the Beach Boys at the Jersey shore in the ’70s, at the beach. Love their sound!
Bill Kristol nails it!
I had been at the Urgent Care today. I’ve been having high blood pressure with chest pain. They want me to go straight to the hospital ER to have further testing including a stress test. I’m trying to figure out if I should go tonight or just lay down now and go in the morning.
I’m far too late with answering but GO TONIGHT. THEY WANTED YOU TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE ER.
Please do go. My thoughts are with you, Colleen
OMG, it’s morning now, but I hope you did go last night! I understand fatigue, but this is something that should NEVER be put off. Please keep us posted!
Collen, I do hope that you went to the ER last night…and that you are feeling better.
Keep (me) us posted…and take good, good care!! Get your rest too. xo
Colleen, like Lona and JD, I would have replied last night had I seen this the. I hope you went right away. Thoughts, prayers and Hugs. Please keep us posted.
Update: Although Oz can hardly speak of a wase – it was more of a ripple compared to other countries – we seemed to headed for a second wave in one state particularly.
RR: ‘Exceptional’ is a term that America has taken upon itself, but it forgot that with owning a term that implies a very high standard it also has the responsibility to maintain that high standard. Sadly, in the past few decades, that standard has become less of a general measure for all Americans than a standard for the happy few. American exceptionalism has been hollowed out and now under Trump has come to mean ‘all except for America’. It’ll take a long time to regain some of its former position in the world, but it’ll take even more to have it encompass all Americans.
CNN: This from Euronews: Other countries to be excluded according to a draft list that will be finalised later on Wednesday include Russia, Brazil and Qatar. An official announcement is expected early next week. America is again in great company, isn’t it?
BFTP: I’ve always prefered this song to other Beach Boys’ songs because it is so very different from their usual repertoire.
Thanks and busy Hugs to All!