Republicans are back to spreading their pro-polio and anti-mask messages, and sadly I'm seeing more people who don't fall under the Fox-Lobotomized category misquoting medical professionals and correctly quoting pro-polio politicians to spread doubt about vaccines. One friend was suggesting that masks are a placebo unless they are the correct kind fitted perfectly. There is a kernal of truth to what he suggested, but ultimately his message is "masking is useless, why bother." Does anyone not know the saying, "perfect is the enemy of good?" Do I really need to spell it out?  OK, then: perfectly fitted medical-grade masks worn by all would be ideal, but since we can’t have that, anything in between that ideal and no masks is better than no masks. Apparently some still need that spelled out, which tells me we're fucking doomed.

It is encouraging that more people are getting vaccinated lately as people have begun to notice that local numbers of infected, severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths have spiked all over again, and that this time it's not just the weakest but the young (including a 16-year old yesterday) and healthy who simply refused to get vaccinated, but it's too late for tens of thousands now unnecessarily in mortal danger due to this virus.

To be clear, there are absolutely legitimate reasons for certain people to not get vaccinated. Some have specific underlying conditions that may be exacerbated by the vaccine. Their numbers are vanishingly small, but they need to be counted, represented, and protected from the willfully unvaccinated at least as much as those of us who are vaccinated. And yes, a vaccinated person can become infected and spread the virus just as an unvaccinated person can. I keep hearing science-deniers repeat that point while leaving out the highly relevant associated fact that the vaccinated are less likely to become infected in the first place. Anyone can get it, anyone can spread it, the unvaccinated are more likely to do the former making them in turn more likely to do the latter.

These adult decisions and tough policy choices are being made more difficult by shameless purveyors of disinformation with large platforms. Elected officials in Texas and Florida spent the week trying to blame their massive COVID spikes on immigrants instead of on their ass-backward "leadership." They were one-upped by that poodle-looking motherfucker from Kentucky saying that Democrats are plucking infected kids from the southern border and placing them all over the United States "to seed the country with a new variant." It's absurd, it's laughable, it's hateful, but it's also effective. The liars don't expect most people to believe their evidence-free claims, they just want to deflect the blame onto groups their base has been trained to hate. The fact that every mainstream media outlet didn't have a microphone in that "plucking" asshole's face DEMANDING proof of his slanderous damaging claims gives license to the next Trump afterbirth politician to get up and say whatever vile bullshit that they can fever dream up knowing they will get away with it, no matter how damaging, no matter how awful.

Oh, and while CNN is directing our attention to the deranged pillow-pusher's latest ridiculous election conspiracy nonsense, vast sums are being spent on legal and semi-legal ways to undermine representative democracy.  But not to worry, as Cheekface tells us, "Everything is fine! Everything is fine! Everything is fine!" (lyric video embedded below).