Saturday, May 2, 2020

Quarantine In The Heartland!


As across the country, gangs of thuggish armed bigots and clueless nitwits gather in groups to demand their right to bowl, we here in Nebraska gather in groups of 50, politely display our signs, and demand politely ask to be allowed to get a virus that will kill 3 or 4 of those dummies standing outside the State Capitol.

Hey its not the most favorite thing Ive ever done. Staying home. Wearing masks in public. Binge watching The Good Fight, Amazing Race, old Hawaii 5-O's (Wo Fat is a Top 10 TV villain of all time) and incredible mediocrities like Little Fires Everywhere. But Ive done it for an entire month and a half. Oh the humanity! My parents and grandparents spent 4 years sacrificing during a World War and this current pack of planet destroying lamebrains cant wait to kill themselves and others so they can get their fucking grey roots colored. Its baffling. Now I know the vast majority of people are doing the right thing, understand its not about YOU getting Covid-19 but about YOU giving it to someone else, but its this rock slithering 30% who cannot stand not being at a Trump rally and goddammit they need attention and their right to be a racist, sexist, armed to the teeth fuckstick will not be infringed. Enough! This is about is here in Nebraska and not about a death cult devoted to their own Dear Leader.

Nebraska has a egg headed Governor named Pete Ricketts, the Eric Trump of the billionaire Cubs owning Ricketts family. This guy became bored making millions by sitting around T D Ameritrade and getting his Daddy coffee.So Daddy attempted to get rid of Eric Pete by buying him a Senate seat. That failed miserably. Ricketts laid low, found a shot at running for Governor of Nebraska in 2014, barely won the Republican primary (26% to 25%) then crushed the almost non existent Nebraska Democratic Party's sacrificial lamb. Hey, look, nobody likes this arrogant Richie Rich on a personal level with his buying whatever he wants including legislative candidates and the ability to buy illegal drugs and killing people. Yep, he's a Nebraska Trump.

Ricketts refused to lock down the state instead recommending social distancing and quarantine. He did limit gatherings to 10 people except of course if you slaved away in a meat packing plant then you could go stand shoulder to shoulder and cough and hack away. Ricketts is lifting these restrictions on Monday and has ordered meat packing plants to stay open. He also ordered that if you didnt feel comfortable returning to your job you would be a quitter and thus ineligible for unemployment. His administration is obsessed with not paying unemployment benefits, implying that most applications are fakes and that Nebraskans are lazy slackers, ya know like he used to be.

The biggest spike in Covid 19 cases is right here in Nebraska. The meat packing plants are Covid 19 hotspots. The nursing homes are Covid 19 hotspots. This state, in typical fashion, is the absolute last to react to anything. How much the fact that meat packing plants employ the poor and the undocumented and the desperate can be debated. Ricketts is the man who after 60% of voters demanded he take federal Medicaid funds refused to implement it by kicking the deadline down the road over and over in an attempt to "do it right". Almost 2 years later federal help for Medicaid is STILL not implemented. In the middle of a fucking health crisis where he orders the poor to risk their lives daily and refuses to test, the Trump of Nebraska says let em die. He is a disgrace.

Here in Omaha we have a Republican Mayor named Jean Stothert. Yes a female. The woman is not my political cup of tea, Ive voted against her twice, but I cannot say she is an irresponsible kook. Shes not. She is a former nurse, said she did not for Trump and generally acts like an empathetic human being. So she shut down the city much to many's chagrin. Oh we didnt have to stay home if we didnt want, but it was strongly suggested and most of us did. Christ there was nowhere to go anyway. Thank you Door Dash.

Mayor Jean has weekly press conferences featuring community leaders from the black and brown population, the county health director, and responsible people stating facts and figures. Since she's a woman, and the health director is a woman they face things perhaps male politicians do not face. How the hell does Mayor Jeans hair look so nice? She has to be getting her hair done in secret while the rest of us get grey. Damn her!.........I aint kidding. This is 100% true. The biggest controversy regarding a female Mayor in the middle of the health crisis of the century is her fucking nice hair. Amazing what a small town of 500,000 this place really is.

The health director, a competent woman named Adi Pour, has directed with a calm and cool manner the voluntary shutdown. She has directed the Police to break up gatherings of 10 or more people and uses science and facts to keep the damn city as safe as possible. So what does she get in return? Death threats from former TV weathermen. What the fuck? Lynching threats, demands for his "freedom" and kooky emails from easily traceable accounts. No wonder hes a former TV weatherman. I demand freedom from that tornado!!

We in Omaha have lost billions in potential tax money and economic activity. We have no College World Series, no US Olympic Swim Trials, no concerts, no Big 10 baseball tournament, no Berkshire Hathaway ascot wearing cheapskates flocking here to worship Warren Buffet at the annual meeting, no Henry Doorly zoo visits, no restaurant traffic (man we love our brand new chain eatery openings around here). Its pretty bleak. The taxes here are already ridiculous because Republicans run the show and we all know Republicans suck ass at actually doing anything about taxes.They just talk. But with all that lost tax revenue, we really are screwed. The state received billions in federal help, the county we live in received hundreds of thousands in federal help, the city itself got nothing. Some lame excuse about population not meeting standards. So we are in the position to beg a Trump like Governor and and a greedy county for some of the pie. Great, not only are we spiking in Covid cases we also get no help financially. Its like we live in New York City. Well sort of.

Nebraska, with the highest rate of increase in Covid cases, reopens Monday. Brilliant timing. But at least our "dime store Lex Luthor" Governor gets his wish to kill people. And this time, he doesnt need to spend a dime of Daddys money.

3 comments:

Zentropy said...

Thank you, your blog is one of the stops while having Saturday morning coffee. I am in Grand Island and have had to venture out to get groceries and such and am still amazed by the number of non mask wearing folk, but at least we can still remotely bet on the ponies at Fonner Park! (Grrr!!!)
The thinking around here is still deeply rooted in the mindset that "those people" are the reason for the spread and it is not the fault or responsibility of the government, corporations or employers for preparing and testing--most would rather blame the victim, cause someone confuses freedom with consumerism.
Thank you again for your posts and be safe.

Max's Dad said...

You too Zentropy!

Unknown said...

How can we quibble ? While the world has gone f--k crazy......Philippines is putting people in dog cages.....You don't want to know what's going on in Brazil to Peru.....Cities of twenty millions of people.....and then there's Africa,Europe,and.....Well Nature abhors a vacuum and me thinks she is really abhorring overtime.........