#DO NOT be vaxxed and relaxed - be vaxxed and masked

[playingplayer2]

X/Twitter link

[relentlessenthusiasmforthebard]

If this current surge of covid were having now happened in 2020 or 2021 we would hundred percent be in lockdown right now. That theres people going about their lives unmasked like its 2019 is unfathomable. Please wear a good mask like a kn95 or n95 or better respirator, because when you dont you're sending the message that you do not care about disabled or immunocompromised people. You dont get to kill your grandma because you wanted to go out to lunch. Please take care of each other, it's literally the least we can do if we're all stuck on this planet with each other.

[pandemic-info]

Covid is the number 1 cause of MECFS right now, an incurable disease affecting millions of people where expending any amount of energy can leave you permanently bed bound or dead. Watch this video

Including Taylor's text because it's pretty succinct and important.

It reminded me of being asked "what's up with COVID" in a "why is it something to worry about" way. People still don't understand what "long COVID" can actually entail.

It's not "just" some random symptoms for a few months. Some people with ME/CFS are left with such poor quality of life that not only are they unable to work or partake in anything they did in their previously healthy lives, but some even call it "worse than death".

Or maybe, like some of my previously-young-and-healthy friends, you'll be "lucky" and "only" suffer semi-reparable organ damage: heart, eyes, brain.

COVID is not the only one, it's just the worst we've dealt with in recent years. Even a bad flu can result in post-acute sequelae / chronic illness, even ME/CFS. Measles can lead to encephalitis, pneumonia, deafness, blindless...

And yet the government we must now contend with in the US threatens to dismantle every last protection we have against diseases like these. The push to "vax-n-relax" was already bad enough on its own, with many states attempting mask bans.

Now there's RFK Jr. at the helm of Health & HS: a hypocrite who spreads anti-vax messaging (while actually vaccinating his own children), tried to revoke the life-saving COVID vaccines, with blood on his hands from an outbreak he caused, and says we'll just give disease research "a break".

The American healthcare system has issues, for sure. But this certainly will not fix them. This regime is positioned to do so much harm, and already has.

[milf--adjacent]

Me in 2021: "All Biden is doing in office is assuring the facist observation and policing arms of the government are being funded at all time highs. At the same time, he's dismantling public health for short term political gains of claiming he "beat the pandemic" while thousands still die (e.g. chaning the covid quarantine time from 10 days [not always enough time to clear an infevtion] to 5 days [almost never enough time to clear an infection] based on a letter from Delta Airline's CEO whining about having to be concerned with his employee's health, completely defunding test/trace/treat infrastructure, and manipulating the science to tell us to unmask and that current covid vaccines prevent spread [multiple studies show that because of covid's evolutionary propensity for immune escape, vaccination alone is not enough to stop spread. Even one nonpharmaceutical intervention alongside vaccination reduces spread incredibly. Factor this in with a population that has only ~20% vaccine uptake, and you've got a public health strategy that costs billions yet does nothing to protect the public].) All his presidency has done is prime the next republican who takes office to do even more overt fascism than ever before. The very least he could do is actually work to legislate protections for abortion, trans rights, and immigrant rights to make what the next republican president is obviously going to attack hard going at the very least."

Liberals around that same time: "Shut up, MAGA loser. Biden is my favoritest blorbo and he's gonna be so much better in his second term!"

Liberals on Feb 2, 2025: "No one possibly could have predicted this."

P.S. At the time of writing, over 2,100 covid deaths occurred in the US in the past 30 days. If you aren't masking, testing, and taking other precautions (such as following wastewater trends and pushing for air filtration in public spaces), you are a bigger part of the problem than you think. Asymptomatic spread of covid accounts for more than 60% of all cases: that's why vax and relax + stay home if you feel sick can never work to keep people safe. Fascism starts with the infirm: protect us by masking. Refuse to let us be cast aside and killed by an uncaring society you are a part of.

[covid-safer-hotties]

"It was such trauma and mental anguish to *checks notes* do my part in helping keep others safe by admitting that there is an ongoing public health threat represented by covid and wearing a special strip of cloth over my mouth and nose to prevent inhaling infectious particles and exhaling them on others! Y'all would bully me if I admitted that!"

In what world is the anguish you faced doing your part in "you do you," vax and relax covid eugenics worse than all the covid-safe people who've been left behind by your "mask fatigue?" How about the people you may have helped kill by being a part in a chain of infections? Why is it your tender fee fees that must be centered, hm?

[liminalweirdo]

#1 – Denial – Pretending a problem does not exist to provide artificial relief from anxiety. Examples:

“During COVID” or “During the pandemic” (past tense)

“The pandemic is over”

“Covid is mild”

“It’s gotten milder”

“Covid is now like a cold or the flu”

“Masks don’t work anyway”

“Covid is NOT airborne”

“Pandemic of the unvaccinated”

“Schools are safe”

“Children don’t transmit COVID”

“Covid is mild in young people”

“Summer flu”

“I��m sick but it’s not Covid”

Taking a rapid test only once

Using self-reported case estimates (25x underestimate) rather than wastewater-derived case estimation

Using hospitalization capacity estimates to enact public health precautions (lagging indicator)

Citing mortality estimates rather than excess mortality estimates. Citing excess mortality without adjusting for survivorship bias.

