My highest ground

NGL—we are in for it. Faced with the choice between a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, racist, misogynist, lying, unhinged thief of classified documents, who’s cheated at everything from golf to his three wives, and a dedicated public servant with a clear record of advocating for the people—a majority of American voters went with the criminal.

Which means we will have 12 years of rule by Republicans so radical they’d make Edwin M. Stanton blush, handing out goodies to the oligarchs while they clamp down on any non-White, non-cis, non-Christian non-rich, non-native (except for the First People; they don’t count; they never counted) folks in the country and cause chaos throughout the globe.

I’m talking: three SCOTUS picks in the next term; they’ll be ideologues vetted by the Federalist Society, and young. They’ll be ruling for decades. Additionally, scores of judges on federal benches, which will soon look in total like the Fifth Circuit.

Pulling the US out of NATO. Bugger Article 5, we’ll just leave. Which will give Putin and his lackeys permission to do whatever the fuck they want to do.

Tanking the economy. Not just tariffs, not just tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, not just whatever crackbrained idea the Kleptocrat comes up with—it’s all of them together. Plus putting Elon Musk in charge of “eliminating government waste”. He promises he can trim $2T off a $6T budget, although he allows there will be “some hardship” involved in that. Not for him or his ilk; for us.

Destroying the environment. Between handing over whatever they want to big oil, there’ll be lifting of EPA regulations on corporations all over the place. Like hellscapes? Great—one coming right up.

The death of Ukraine.

Utter calamity for women’s lives. It’s not only the death of Roe v Wade, as horrifying as the results have been just in the past few months. It’s the intrusion of state governments into all of a woman’s decisions—if and where she should work outside the house, how many children she should produce, what redress she has in an abusive relationship, what control (if any) she has over money and property. We’re headed back at least one century, maybe more.

Oh—and ditto for people of color: they’ll be put back in “their place”, which will not be anywhere you or I would like to be.

And let’s talk about deporting immigrants. That’s a big promise, and it always got big cheers; no doubt it played a big part in electing the Kleptocrat and the alleged couch-shtuper. Millions and millions of Americans voted to have law enforcement and the goddamned United States military round up “millions” of immigrants (who may or may not be here legally), park them in purpose-built “camps” and then ship them like lettuce or bags of rice to “where they came from”. Millions upon millions of Americans are looking forward to watching that—spitting on the “others” if in person, or toasting the aktion with their cans of Coors if viewing on TV.

They'll start with immigrants and then move on to anyone who dissents. Not deportation; just imprisoning and possibly killing.

Oh—and all you morons who voted for the Kleptocrat because "the price of eggs": what are you going to do when all those people who harvest the crops and work in the meat packing plants are gone and the price of everything shoots through the roof? Yeah, I know—loosening up child labor laws will take care of that, eh?

BTW—let me point out that millions of these people claim to be Christians, and they are looking forward to building out a theocracy that has never been a pillar of our democracy. Right up until the point where they start killing each other over which is the only Jesus-approved form of baptism—foot dipping or full immersion—they’ll enact laws that make fundamental Protestantism the paradigm for behavior. Look—we currently have a Speaker of the House who considers himself Moses; this isn’t such a stretch.

Also BTW—these are the people who are rooting for a cataclysmic war in the Middle East to usher in the End Times. They care deeply about Israel; not at all about Jews.

And I do not forget national security. There will be none—everything discussed in the halls of our government will be blabbed immediately to the Kremlin. Because that’s how these people roll. After four years (with the Kleptocrat’s toadies heading up intelligence and military branches), we’ll be devastated. By year 12 we won’t exist as a power.

Because there’s also a plan to eliminate career civil servants in the federal system—the backbone of government—and replace them with suits whose only expertise is sucking up to Cadet Bonespurs. They wrote this down, that’s how confident they are.

As for the nation’s health—well, RFK Jr. is going to tackle that. He’ll balance removing fluoride from the water with eliminating the FDA (and probably the NIH and CDC) as well as the Department of Health and Human Services.

Finally—let me remind you that, in addition to the absence of guardrails that come with him bringing in only the ideologues who’ve pledged loyalty exclusively to him (not the Constitution), we also have a situation where SCOTUS has declared that anyone whose ass is parked behind the Resolute Desk has absolute immunity for any criminal acts committed in the course of conducting business. We are well and truly fucked.

And that’s what my fellow Americans voted for—a Christofascist autocracy. Because the price of eggs is up and they didn’t want another non-White person in the White House.

So what do I choose for today’s earworm? Stevie Wonder singing “Higher Ground” at this year's DNC. That's what we need to be thinking about. 

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Aftermath

TBH, I find myself without words today. I don’t know how long this condition will last; I don’t know whether there’s any point in doing this at all. So here are some photos taken when I thought—hoped—we were better than this.

 

 

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Poll danse macabre

Sorry, world—we fucked up. Big time.

Sorry, Ukraine; from the depths of my heart.

