the mellow tigger's musings

I don't understand anything that's happening any more.

I vaguely remember (it was after high school graduation for me) Biden being laughed off the national stage the first time he ran for President in 1988, because he was shown to lie as needed to get what he wanted. Fast forward to the 2020 election, where the 2nd and 3rd place candidates for the Democrat nomination both bowed out so the 4th place candidate could take 1st place, a candidate who promised to run for only a single term. Surprise, that promise was a lie. In 2024, Biden insisted repeatedly for months that he would run again for the Presidency. Until suddenly he didn't, passing the coronation baton to the candidate who performed so poorly in 2020 that they dropped out because they couldn't even pass Biden in 4th place.

And now... here we are. With that washed out candidate supposedly the savior of the Democrat party and by extension the USA. Because of the extended political season of the USA and this late exit within that season, there will be no proper DNC conversation about potential candidates. Remember when the DNC said in court that they have no obligation to democratically select a Democrat candidate? It was that experience in particular that prompted me to declare that I am not a Democrat. They found a good political drama to hide their non-democratic process this time, I guess? I would like to think that the president who declared COVID over (and put children back in classrooms and workers back into offices) had a welcome-to-reality moment with his recent COVID case and finally understood that he doesn't have the stamina for 4 more years as president. I'm sure, though, that it came down to the mega-donors telling him what to do.

None of this makes any rational sense. We have existential crises to address. Instead, the deliberative process that should save us is all lies and money and power. I guess the rest of you can have fun with even more "You have to vote for Team A, otherwise Team B will win!" since that seems to be the only constant for nearly an entire generation already. I just don't understand why everyone keeps supporting this particular status quo.

Brian does not understand, and neither do I. Seriously, I do not understand anything that happens any more.

1. "viral persistence", meaning that people who get infected may very well remain infected for life.  The longest duration known so far is 230 days.
2. airborne transmission, meaning that this virus (more specifically, some of its variants) is more contagious than other diseases we know.
3. widespread clotting, meaning that people who are infected develop blood clots in organs throughout the body.
4. persistent clotting, meaning that even after initial infection there is a huge 55% greater risk of clotting events like heart attack, stroke, and death.  (reminder: see #1 above)
5. immune suppression, meaning that people who are infected develop a greater risk of infection by any agent. 
6. asymptomatic infection, meaning that 40% of people with primary infection wouldn't know they are infected and spreading disease.