#2 – Projection – When someone takes what they are feeling and attempts to put it on someone else to artificially reduce their own anxiety. Examples:

“Stop living in fear.” (the attacker is living in fear)

“You can take your mask off.” (they are insecure about being unmasked themselves)

“When are you going to stop masking?”

“You can’t live in fear forever.”

#3 – Displacement – When someone takes their pandemic anxiety and redirects their discomfort toward someone or something else. Examples:

Angry, seemingly inexplicable outbursts by co-workers, strangers, or family

White affluent people caring less about the pandemic after learning that it disproportionately affects lower-socioeconomic status people of color

Scapegoating based on vaccination status, masking behavior, etc.

“Pandemic of the unvaccinated”

Vax and relax

“How many of them were vaccinated?” (troll comment on Covid deaths or long Covid)

Redirecting anxiety about mitigating a highly-contagious airborne virus by encouraging people to do simple ineffective mitigation like handwashing

“You do you” (complainers are the problem, not Covid)

Telling people to get vaccinated or take other precautions against the flu or RSV but not mentioning Covid

Parents artificially reducing their own anxiety by placing children in poorly mitigated environments

Clinicians artificially reducing their own anxiety by placing patients in poorly mitigated environments

Housework to distract from stress

Peer pressure not to mask

#4 – Compartmentalization – Holding two conflicting ideas or behaviors, such as caution and incaution, rather than dealing with the anxiety evoked by considering the incautious behaviors more deeply (hypocrisy)

Examples:

Hospitals and clinicians claim to value health/safety but then don’t require universal precautions

Public health officials claim to value evidence but then give non-evidence based advice (handwashing over masking), obscure or use low-value data over high-quality data (self-reported case counts over wastewater), etc.

Getting a flu vaccine but not a Covid vaccine

Interviewing long Covid experts who recommend masking in indoor public spaces but then going to Applebee’s

Masking in one potentially risky setting (grocery store) but not masking in another similar or more-risky setting (classroom)

Infectious disease conference where people are unmasked

Long Covid and other patient-advocacy meetings where only half the people mask

In-person only EDI events

Not testing because it’s just family

Mask breaks

#5 – Reaction formation – expressing artificial positive feelings when actually experiencing anxiety

Examples:

“It’s good I got my infection out of the way before the holidays”

“I had Covid but it was mild”

Anything quoted in Dr. Jonathan Howard’s book, “We Want Them Infected: How the Failed Quest for Herd Immunity Led Doctors to Embrace Anti-Vaccine Movement”

Herd immunity (infections help)

Hybrid immunity (infections help)

“It’s okay because I was recently vaccinated”

“Omicron is milder”

“Textbook virus”

“Building immunity”

#6 – Rationalization – Artificially reducing Covid anxiety through a weak justification. Examples:

“I didn’t mask but I used nasal spray”

“I don’t need to mask because I was recently vaccinated”

“It finally got me.”

“You’re going to get Covid again and again and again over your life.”

“It’s not Covid because I don’t have a sore throat.”

“It’s not Covid because I took a rapid test 3 days ago.”

“It’s not Covid because I’m vaccinated.”

“Airplanes have excellent ventilation.”

“I’ve had Covid three times. It’s mild.”

“Verily was cheaper.”

“Nobody else is masking.”

“Nobody else is testing.”

“My roommates don’t take any precautions, so there’s no point in me either.”

“I have a large family, so there’s no point in taking precautions.”

Surgical masks (they are actual “procedure masks,” by the way)

Various pseudo-scientific treatments used by the left and right

Handwashing as the primary Covid public health recommendation

Droplet transmission as a thing

Public health guidance that begins with “data shows” (sic)

Risk maps that never turn deep red

5 expired rapid tests

“Masks recommended” instead of universal precautions

“Seasonal”

#7 – Intellectualization – using extensive cognitive arguments to artificially circumvent Covid anxiety Examples:

Unending threads to justify indoor dining

Data-rich public health dashboards that use low-quality metrics and/or don’t change public health recommendations as risk increases

The entire justification for “off-ramps”

Oster, Wen, Prasad

Schools denying air cleaners because it “could make children anxious”

Schools not rapid testing this surge because it “could make children anxious”

The mental gymnastics underlying the rationales for who can get vaccinated, how frequently, or with what brand

Service workers told not to mask because it could make clients uncomfortable

“What comorbidities did they have?”

“The vulnerable will fall by the wayside”

Musicians and others holding large indoor events

5-day isolation periods

Here's a link to the full book, a newer edition than what I own. The information on defense mechanisms begins on textbook page 100. Please let me know if there's a more accessible alt-text solution that you would prefer so I can do better next time."

- Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR M

source

If you actually got to the end of this and don't remember what you're reading because the cognitive dissonance surrounding covid being "over" is so extreme, it's a list of the ways people downplay covid without any science-backed evidence. How many things on this list do you say, do, or believe?

[nando161mando]

To the neoliberals / liberals making reactionary posts here recently… here is what you can do now

Seeing lots of very reactionary posts signed with neoliberalism and late urgency seeping in here and it’s driving me a little 🍌.

People not paying attention to very real problems until it’s directly affecting them and/or it piques their personal interest is so prevalent and so frustrating to witness.

All it does is make me think of blue maga. The cycle of freaking out of every four years and everything is fine and totally not fascist unless THEY win but we’ll go back to not caring and being genocide apologists when they’re out. It makes my blood boil 🙃 take your personal urgency out of here and go do something to help someone in your community. Why wasn’t this important before trump? (Rhetorical question. It was important pre-trump. And also we’ve been through trump once, do people have no memory of the shit he put us through?)

