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Trump just couldn't stay away from something that was about him... |
Once again, I missed tons of opportunities this
month to hold forth here on some of the jaw-dropping number of
atrocities that continue to flood the zone in accordance
with Slovenly Steve "Three Shirts" Bannon's master
plan. There was so much to write about, and I did so much
not-writing. Go ahead, call me a slacker. I can take it.
This time my lame excuse was an alarming and, frankly,
life-threatening emergency due to a hemoglobin level that had
dropped way down to 4.8 (trust me, that is very bad). After my
new PCP literally begged me to go to the ER, my best
friend/sister-by-choice took me, and I was admitted to the
hospital for two days for multiple blood transfusions and iron
infusions and... well, I won't bore you with the details right
now, except to say that more than one provider at the hospital
expressed amazement that I was still up and walking around. Also,
my years-long suspicion that I had severe iron deficiency anemia
was spot-on, though tests also uncovered a few other conditions
that were most likely either caused or exacerbated by the
increasingly serious anemia.
The bottom line is that I seem to be on the mend, but am girding
up for a deluge of hospital and individual provider bills that I
will not be able to pay due to lack of insurance and money (you
can help out with the latter if you're so inclined, see note at
the end of this post).
But the Whirled goes on, and I certainly have every intention of
going on myself. And even while I was reclining in my hospital
bed hooked up to the blood transfusion apparatus, I was following
the news, as I've also been doing since I returned home.
Doomscrolling never takes a holiday. Indeed, there are countless
things to inspire anger and despair as the ruthless American
Reich regime marches on -- in recent times, most notably, the illegal, immoral, and totally stupid war in Iran,
initiated by the self-described "Peace President" and
his buddy Bibi in Israel. One of the latest newsbits is Trump's blatant threat to commit war crimes if he
doesn't get his way.
And MAGA is all, "Yeah, baby, bring on the End Times. We're
going to end up in Paradise with Jeezus, and anyone who doesn't
agree with us will be burning in hell."
But even as we teeter on the edge of the End Times, there is
still reason for hope, as symbolized most powerfully in this past
weekend's No Kings mass marches and demonstrations, which by most
accounts drew record numbers of protesters
who, as in the past two No Kings events, are NOT being paid by
George Soros or any other real or imaginary reich-wing scapegoat,
but are perfectly happy to justifiably hate Mango Mussolini and
his cohorts for free.
(Not that you'd ever, ever convince Faux News and its willfully
blind MAGA-cult audience that the millions of protesters are
expressing genuine sentiment: no, in FAUX World, even if they're
not being paid directly, those marchers are being ruthlessly manipulated by a
bunch of rich, Murcia-hating commies.
Which means that all of their signs and costumes and marches and
demonstrations really mean nothing at all; they don't represent
the Real America.)
My favorite foul-mouthed commentator, Jeff Tiedrich, posted some
words, accompanied by lots of pictures, the day after NK3. His
coverage included pics of solidarity demonstrations that took
place across the globe. People all over the world hate Trump,
also for free.
Tiedrich also noted, with a couple of comical pics to back up his
claim:
huge crowds were everywhere — except for one place: the CPAC conference in Texas.
while millions of people were protesting the fucked-up reign of Mad King Donny, CPAC couldn’t even fill one small room.
The next day, in addition to further
documenting the Mad King's madness (e.g., his obsession with
tacky Corinthian columns on his gaudy gilded ballroom/bunker
cover), Tiedrich posted more coverage and pics from the No Kings events. Some of the signs are true
works of art.
I wasn't able to attend the NK demonstration in my town, but my
bestie did, and the crowd was pretty substantial for the seat of
a still-deep-red Texas county. So, as crazy as it might sound to
anyone who is on the verge of giving up, as this turbulent month
marches into history, I am renewing my commitment of clinging to
hope as long as there's even a tiny speck of it.
And I think that you, and everyone who cares at all about the
survival of democracy, should do the same. MAGA jeered and
sneered at this latest No Kings event, as they did at the first
two. It was their way of whistling past the graveyard, stubbornly
refusing to face their own fears and doubts about the demented
orange man-child they continue, against all of the evidence that
he's a POS, to worship. My sense is that the only way they can go
on ignoring what they know in their hearts to be true is to
pretend that dissenters are either being handsomely paid or
cynically manipulated or both... or that there just aren't that
many of us. But the truth is that we are everywhere. We're not
going away.
These past few months -- well, actually, these past two years --
have been, to say the least, a serious trial for me. But after
dealing with a very stressful move and then, shortly after,
facing a potentially fatal medical outcome, I think that I am
finally beginning to hit my stride again. And I'll be back next
month with more.
Thank you as always for visiting my Whirled.
Before you leave...
While money cannot make some
nightmares go away, be they political or personal, it can make
them far easier to bear. With my husband Ron's passing in
February 2025, I have experienced significant income loss and
have been scrambling to find more work, but in an industry
increasingly being taken over by AI, it has been a challenge. And
now that I am facing new personal challenges, donations are
urgently needed and profoundly appreciated. Here are some ways to
do it:
- New: Venmo -- username @Connie-Schmidt-42. Here is a direct link to the Venmo page.
- New: PayPal -- Here is a direct link to my PayPal page.
- Old but still good: You can click on the "Donate" icon that currently appears on the right-hand side of every page of this blog on the Web version. There's also a donation link at the end of many of my older blog posts. In the case of both the icon and the links on the older posts, as well as the link in this sentence, this is also a PayPal link, but it references the email account RevRon -- which is cool, because it all ultimately goes to the same place.
NOTE: If you are donating by PayPal, please
specify that your contribution is for "friends and
family," which will waive PayPal's substantial transaction
fee.
Whether you can donate or not, thank you for visiting this
Whirled.
