Smart News

 

Every morning, I pull up the Smart News App and scroll from top to bottom and left to right. And even though I can say exactly what the app contains (pure fuckery) yet, I still do it every morning.

 

This is what I learn every morning.

 

The news is not my friend. People are stupid. People are getting stupider. Covid 19 is killing people by the minute. Young men and women are fighting over Jordan’s. People are burning down churches. There are random stabbings in the UK. Patients are being beaten up in nursing homes. New York is still in the middle of a pandemic rage. Covid is now raging in Montgomery Alabama and the city is out of ICU beds. Federal politics resemble a Star Wars movie with Darth Vader choking out all those who oppose him. Even the ones on his side. People are ignoring social distancing.

 

And the sun is losing its spots. Which by far is waaaaay scarier than Covid 19. They are talking about a mini-ice age. Or a planetary cooling. You think we are running low on toilet paper now. Wait until the first snowfall happens in Miami in July. As this cooling could last for fifty years.

 

 

I learn all of this before I even step foot out of bed.

 

And I would like to disconnect from the news. But as my age would have it. Reading the news is a requirement. Right next to the cargo shorts I am wearing and varicose veins. So, I will rant and rage every morning until my memory fades. Or learn how to do crossword puzzles.

 

 

Vale~H~

 

 

1390

Having been raised in the Deep South, I have been exposed to almost the same amount of racism as my father, and most likely both grandfathers. Of course, there is a sense of healing that permeates through the beautiful countryside of live Oaks and towering Pine Trees. People of all colors go about their daily lives, speaking to one another, working, and living side by side. And even though, I live there, I understand not just four decades prior that my home was the site of beatings, lynchings, cross burnings, and pain. Lots of pain.

 

One hundred- and thirty-years prior Slavery existed. People were sold. Families were destroyed. Rights were taken. And fortunes were made off the sweat of a self-replicating workforce.

 

Yet.

 

My Deep South reached out as an old man seeking redemption. And as his memory fades. Before he forgets his transgressions, he leans towards amends. There is healing. There is a sense of community. There is a kinship in the food, worship, and football. There is kinship in work, and laughter, love, and even woe.

 

There are not so good days. There are frankly bad memories that still float around and remind people of color. We are not quite there yet. And I will not repeat Dr. King’s words because his plan succeeded for the basic equality to vote and eat in the same restaurants. To swim in the same pools and breathe the same air.  I feel we were left in an economic and cultural spin cycle. But that’s another blog post.

 

And as that old man settles in for his long nap.  The racist dog whistles have emerged being tweeted on every corner. Setting those men and women on edge who are only trying to live. 

And the year is 2020.

 

  

Scrolling through the comments on Yahoo, I try to get an understanding of what people think. And for the most part, Yahoo commenters have a united sense of justice. They complain about taxes. They respond in angry unison to some child being baked alive in a car. They chide the lunacy of political effects on public health. And then they blame the “1390” for any crime where the person of color is involved.

 

Wait, I would wonder what is 1390 was until I would see it more and more. And then, it was more like wink, wink nod, nod the "1390."

 

Initially, I would roll past these comments, and then suddenly I realized “1390” had a sinister texture to it. So, with my Google-fu. And with the thickest of skin found this number was to suggest that African Americans (who make up fifteen percent of the US population) were responsible for ninety percent of the crimes (in the US). I had to bust out laughing. Because that’s “hold my beer math.”

 

And really who the fu*k came up with that math?

 

And how bad to is your hate for an entire population of people that you forget that there are over three hundred million people in the United States? And close to forty percent of them are minorities. And if the so-called thirteen percent of the population was doing crime at the ninety percent level. I as an African American Man would have to be doing assaults, robberies, and murders part-time. In addition to my full-time job. Along with my wife, brothers, father, and children. African Americans would be a collective ball of insanity.

 

That means Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas would have to do his part by driving a getaway car. Along with other African Americans who would have to stop singing, creating vaccines, writing Swift Programs, teaching, and nursing people back to health. Our three- and four-year-olds would do stick-ups and break right before naps and juice time. 

 

Our African American Veterans would have to leave their positions in Iraq and Afghanistan, just to commit property crimes. Even our African Americans who are completely disconnected from their own culture would have to do break-ins. 

 

Those African Americans on vents and in hospice would have to perform credit card scams and assaults after pain management but before the funeral home.

 

Yet. It has been shown that you cannot fight lunacy with a rational stick. 

 

You have to use a friggen laser cannon. 