Here’s what you can do:

- Learn the un-whitewashed history of the United States. Context is so fucking important here and none of y’all should be surprised that this is where we’re at. Especially considering the events that have unfolded over the past year (genocides) - were you paying attention?

- This sub has an abundance of excellent resources and reading recommendations. Take advantage of them.

- Get involved with mutual aid in your community. You don’t need to have money to help people.

- Consider masking in well-fitted high quality masks in public spaces again, consistently. Covid-19 was a war on the working people, a war on disabled folx, etc, some of whom are here in this sub. It is still rampant and if we want to protect each other and fight the fascism that Covid-19 helped accelerate, mask up and don’t spread your exhalations. Bonus is that this could also prevent you from getting sick. Biden and the CDC’s call for vax and relax in 2021 FUCKED US ALL OVER. Notice how Biden didn’t save us? No member of the two party system ever will.

- Keep educating yourself. This is a communist sub. Not a fair-weather only freak out when trump is president neoliberal election stress dumping ground. I’m not gate keeping - adding important context because it seems like a lot of people come to this sub without realizing what it’s about. That is all.

And if anyone has additional suggestions please feel free leave them here.

Podcast recs off the top of my head:

Podcast recs:

- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/still-here-a-podcast-from-the-sick-times/id1772137966

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/death-panel/id1444679141

[taste-of-the-divine]

Hello! I think I've come to the conclusion that between Vax and Percy, a mix of them would be my ideal guy, and it has my Sleep Token brain worm freaking out. 😭 I was curious on what you think a character like that would be like in general and romantically (and NSFW if ur down). Thank you sm!<3

ah yes, the crossing of fandoms.

well if we borrow inspiration from Vax and Percy and Sleep Token, you know they have to wear some sort of mask. I'm thinking something more full face cover, maybe more like a mesh mask (what II wears). Perhaps he also sports a refined button up most days and likes to leave his house in a longer jacket, just because that flow is so mysteriously charismatic how could he not.

His mask might have some sort of marking on them, but his eyes have cutouts, at least. That way you can see him roll his eyes at you when you say something particularly irksome. At least you can tell he's smiling though, the way his eyes blink and curve. He's expressive, even when you can't see his mouth.

He's tall, moves like water, but whenever you brush against him he's got this radiating heat that you want to stay close to. He oddly smells like macaroons and raspberry, and anytime you comment on it he glances over you and mutters, "You don't like it?" and you shake your head, laughing a little at how cute he could be. That's when he breaks eye contact, unsure of what to make of your reaction but too shy to ask. He's unaspiringly good with cats. You assume this is because he usually doesn't talk, and that could be true, too. When he does speak, its something simple and sarcastic, snarky and makes you huff a little with frustration because he thinks he's so amusing. But when he tips your chin up the way he does with the house cat, you can't help wish he'd kiss you. He doesn't though, enjoying it more when you make the first move. So he just brushes your cheek with his thumb and hovers there, a silent daring question of, "You don't really find me annoying. Do you?"

He gets cold easily, so when winter rolls around, you often see him bundled up in his long coat with a scarf. He has many, but he only wears the one you bought him last winter, a muted yellow that brings out the contrast in his eyes. You figure that he doesn't need to wear much else for his face since the mask probably keeps him warm, but you always tell him to wear a hat anyway. And he obliges because it's the only way he could get to take care of you, since you fuss over him too long. He's learned that if he just lets you, he can get you ready for the cold and you two can head out the door quicker.

When you two are in the presence of other people, he's reserved, save for a few small conversations here and there. He's friendly, but quiet-- there isn't much he likes to talk to about with other people because he'd rather share his thoughts with you at night when you two are snuggled up in bed, you on your laptop in bed and him playing a single-player story driven game on the bedroom console. He'll get entranced by the game for a bit because of a cutscene, but when there's a lull in his attention, he'd snuggle a little closer to you, putting his head on your shoulder, looking at what you're doing on your laptop, saying sleepily, "Hi. How are you?" And every time he asks this question, you answer first with a hum, before telling him, "I'm a little cold."

And every time, he lifts the blanket he has draped over his lower body, whispering into your neck, "Come here, then," before grabbing you by the waist and situating you in his lap. His chin rests into the ticklish crook of your shoulder as you adjust your body into his (he's warm, almost burning) and you can feel him slowly relaxing into you as he continues playing his game. Sometimes you shift a bit too much and he lets out a bit of a breathy groan before his hand goes to grab your hips. "Relax, love," he says, voice low and strained. But instead you lean into him, bury your face into his neck, leave a few bites and kisses and it makes him breathe a little heavier, dig his nails into you a little further. You know that he loves it when you go to bed wearing just a pair of cotton panties. It's cute, warms him a little to think about how comfortable you are sleeping with him like that. He knows you trust him, but the unsaid reminders being there were always nice. So he gives it a little tug, watching you for your reaction. And when he sees the corner of your lips curl up into a bit of a smile, he lowers his fingers under the waistband. It's all slow, experimental touches, some nail digging on the inner parts of your thigh, rubbing a palm over where he knows you like it. Teases the little bud and listens to your sounds before he slicks his finger up with you. Tantalizing-- accompanied with whispers of, "Yeah? You're so pretty rolling your hips for me like that. Gorgeous little thing," he mutters, before kissing the skin behind your ear. You whimper and he loves it, does whatever he did again to get that same sound out of you. Then, when he knows you're not expecting it, he slides a finger in, curls it just right, and slides it back out before you can get the satisfaction you want. It's so pretty when your body curls into him like that. Makes him drunk on the power he has over you. So he does it again. And again. And again. Until you're panting and frustrated and nearly begging. And then he does it one more time for good measure, and you whimper. That's when he gives it to you the way he knows you like it. His other hand is trailing the expanse of your body. You can hear his breathing get labored when you make a really good sound, feel his body cage a little more tightly around yours. The way he touches you reminds you that he loves you. He's not shy to say it either, speaking low and almost whispering it into your skin. You say it back, but it comes out like a strangled plea more than a declaration. He doesn't ever seem to mind, though.