LGBQT+, I have no words.

Immigrants, my deepest apologies.

Economies—well, I guess you’re on your own. Better buckle up.

Billionaires and autocrats: you got what you wanted. I hope you choke on it.

  

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

We the people

Today I am trying to have no thoughts. The American people are at a crossroad and they’re choosing which way this country will proceed. All the doomscrolling and fretting in the world will not affect that.

So I’m focusing on beautiful things.

Iacta alea est.

  

©2024 Bas Bleu

Gratitude Monday: not nothing

NGL, my anxiety level is looking at Mercury in the rearview mirror and I’m terrified of what happens to the world if the Kleptocrat wins the election tomorrow. It is not hyperbole to state that putting an insane autocrat, backed up by authoritarian White Christian Nationalists at the head of the most powerful nation on earth—the strongest economy, the most effective military—spells disaster not only for the United States, but for everyone else. (As Sancho Panza says, “Whether the rock hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the rock, it’s going to be bad for the pitcher.”)

Even if he loses, the prospect of all the crap we’ll have to plough through for months just wears me out. I am so tired of his shit.

But today is Gratitude Monday, so I’m focusing on what’s good.

We’ve had a good run—248 years of democracy. Even with the blip from 1861 to 1865, that’s not nothing.

I note that we were founded on violence—colonization, rebellion, expansion across the continent, human chattel slavery, racism, systematic exploitation of labor—and yet we became a beacon to the world of representative government, rule of law, and social and economic possibilities. That’s not nothing.

We made education available for free (if you don’t count taxes) to everyone and built some of the best universities in the world, where astonishing advances in science were made. Our technologies have pioneered everything from space exploration to crop yields, such that other nations devote whole divisions to attempting to steal them. That’s not nothing.

We do stumble on a lot of the social and economic fronts. I recognize that as a White, middle class woman I’ve mostly sat in the catbird seat. But only in my own lifetime has the policy of “separate but equal” been declared null, have women been given the right to open bank accounts without a male relative approving and has a Black man been elected to the presidency. We have a long way to go—especially with the legislative and judicial pushback of the past eight years—but that’s still not nothing.

It shows we are conscious of our actions, and we can improve. (Or go the other direction.)

The innate violence and societal worship of guns to the contrary notwithstanding, we’ve mostly celebrated our holidays joyfully, with homemade parades, homemade floats, barbecues and fireworks. And until 2021, we enjoyed peaceful transfer of power from president to president. And that’s not nothing.

So I’m grateful for how well we’ve done so far and the willingness of most to keep moving forward. I’m grateful that I can cast my vote as I chose, up and down the ballot—my mother was born before the Nineteenth Amendment gave women that right. I’m grateful for everyone who’s made this shining city upon a hill possible for nearly 250 years.

And I hope for another 250.

 

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Redeem the work of fools

It's All Saints Day and we’re at the final Friday before the election. I confess that my anxiety level has been at Defcon4 for about the past month. There seems to be nothing—no act of indecency, no whackadoodle promise, no vulgarity—that will sway the Kleptocrat’s followers from the descent into insanity, so now it’s up to the non-cultists to set this train onto the track of reasonable, democratic government instead of the express to fascist autocracy that he’s openly declared he’ll install.

We the people have to get this done, despite our opponents firebombing ballot dropboxes, culling voter rolls days before the election (we’ll remember this, SCOTUS, as we do all the other rulings), engaging in voter intimidation at the polling places and refusing to let DOJ monitors observe the process. If they’re that terrified now, we have to give them the biggest scare ever: a landslide victory for Democrats all up and down the ballot.

They'll still scream RIGGED and try to steal it, but it'll be much harder for them to succeed.

So my earworm today is “People Have the Power”, by Patti Smith. Crank up the volume.

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

That time of year

This time of year, people around the world think about things like the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, life over death.

Today—the holiday you know as Halloween—is also the Celtic holiday Samhain. It marks the bringing in of the harvest and the envelopment of the world in winter darkness. And tonight the wall between this world and the next is more frangible, and it’s a time for lighting protective and cleansing bonfires as the living and dead commune.

Today is also el Día de Muertos in the Mexican tradition, when the living open their lives to the dead, who are celebrated with sugar skulls, favorite foods and drink, both in the home and via picnics at cemeteries. The celebration runs through tomorrow (All Saints Day, in the Catholic Church) and Saturday, All Souls Day, which essentially carry on the Celtic tradition.

One of my favorite holidays starts tonight. That would be Diwali, when Hindus celebrate a number of events where princes of light and good slapped down princes who would envelope the world in darkness and evil. I find it interesting that this whole good/evil thing was not one-and-done; evildoers are always trying it on, so we have to be alert, strong and brave.

This seems particularly apt, given the election surrounding us in the United States—so clearly a fight between light and darkness, between hope and hate, between building a future and lighting a fuse to nihilism.

One part of the Diwali tradition involves lights—candles, fairy lights, fireworks, the whole spectrum—and I definitely can get behind that.