 

So, to all of the people scoffing at any crime where the alleged perpetrator is African American and throw out the term “1390” Stop it. If my entire community decided to make this number true. You would not be able to leave the house. It makes you look stupid. And hopefully feel stupid.

 

“Vale”

 

 

 

 

As History Would Have it

People everywhere forget what a pandemic actually can do. Including me. So, I had to do some research and find out what we are currently doing wrong with this pandemic. As a Registered Nurse, I can tell you there is so much misinformation out there. It is hard to believe what is real and what is not. And some of that information comes on the heels of someone who is wildly uneducated and is trying to push a cure for profit.

 

We know the Coronavirus can be destroyed by bleach on exterior surfaces. Drink that stuff and even the coronavirus itself will have to say,

 

“WTF are you doing?”

 

We know that the virus originated in Wuhan China in a wet market. And that the Chinese were not forthcoming about what actually happened. I mean do you blame them. Covid-19 is a highly contagious, super lethal, unknown virus. That is difficult to track, has an unknown transmission (airborne versus contact), and has no known cure or vaccine. And they were trying to control the outbreak before letting the world know. Heck, they built a thousand-bed hospital in ten days. 

 

 

Hiding information is not a Chinese thing. That’s a human thing. We all try to fix our mistakes before anyone finds out.

 

Hell, it took the US government almost forty years to apologize for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

 

It took the Canadian Government fifty years to apologize for turning away Jewish refugees fleeing from the Holocaust

 

And it took the Australian Government almost fifty years to apologize for treating the Aboriginals poorly.  

 

 

So I ventured out to see what I could find,

 

Step One. Find the pandemic closest and most relevant to me historically.

 

Step Two. Look at the mistakes that were made

 

Step Three. Don’t make those mistakes.

 

 

Our scientists are being shouted down by people who are more concerned about the economy than human lives. Not accounting for the fact that humans are the economy. People are rushing the beaches and open areas. And trying to return to normal. And believe it or not. This behavior was done before. And it leads to a system-wide clusterofuckero.

 

History would have it

 

Philadelphia (one of my favorite cities) open their doors for a World War One parade too early during the Spanish Flu pandemic. And paid dearly with over eleven thousand deaths.

 

And. . .

 

St. Louis kept their city shut down during the Spanish Flu hosting no parades and the losses were just over six hundred.

 

The ends often justify the means. But as history would have it. The information is readily available to read and study. But as history would also have it. No one is reading it.

 

 

Vale ~H~

 

Ten Things to Do PostCo

  @juniormoranfotografia

 

Personally, my post-Corona list is like six hundred things long. 532 being watching that sunset, naked, drunk, and eating a bacon sandwich. I mean, I could actually do that now. But when I pull out my PostCo dad bod, 532 will be fantastic. You hear me. Fan-damn-tastic. Nonetheless. When the quarantine is lifted, and we can pursue our selfish directions of whatever the fuck we want. I would suggest that we do these ten things.

 

10. Get a Passport because the travel industry will be wide open. And there will be plenty to do. You know what the inside of your house looks like. Why not find out what someone else’s house looks like.

 

9. Meet New Friends that want to go an explore elsewhere. That means take a trip on foot. Look at the leaves on a new tree branch. Save a beetle from drowning. Count fat fluffy clouds. As long as it is outdoors.

 

8. Touch, the coronavirus has limited the human contact that humans need daily. Unless you are in the house with your bae, boo, spouse, or friend. And then you are probably tired of touching them anyway.

 

7. Listen to the Waves in Peace, right now beaches are in various states of open and close around the country. Because people are sick and tired of being in the house, they will risk their health. Just to go to the beach. Now is not the time. The time is PostCo. Then sit and reflect on how you survived.

 

6. Work Out. That does not mean go full Conan and get a six-pack and glutes that could crush a doorknob. Celebrate by stretching those muscles. Getting limber. Lowering your resting heart rate. And preparing for number five.

 

5. Run strengthen your lungs get to see what your body is made of how it responds to exercise and how amazing it will become. This is actually number three on my list.

 

4. Log out of social media. Who gives a flying fat bat, cause bats are the enemy now, if one of your friends got a new what the fu*k ever and is now balling. So what. Get away from the PostCo baby gender reveals. The engagement snaps. Go find a space in this world where there is time to hear yourself breathe. Away from basic shit like that. 