He knows when you're close, loves the feeling of your body clenching around his fingers. You can feel his hard-on grinding into your lower back, but you're so close that he'd better not stop what he's doing. You're almost there, he could make you cum right now-- if he lets you.

Some nights, he does. He loves watching you melt, swallowing thickly as he takes in the view of your body shuddering. Some nights, he doesn't, and instead gets you right up to the edge only to take his fingers out and adjust himself out of his boxers and sweatpants. Leans against the backboard as you're frustrated before he lifts you up by the legs and seats you back down on him, all of him, all at once, and you can't help the strangled noise that bubbles in your throat. He coaxes it out of you though, tells you how pretty you sound and how sexy you look and how he just wants to pump you full of cum. To stop holding it in, let it out for me baby, you've had a stressful week, let me take care of you.

And you let him, because neither of you would rather be doing anything else.

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #35:

Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece

To date I've put off writing about two of my favorite 60s/70s artists, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell. This requires some explanation, as leaving either of them out of the Dollar Bin is like leaving rice and beans off your shopping list; life is better when you have these staples available at all times, yes?

In the case of Joni, I'm continuing to procrastinate because what the hell could I really say that's either of interest, insight or humor about her classic records? Um, they're classic; you should get your act together if you don't have them all memorized.

And when it comes to everything after Hejira, where do you even start? Um, well, they're less good. But you should still listen to them. What the hell else are you going to listen to right now? Your kids, you say? Your spouse? Tell them to simmer down and stand aside because it's time to crank Dancin' Clown loud in the living room.

Yep, that's Billy Idol doing his obnoxious thing in the track; apparently Tom Petty's involved too but he's smart enough to stay in the background. Yikes, this is not Joni's great hit.

Even so, I always plead with the student DJ's at my high school school's (that's where I work whenever I climb out of the Dollar Bin) dance's to slip this pop chestnut, along with the B-52's Love Shack, into the Winter Formal mix. I long for the terribly awkward, you see. (To be clear: I'm not a big Dancin' Fool fan. But Love Shack? That's my jam.) Happily, the students never listen to me. If they did I'd feel obligated to get down on my own like a Dancin' Clown.

Anyway, we'll all drink a case of Joni together at some point soon; maybe Mitchell Mondays will be a thing when Shakey Sundays start to wind down (which, at Neil's pace of releasing records should be around 2045). Thanks for your patience Joni!

I've been putting off Van for some of the same reasons I guess. He's not on Joni's level for me, but I recognize that every one of his records are either stone cold classics or have greatness within them up until the mid 70's. But then he hit a brick wall and, frankly, I've never taken the time to survey a lot of the wreckage. If you ask me How Long Has This Been Going On? (the self congratulatory name of Van's mid-90's record) I'll tell you, "beats the hell outta me; I don't listen to Morrison after Feel the Music."

After all, who wants to hear synthesizers mingling with old white man jazz moves, all of it fronted by back up singing ladies and Van's grumpy indifference? And don't even get me started on his recent anti-vax crusade; were I to meet Van today I'd mask up and tell him to get a goddamn life.

Yes, it's true: my buddy Greg, who's reading this right now and freaking out, tells me that No Guru, No Teacher, No Method, No Pizza, or whatever it's called, is a good record, and I'm sure he's right. But I have never found the energy to really listen to it.

Don't get me wrong: I hear Van about gurus; I don't have one either, and Dylan's song about working on one is terrible. But I am a teacher, so I don't appreciate Van trying to get me fired. And I tend to employ methods of all kinds, except while I'm pumping out this nonsense. Finally, I enjoy pizza. And Van apparently doesn't want me to have any. Damn it, Van: give me slice!

But I'm hear to tell you that Veedon Fleece is a Dollar Bin classic: it's soulful, weird, relaxing and elegant; plus, it's just about the last will and testament of Van the Man before he became No Plan Van.

I resisted this album for a long time, not giving it a chance until my late 20's. Why? Well, for one thing, I'm not that into domesticated animals - my cat Batty should be named Compromise, Surrender or Capitulate. Because that's what I did when we got her.

Just look at this beast, busy trying to block out the last 45 years of Morrison's career:

Van appears with giant dogs on the cover of Veedon Fleece, and that fact alone made me pass on this record in the Dollar Bin until around 2003.