This year, for the first time, I noticed that Costco is selling Diwali fireworks. Because of course. And also, because why not?

(Another one is the sharing of sweets, which I also endorse.)

So, tonight—more than other nights—I’ll amass candles on my dinner table and consider how we in these times can turn back the darkness. I'm grateful for the reminder that, while the struggle goes on, we always have another opportunity to vanquish evil.

 

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Lights but no action

We now come to the illuminated portion of Halloween in the People’s Republic. It’s not actually that impressive. Basically, two entries.

We got this one:

And this effort of Jack o’Lanterns lining a walkway.

What I find interesting about this is that they used some kind of fairy lights that have lasted for more than a week.

Also—I’m rather amazed that the squirrels haven’t chewed away at the open pumpkins. I wonder if they sprayed some kind of squirrel repellant on them?

If so—maybe they’ll tell me what they used.

 

 

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Scary out there

While the denizens of the People’s Republic don’t seem to get as excited about Halloween as those of The Valley They Call Silicon, they do represent, albeit in a smaller way.

My nextdoor neighbor started last month.

(Look: they're quiet and they don't play the radio loud, so I'm fine with them.)

She rearranged the pair, gave the spider some web and repurposed one of the snakes.

A couple of weeks later, another neighbor joined the chat. Notice the dogs—they represent all the members of the household.

The toad was just something one of the residents couldn’t resist at Michael’s.

There are also the usual graveyards and such.

I still don’t know who’s buying the monsters I saw last month at Lowe’s.

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Gratitude Monday: Vaxed to the max

Last week I decided I could no longer put off getting my seasonal vaccinations—for flu and COVID. So I made an appointment for them both on Wednesday. I generally do not react badly to flu shots and the only COVID inoculation that bothered me was the third one in the first series, so I figured I’d be fine.

Well. It’s been interesting.

(BACKGROUND: When I moved back to the District They Call Columbia, I could not believe how difficult it was to find a primary care practice. For a city that boasts three medical schools, you’d have thought there’d be a surfeit of them, but it took me months (and a couple of false starts) before I landed on OneMedical. A quasi-concierge concept headquartered in San Francisco, the attraction for me was that, for a $200 annual fee, I could be seen at any OneMed office by any OneMed provider, get same-day appointments, spend 20 minutes with the doctor per appointment (as opposed to the 15 minutes most insurance-driven practices) and develop an actual relationship. The bonus was that there was an office two blocks from my job at Metro Center. Eventually they opened offices closer to me in the People’s Republic, so I was happy.)

I showed up for my appointment to be told by the lab tech that “they” had put an order for the regular flu dose. I need the high-dose vaccine and I’d specified that when I made the appointment online.

In fact, their portal prompted me for the high-dose version, which makes sense—I’ve been getting this since I started with OneMedical. And it’s not rocket science—even pharmacies twig that I get high-dose.

CVS: You’ll want the high-dose shot.

Me: Yes.

CVS: Yeah—we don’t have any.

Well, it got worse. The lab tech couldn’t put in an order herself to change the dosage; the two people associated with my care (neither of whom I’ve seen, as the person I was seeing left the practice six months ago) were out of office—one until 8 November, the other till 1 November. The tech messaged others on the medical team, but got no response. So she gave me the COVID booster and said she’d contact me when they got the flu thing sorted.

It was clearly some kind of system thing—to do with the protocols set up for dispensing vaccines. Amazon bought OneMedical about a year ago and it occurred to me that they might have had some of their geniuses messing with the software. But this is just speculation.

Still, it was annoying. Thursday morning I was just sitting down to write a nastygram asking why it is that I could see anyone in the practice on a couple of hours’ notice, but they couldn’t find someone to authorize the correct dose—especially since I’d specified that when I made the appointment using their own systems—when I saw an email in my queue saying they’d got it sorted and I could drop in at any time to get the shot.

So I got it on Thursday. And Friday when they sent me the “how did we do” survey email, they did not get a good Net Promoter Score. (They also emailed to invite me to leave a Google review. I replied, “You seriously do not want me leaving a public review.”)

The other interesting thing is how I reacted to the COVID vaccine. (This one was Moderna; all the others I’ve got have been Pfizer. Dunno if this is salient.)

This was Thursday morning. You can see how inflamed the area around the injection is. That was tender, the shoulder joint was sore and I was achy. It was hard to raise my arm and I couldn’t clasp hands behind my back. Also—I got completely exhausted. Both Thursday and Friday I had to lie down in the afternoon to rest. And it’s not like I was running marathons or anything.

The injection area was still inflamed on Sunday, and it also itched like crazy. (The flu site is tender, but not inflamed.)

However—in the global scheme of things, this is small potatoes. Despite the corporate glitching and the physiological hiccups, I am now set for flu and COVID season, and I am grateful for that. Even ifall it took two trips to get it done.

 

©2024 Bas Bleu