Thank you, unmasked man

"When you believe in eternal life, when you believe that living on this earth is but a blip on the screen, then you don't have to be so scared of things."  

That was the suicide bomber from ISIS-K explaining why he died along with dozens of Afghanis and Americans last week when -- wait, what?  I'm sorry, wrong quote.  That was Tate Reeves, governor of Mississippi, explaining to other Republicans at a Memphis fundraiser why he's not afraid to handle poisonous snakes -- wait, that's wrong, too.  Explaining why he doesn't fear the covid and won't do anything to protect the lives of Mississippians.  Got it.  A blip on the screen.  A bird that flies in one end of the mead-hall and out the other.  (I read Beowulf so you don't have to.)  It's a lovely image from a poet, not so much for an elected official charged with the welfare of millions.

Reeves is probably not as stupid as he looks and sounds; last August he required wearing masks for a total of two weeks "as irritating as it can be," and I'm sure he's been vaccinated until his arm is sore, but he knows that faith-based babble unlocks those donor checkbooks a lot faster than science.  You don't get to be a governor just by joining a blackface fraternity in college.  And Mississippians who don't buy into this stuff?  They're going to hell anyway.

Of course, the stupid is not confined to The South.  In Butler County, Ohio, Judge Gregory Howard overruled the CDC and FDA and ordered a hospital to administer Ivermectin to Jeffrey Smith at the insistence of his wife.  He has been on a vent all month, so maybe Julie Smith just wants to get this over with.  I'm pretty sure Ohio has one of those laws that lets doctors refuse treatments and procedures they claim violate their personal beliefs (i.e., abortions), so maybe his doctor just doesn't want any more legal trouble, or is too tired and fed up to advocate for his patient.  Whatever, I assume Mr. Smith has been dewormed by now.  

Senator Doctor Paul, who has contracted covid and received vaccine, knows what the problem is:  Trumpophobia..  "The hatred for Trump deranged these people so much that they're unwilling to objectively study Ivermectin...They will not study hydroxychloroquine without the taint of their hatred for Donald Trump."  Or "they" would understand, as he does, that equine worms and coronavirus are genetically identical and can be treated with anything to hand -- aquarium cleaner, laundry bleach, Blue Willow nasal spray, and especially Dr. Reckeweg Arsenic Album Dilution.  

The World Health Organization calls this tide of bullshit "the infodemic."  A century ago there were people who thought "Spanish flu" could be cured with everything from hot baths to bourbon, but there was no internet to spread nonsense in mere seconds.  We have N95 masks, hand sanitizer, at least three vaccines, high-tech respiratory apparatus and the technology to study and work from home, but we also have more lunatic propaganda than all sides produced in the First World War.  One of the most prolific is of course QAnon, which wants its followers to know that far from keeping people alive, vents actually kill them.  Why?  Because it's all part of the vast conspiracy.  I'm not at all sure I have a problem with this.  When an anti-mask covidiot reports to the ER and adamantly insists on not being vented -- I believe it's called a "do not resuscitate" order -- that frees a vent for a child or immunocompromised person who couldn't get the vaccine.  It's a win-win.  If only we could stop them spewing virus over innocent people on the way to the morgue.   

By the way, Liberty University is under a campus quarantine.  I guess their faith isn't quite strong enough.  I would ask Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, the radio pastor who called vaccine "a form of government control," but the Lord called him home two weeks ago.   Rick Wiles might be next.  Say, you don't suppose it's some kind of slow-motion Rapture, do you?