The dogs on its cover look far too much like the drooling, child-eating ones my famous brother and I cowered before at ages 6 and 3 respectively at some babysitting co-op lady's house. There we stood, 4'1 and 3'nothing, doggie biscuits in hand, supplied by that well intentioned mother who'd sent us outside to greet them. In the face of all that sniffing, shuffling and terrifyingly hairy life-force my famous brother and I did the only reasonable thing at the time: we ate the doggie biscuits ourselves and then got the hell back in the house.

Frankly, I can't think of a single album cover which features domesticated animals and contains good music. Pink Floyd's Animals doesn't count: that pig ain't real. There are no dogs on the cover of Hounds of Love and the cat on Tapestry is benign. Joni's own Dog Eat Dog is majorly mediocre, Elvis / Old King is a grainy footnote to the cover of Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, and I'll be damned if I ever listen to the Alice in Chains' album with a dog on it or this other Van Morrison record which, for all I know, features the same terrifying dogs as Veedon Fleece, only this time they've been shorn and one is muzzled so as to leave the other free to gorge independently upon my flesh:

But somewhere in the early to mid-aught's my buddies Ryan and Ned cranked up the first song on Veedon Fleece's B Side as we rolled out of town, heading for a men's weekend in the desert. During that trip I melted my shoes in our dead yucca tree bonfire while wearing them (it's amazing what can happen under the influence) and fell in love with Veedon Fleece.

Here is that first track on the record's flip side, and it's the closest thing on the record to a pop single:

The song features just about all the wonderful bits Van had to offer back in the day: he grunts, warbles and shouts whenever he isn't soaring along, plus we've got driving acoustic guitar, chasing bass and drums, pick-me-up piano and complimentary six string riffs.

But the country folk rock of Bulbs, and the stately, epic white blues track that follows, Cul De Sac (which features what may be the greatest scream by a white male in popular music) are outliers on an album which is otherwise concerned with some of the most obscure and introspective music Morrison ever recorded.

Before we get into that truer tale of the record, here's Cul De Sac with its aforementioned scream ready for your pleasure at the 4:56 mark.

I once had a school-wide tug of war rope snap like gunfire in my hands, instantly shredding four of my fingers, one of which still feels funky ten years later. My scream was just as loud. But it was not musical.

Morrison recorded these two tracks separately from the rest of the record, and it shows. What's more, in true Morrison style, he basically wrote off the whole album afterwards: he's almost never performed any of the songs live and he spent the following few years singing only to his gargantuan hounds.

The other record Morrison has treated with similar disdain is Veedon Fleece's spiritual companion, Astral Weeks. Both records must be too thoughtful, complex and warmly spiritual for his liking. It's like he twice got caught gardening turnips in the nude by his neighbors and decided each time to skip town and bail on the mortgage as a result.

Take a listen to Veedon Fleece's opening track, Fair Play: all his ginormus dogs and lady friends are elsewhere; this is just Van, surrounded by sympathetic peers, searching for deliverance among magpie topics that veer from The Lone Ranger to Transcendentalism and back again.

Everything else on the record matches this yearning, graceful tone. Often you lose track of just how obscure and particular the lyrics are; indeed I often forget that Morrison is actually singing in a language I know.

The record's second and third songs depict a sensitive, San Fran everyman psychopath who wields a hatchet at human heads and never misses church on Sunday; the last two songs on Side A are is basically Van's own - albeit highly vague and vastly abbreviated - Intro to Major British Authors II course, and they are way better than the course I took by that title as an undergraduate. Every song flows together; every stands on its own; everything is supremely weird and lovely: what could be better?

But it's the record's two final, so-sparse-they-are-barely-there songs that mean the most to me. Come Here My Love is probably the last thing any of Van seventeen ex-wives ever want to hear him say again, but when he sings it you can dig why they all married him in the first place. It's pretty damn sexy, and if I were into 78 year old covid deniers who should never missed an open casting call to play The Penguin in the next Batman movie I'd swipe vigorously left or right or whatever direction indicates heavy interest on Van's Christian Mingle dating profile.

The album then closes with something even spacier, even sparser, even more astoundingly beautiful. Listen for the ghostly choir emerge way in the backspace, explore the majestic Country Fair:

There's nothing in his catalog that beats Morrison guiding the dense and stretched melody on this track. While the recorder forrays about on its own, Van leads every other musician, and all of us, on a brooding, Pied Piper ramble through endless green ways and shimmering, summer fields.

Country Fair, and Veedon Fleece as a whole, leave me incredibly sad and wonder struck at once. It's a Dollar Bin journey I'm always so eager to take. I'd even feel safe enough to reach out and pet Van's dogs if I came upon them mid-record. And if I had a dog biscuit in hand at the time I'd split it in three equal parts. Then we'd all enjoy it together.

[theculturedmarxist]

Having read the below article in Scientific American, I have to confess it actually addresses many good points. It drives home the facts that endlessly growing consumption (capitalism, essentially) is unsustainable and a declining human population would help solve many of our greatest challenges.

It also goes on to note that we (read: our leadership and ourselves) have to get our shit together on a number of fronts, including putting human rights square in the center of the overall solution of reducing population growth, consumption, etc.

But here’s the problem: our world is run by a bunch of greedy, thoughtless wealthy elites who don’t see us as human, who don’t give the slightest fuck about us. The politicians are just puppets they manipulate.

We keep asking things like why has COVID been allowed to run rampant? While many of us have surmised the answer – the mass culling of us proles – here we have it now laid out in a major publication, in Scientific America. The authors don’t point fingers, but I’m happy to do so.

