Well, this is interesting

From the Guardian: 

"Almost 10,000 minks in Utah have reportedly died due to Covid-19, spurring quarantines at nine fur farms impacted by the outbreak."

You will recall that early last spring animals in the Bronx Zoo were determined to have covid but recovered.  At the time we were assured that domestic pets were not at risk.  There have also been mink outbreaks in Wisconsin and Michigan.  Do minks have a special vulnerability or is the virus mutating in frightening ways?  No one knows, but it's happening in Europe, too.  Utah's state veterinarian Dean Taylor said, "Once final testing is done, we're going to create a state plan to stop this virus from spreading to more farms."  If only there was a method for doing this among humans.

According to the New York Times, Trump floated the idea of appearing frail when he left the hospital, then ripping open his shirt to reveal a Superman tee shirt.  You know, like Willy Wonka's (Gene Wilder) first entrance leaning on a cane and then -- a somersault!  He was talked out of it, possibly by someone who remembered this Wall Street Journal headline:  "Steelmakers' Worst Slump In a Decade Seen Getting Worse."  It takes more than childishness to bend steel in your bare hands.

Back in 1973 I was listening to "Lunchpail" on WBAI the day Paul Gorman played George Carlin's "Filthy Words" monologue.  I was!  Also known as "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television," it took the work of Lenny Bruce to the next level, as Carlin not only said but contextualized the seven dread words that could even bring us "peace without honor."   But it was midday, and some nuisance whose radio had no on/off button decided to be offended, all the way to the Supreme Court.  Five years and a mountain of legal fees later, WBAI nearly lost its license and did lose its broadcast facility The Church, when the Supremes ruled that Carlin's routine about "indecent language" was itself indecent under FCC guidelines.  Thus was America's innocence saved, again.

What a difference 42 years makes.  Last Friday on the Rush Limbaugh Revival Hour, the president* of the United States was heard to say, "Iran knows this and has been put on notice.   If you fuck around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are gonna do things to you that have never been done before."  In the middle of the day.  With no delay or cut-out button.  Apparently we're down to six, unless he calls Biden a motherfucker on his next call to Hannity.

Amy Covid Breeder says in a written statement that she would "apply the law as written."  So she's already perjuring herself and the hearing hasn't started yet.

After months of marginalizing and then slandering Dr. Anthony Fauci until he and his family needed protection from Trumpanzee death threats, the Trump campaign is twisting his words to make it look like he has endorsed Typhoid Donnie.  

Lindsey Graham stopped begging for money on Fox News long enough to debate (they called it a "conversation") his opponent Jaime Harrison, during which he uttered this jaw-dropper:   "If you're a young African American or an immigrant, you can go anywhere in [South Carolina], you just need to be conservative, not liberal."  But it's so hard to tell the difference.  That's why Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has  been stopped seven times by police for driving while Black.  Maybe a MAGA hat, Senator.  Harrison has now raised more money than any Senate candidate in history.  On a totally unrelated note, this is National Coming Out Day.

Graham's not the only one in trouble.  Many other Republicans are practicing social distancing from Trump.  They should probably try wearing masks.  And Pontius Pilate-level handwashing.

Danny Frazier of Knoxville, Tennessee, caused $30,000 in damage to a cemetery, police say.  They also say he was trying to "resurrect" his grandmother.