COVID was a gift to the Davos crowd (the billionaires, essentially). They’re perfectly aware of how dangerous SARS-CoV-2 is, and they’re also perfectly aware of how transmission can be prevented. And even those who aren’t in the Davos league but are rich enough know better send their kids to Davos-safe schools (e.g., Ashish Jha and Rochelle Walensky).

But the oligarchs tell us – the proles, the worker bees, the expendables – through their bought and paid for politicians and media outlets that it’s just a cold, just the flu, nothing to worry about! Masks are bad. Vax and relax! Or don’t vax at all. It’s all good. You do you!

Just like from the movie “They Live,” our purpose in life is to breed, to work, to consume, to enrich the billionaire class, and maybe create a few more Davos scions who are seen as sufficiently morally bankrupt as to be worthy of elevation.

“But how long can mass disablement and death go on before even the Davos elite are impacted?”

Good question. I don’t have a specific answer, but let’s consider: there are currently around 3,000 billionaires (depending on which source you read) in the entire world who’ve amassed over $12 TRILLION in wealth. And remember, that’s only what those 3,000 or so individuals have in their pockets, it says nothing about additional assets – and power – they may directly or indirectly control, including politicians across the globe.

That 3,000 works out to about 0.0000375% of the world’s population; I figure it’s likely more like 100 to 500 families, as some of the billionaires are in the same family groups. Even if you added in the 56 million or so millionaires globally, that’s only 0.7% or so of the population. And let’s face it: in the eyes of the billionaires, the millionaires are just higher-ranked proles, nothing more. Even our wealthiest politicians are nothing more than boot-licking kapos to the billionaires.

So, do you think the billionaires and their families NEED anywhere close to 8 billion people to build their yachts, service and fly their private jets, or – when the climate becomes so extreme we proles are dying by the millions – to raise their atmosphere-controlled gilded domes and ivory towers? Of course not. Somehow, I’m sure they’ll have the “human resources” they require.

I doubt the super wealthy want to live in cages, though, even gilded ones. They must realize how the endless human growth and consumption that has made them wealthy beyond dreams is also poisoning their world (yes, to them it’s “their” world, not ours). Granted, some won’t give a damn and want to do the ultimate YOLO in their own lifetimes. Others, like Musk, think they’ll find salvation on Mars; I suspect he and his followers will be badly disappointed. Still others, I suspect, would like to salvage this planet. They don’t want to live in a shithole any more than we do.

To do so, however, billions of proles globally must die. Yes, billions. But this is a difficult problem to solve. While war could do it (and would make a LOT of money in the process), war is messy, has a great deal of uncertainty (you don’t want someone blowing up any of YOUR yachts or mansions!), and the only way to kill billions in a reasonable amount of time is the generous use of nuclear weapons, which are *really* messy.

Starvation can help, but typically works only on impoverished countries: most of the problems (e.g., climate catastrophe, pollution, etc.) beyond raw “surplus population,” as Scrooge might say, are actually created by the wealthy countries, and starvation isn’t going to work on them. The same with water: while some countries in the northern hemisphere (the rich) are going to suffer under the coming water shortages, they won’t suffer enough. A few million dying here or there simply won’t do.

What about…a plague? A pandemic? Hmm. Now that has some possibilities. We’ve had several major human depopulation events stemming from plagues in the past. You could argue that SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t have a high enough fatality rate to really “do the job” (and I’m not being glib as I write these awful things: I believe this is the cold calculus the Davos elite are using to compute our fates). That would be true, perhaps, if we only take into account deaths from acute infections – a few tens of millions in three years is hardly a dent, after all!

On the other hand, mass disablement leading to latent sudden death, infections by other pathogens due to compromised immune systems, premature death, the collapse of health care services leading to more deaths, plunging life expectancy among the proles…now we’re talking!

And yet, one set of problems remains: how to get people to embrace mass infection, disablement, and death when viral transmission can be broken fairly easily? If people were properly informed about the virus, the pandemic could be brought under control with a proper layered strategy enabled globally, which would cut the party short.

How to get past this conundrum?

That’s an easy one: lie to the proles! Terminate collection and distribution of the data showing what the virus is doing. Demonize or outright prohibit masking and other mitigations, along with the people promoting them or trying to get the proles to see the truth. Demonize vaccination for one demographic, and make it difficult to get vaccinated/boosted with vaccines that already do little to prevent infection, transmission, and long COVID for another. Have the billionaire-owned politicians and media outlets censor information about the pandemic except to say it’s over, COVID is no worse than a cold or the flu, vax and relax. Live your best life! YOLO!

This is what they’ve done, and on a global scale. SARS-CoV-2 may not be THE solution…but it could go a long wy. Consider where we’ll be in 10 or 20 years with multiple infections per year if we don’t globally try to stop it: hundreds of millions, and quite possibly billions, will die of the sequelae or other infections, if not from the acute infections themselves, or being left to die after being disabled, or “humanely euthanized.”

Even climate change: could that be intentional? The rich and shameless know it’s real and what’s causing it (us, primarily from using fossil fuels), but they’re doing nothing to change course. Why?

A workable theory is that they WANT it to happen, because it will likely kill hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, in a matter of decades. There will still be habitable, even nice, places left, and that’s where the billionaires will have us proles build their new ivory towers.

But what about supply chain disruptions? Grain and food shortages? Water? Fuel? Energy? Surely the “big issues” are going to disrupt the rich and shameless as millions or billions die, right? Right?

No, they’re not. Remember, these are people who buy blue water yachts on a whim, often have multiple personal helicopters and private jets, plop down millions of dollars for a warehouse full of fancy cars, have mansions on every continent but Antarctica, and enjoy a lifestyle that most of us literally can’t even imagine. They see themselves as lords and act like it.

Do you think ANY of the things that affect our survival are going to affect the Davos elite? Don’t be foolish: they simply buy their way to the front of the line for anything and everything they want. When it comes to it, they’ll have their own personal armies just like feudal lords of old. There’s no “competing” with this demographic: they take what they want, when they want. They don’t even see us as real people. The only value we provide in their world is whatever we can do for them. And right now, the vast majority of us are nothing but useless eaters in their eyes and just need to die, the faster, the better.

But what about productivity? If too many of us die, won’t we stop making them rich? Again, literally billions of us could die and there would be plenty of proles to keep them in comfort: they control the system, they control the dynamics, and they’ll rearrange things to suit their needs. When you own all the assets that are worth owning (that’s called “privatization,” folks), the nature of “income” and wealth change, and the rest of us be damned.

That’s what it really boils down to: this small group of people (and those who are really pulling the levers are no doubt only a small subset of this group of 3,000 or so) have damned the rest of us to suffering and death. They have embraced SARS-CoV-2 and likely climate change as at least part of the solution to planetary overpopulation. They’re driving this agenda, which is a long-term one, home through their influence over and ownership of our leaders, media, and various proxies who have been waging a war of information to convince us that mass infection is good, that mass disablement and death are normal, that there’s no reason to worry about climate change. Everything’s going to be okay. For them, at least.

Finally, if you think this is limited to one party or another, or one segment of the political spectrum, you’d be sorely mistaken. The Davos crowd aren’t liberals or conservatives. As I said earlier, they see themselves as lords unto themselves, and we are here only to serve them.

[storiesbreathed]

she shouldn't be here. even before leaving, there is part of cyriel who knew this. should anyone see beyond her mask or saw just how much of a state of disrepair her cane was, or worse, recognize her from the shop or worst, the streets where she often hid and took what the rich fucks of the town or visiting did not really need but she did. this place, this gathering, though would be a motherlode should she manage to slip some jewlery off of nobles. further, and she would not even admit this to herself, she wanted to see just what these kinds of things were like- her gown was something she had made herself, borrowing the finest fabric she could from the curtains hanging in her room and one of her own fine gowns and the thread from lathra to make it look finer than it was- and though is still looks slightly less than the others here, but it's the fine and vibrant scarlet color that sells it, she hopes-

that and the golden mask she had stolen off a vendor when she had talked herself into attending this morning.

even so, cyriel had been caught off guard when she had been approached, almost struck speechless truthfully. she had expected to be invisible, to be able to hug the sidelines as she took in the sight, but this half-elf had other plans and asked her to join him on the dance floor...

her feet tremble a bit without the support of her cane and from inexperience and she is letting him lead, trying to follow but she finds it oddly... fun. relaxing even, and her curiosity about this noble grows with every step.

" you know... i have never d-" she corrects herself with a hum. a force laugh, eyes closing as she tries to focus back in. she has her part to play. " it has been some time since i have danced, be it in lessons or at an event like this." she looks back up at the masked figure. " do you enjoy dancing? "

crown of midnight. cyriel dances with vax, @orphicflames at a masquerade.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference saved in our archive

Published in July 2021. The authors predicted that relaxing covid prevention measures early would lead to widespread disease and overloaded healthcare systems for years to come. Vaccine only strategies do not work to stop a pandemic. We must use all the tools we have simultaneously... The Biden Administration can't convince more that about 18% of people to get vaccinated, and the upcoming administration won't even do that. Mask up. Vax up. Stay safe. Keep doing what needs to be done. Your actions matter, even if it's not enough to keep everyone safe.

Notably, vaccine-mediated reduction of transmission is critical for viral suppression, and in order for partially-effective vaccines to play a positive role in SARS-CoV-2 suppression, complementary biomedical interventions and public health measures must be deployed simultaneously.

[rametarin]

remember how they insisted that the face mask would stop COVID-19 and how it turns out no it doesn’t stop transmission at that grade of mask.

remember how they insisted that the vaccine was the ONLY way to possibly get your civil rights back again and it was CIVILY AND SOCIALLY NECESSARY only to later learn that was scientifically untrue.

Remember how they said you couldn’t spread the virus of vaccinated and relaxed restrictions on those that were vaxxed, but then it turned out no even those people vaccinated were still able to spread it asymptomatically because the vaccine doesn’t prevent transmission just the negative personal consequences

because I do. And I hope the next time an outbreak specifically of COVID-19 comes out, we realize A.) the virus has the biggest mortality against those that are 1.) Obese 2.) Old 3.) Cardiovascularly compromised. Over 85% of all fatalities caused by COVID were experienced by people over the age of 60. B.) everybody else is pretty much as invulnerable to it as they are seasonal colds or flu. C.) we have medicine now that affects COVID-19 symptoms, so even without a vaccine, it’s quite easily survivable.

So we know that if you’re under 50, you’re probably at near to no risk. We know that the masks didn’t help near as much as having precautionary medicine does. We know from the statistics that washing your hands and living spaces DOES matter, and we know whether you are vaccinated or not, you are a spreader and experienced COVID anyway, whether you know it or not.

So next time there’s a COVID outbreak, instead of shutting down all of society, we should prioritize the most at risk for vaccines, not the layperson. The vaccines didn’t stop the virus from mutating, and it’s not what they’re designed to do.

Don't forget

[fuck-customers]

Hope you don't mind the ranting

When I told my co-worker that I got my first COVID vaccine shot she honest to god said "Oh really. Well, you know I'm anti-vax. But I know I need it to get it before I go on my cruise, so I might as well get it."

Is this seriously how you fuckin anti-vax/mask people truly are?! All those "I'm scared all these chemicals I'm putting in my body will kill me" or "Masks lowers your oxygen levels" is nothing but a fuckin act?! Especially since you can easily look this shit up on CDC.

Are you people so bored of your lives that you would go so far to cause drama, by risking other people's lives, for attention?! IS THIS YOUR TRUE FORM?!

My co-worker is a veterinary technician. Whose whole job is based off of science and medicine. And she's very good at it. She's a professional. And yet, again, SHE'S ANTI-VAX. She doesn't push her beliefs onto people which is good. But her reasoning for being anti-vax is incredibly stupid. She said she got a fever after her first flu shot and she never want to go through that again. So it's not because she doesn't believe that the vaccine would protect her, it's because she didn't want to spend a few days of discomfort. THAT'S IT! 

I think the main reason why this simple "oh I change my mind" exchange infuriates me so much is that I wish a lot of anti-vax/mask people would drop this melodrama because it would not only make things easier and safer for everyone around you--which you proved constantly throughout this soul-crushing year that you don't care about that--but would also be so much easier for you.

Co-worker wants to go on a cruise. She can't go without being fully vaccinated. Done. She may feel crummy at first but hey, at least she can relax during the rest of her trip. God damn fuckin simple.

What do you assholes get from yelling at people and deliberately coughing on them? Hatred. Unsatisfaction. Denied service. Nothing going your way, unless, these were the reactions you wanted. Hence, your obsessive attention-mongering.

WE DUB YE, KARENS! In the most dangerous ways.

[wordsarefakeokay]

Just a your average day

In my seat, notes out

Pencils ready, info on the board forgotten

Make some major life decisions before the bell rings

Pen in hand and class begins

Good morning average day

Go to work

Get settled, just starting

Now I'm in the swing of things and doing my job

People come by, ask me questions

Some simply talk to me

I help them all

Enough conversations in one day that they all blur together

And then that one comes by

Up to my desk or through my register

I'm paid to help them so I have no way of getting out of the conversation

Every moment of my shift after our interaction is done is different

Every moment is heavy

Exhausting

I count the minutes until I can go home

Because the person on the other side of my work space doesn't know how to be decent

The rest of the day I'm tired

The lights don't help

I'm tired and I want to go home

Just your average day

All of them bleed together like this

I've lived so many of them

And so many things have happened in my days

Many feels the same

Just your average day

I drive home and I'm tired

But I made my hours and I'll be able to pay for the things I need

I have a roof over my head

Food in our fridge

I have the ability to relax

I have that luxury

And things are still hard

I drive home after my average day and I decide to drive around

I make my rounds around town

The homeless camps are right where they were last time

They have camp fores tonight so they won't be cold

At least tonight they don't have to worry about the weather

I leave them food and water I have in my car

I drive off knowing they're still there and haven't been kicked out by the city

Just making my way around town

Just your average day driving home

The bodega down the street is still open

The bookstore across the mom and pop shop that closed down is still going

And that pizza place

And this business that business

That auto shop, this laundromat, that place and this and this and that

We lose some and some stay

I hope more stay than go

Stay strong small business

I'll do my best to support local

And I'll swing by on my way home from my average day

I get home and I remember

Wash your hands

Put the mask I used on the bus away

Body check. Yes I'm still doing fine

Time to rest

Put my wallet, keys, mask, IDs by the door

They'll be there for my next day

My next average day

For now though, it is

Time to rest

My average day is over

People got into a political debate over masks and vax and I'm so tired

My day is over

People got into another discussion about the price of gas and how the dollar store is now the dollar twenty five store

My day is over and I'm still processing all that's happened

We still have food stamps and government support for those of us in struggling economic brackets but

Those conversations and those problems will never just vanish

Those conversations are on going and the solutions to those problems will be determined later

So long later and I'm so tired now

My day is over I don't need to keep thinking of these things

My day is over and it's time to rest

Brain, please turn off

My brain replies: nice try

I just want my average day to be over

And I'm home

In my own safe space

Surrounded by my things and a place where I am loved

This day is over and I have finally caught my breath

On this silly little average day

[seldnei]

We have officially hit the point of the pandemic where I have no goddamned idea what the fuck even. Is it panic time? Doooom? I can’t tell what the hell the deal is.

I am fully vaccinated, boostered, still (double) masking in public, planning to re-up the masking at work from “carefully relaxed” to “slightly paranoid,” and looking to get 2-6 at home test kits to have in case we need them. (I figure the kid or I am going to be directly exposed at some point, so better to have the tests on hand if I can find them.) Husband and MIL are fully boostered; kiddo is too young for a booster but is vaxxed and will be masking at school.

That’s basically all I can do, yeah?