 

3. New Everything post corona will be a time of rebirth. Whether this comes on the heels of a vaccine or a cure. PostCo will be the time to empty your closet and shop for things that will improve you. Coming from a conservative this sounds incredulous, right? Wrong. I got suits and sports coats already picked out. Immo be fresh as hell if the feds are watching.

 

2. Build Your Own Business because PostCo will see the business landscape change. There will be money. There will be trillions of dollars to stimulate the American tax base. You can either go back to work. Or put people to work. It’s your choice. However, if you are smart, you will start a business. 

 

1. Throw those damn masks away. I’m burning mine. During PostCo I’m sure they would have figured out how to prevent transmission, prevent infection, and reduce the chances of death. So, the masks won’t be needed anymore. Unless you are working in surgery or in close contact with a patient with a weird respiratory disease. Or the flu.

 

 

Vale~H~

 

30 Day Social Media Blackout

I have been a tremendous fan of Reddit, Tumblr, sometimes Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram upon my introduction to them.

Here is the problem.

I can’t get shit done for following Reddit, Tumblr, sometimes Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram upon my introduction to them.

Looking back, I did some maths (British slang) and realized that I shelved a majority of my writing, reading, and business anything close to the time when I immersed myself in the Social media stratosphere.

I shelved an entire series of Novellas because of social media.

I feel like a complete idiot.

And. . .

I must read a million posts, reblogged ten thousand posts, liked on Facebook, scrolled past the tweets, Snapped on, and snapped off of the snapchatter. And looked at the DM’s because I cannot slide into them.

And summarily fell deep into the dreaded Social medial hole. Groupthink became the norm for me. Group likes, group dislikes group donations. The entire lot of it.

Taking a break has afforded me boredom, boredom on a level where I have to customize my own web experience. Find my own likes. Find my own interactions and causes to be concerned about. And in the interwebs, this can take a while.

I mean unless you like porn. And holy cow there is a menagerie of porn out there.

I mean really, there is porn for everything you can imagine.

Is porn social media?

I’ll look that up later.

Slipping back into the groove of writing and business I’ll see if I can extend my hiatus of social media. And if not, I will see you in another ten years.

Vale ~H~

Conservative Black Southerner

It took me a long time to realize that most of the views of the Republican Party, I completely agree with. And I consider myself a Michael Steele Republican. I say this because not all of the Republican views I agree with.

Just as I wholly don’t agree with a majority of the Democratic views.

Politics just like college sports are a big deal down south. But one of the things that I remember the most is that my dad had the most subvert conservative views. He believes in working for your keep. And paying attention to the political system as rule.

 I, in turn, believe in not accepting handouts. Fairness in the court system. The promotion of small business. Education as an equalizing factor in the workplace. Voting as a powerful voice among the population. Protecting our environment. Promoting our technological power. And protecting current and past members of our armed forces. Protecting our 2nd Amendment rights. The separation of church and state.

I thought about those values and realized that I was living those ideals every day.

I cannot say I listen to Fox New-ever. 

And, I cannot say I am a drone. That means party line until the end of time. I suppose I am that guy that says, “Wait!”

“What about that airshaft that is unprotected on our Death Star?”

To the dismay of the Death Star Commander who is like,

“We’re on a gigantic friggen gun in the middle of friggen space who the fu*k would dare attack us?”

So, I have questions and ideas that would make me a sore spot in the middle of a Republican room.

Questions like:

Why are we making people pay for college?

Or better yet we should only pay for college for people who actually finished college.

Why are we not streamlining our healthcare system?

Or better yet hospital conglomerations should be fined for closing rural hospitals and be given incentives for opening rural hospitals.

Shouldn’t we just bring social issues to a vote? I mean how hard is that?

Didn’t we stomp the Nazi’s already? Why are they very fine people?

And I guess with those questions, I will be placed in the Republican-ish category.

Vale ~H~

Homeless Doesn't Mean Helpless

 

Working with the homeless population of people and married to a Case Manager, I believe there is a supreme disconnect to what homeless people actually want and actually have. Not to say that I can speak to homelessness. Simply because I have never been homeless. And because it is one of America’s top twenty shortfalls. With homelessness being number fifteen. I’ll post that list next week. However. What do you say to a person who no bills? Lives unencumbered on the street. Knows where to get a meal, where to take a shower, and has an address to receive benefits? Can sleep in the cool summer night air. 

Or reside in a warm shelter or hospital bed in the frigid winter?

Side note: This is not an assault on the homeless.

However, it is a question as to why the hell am I paying for two different residences? Paying taxes. Paying for parking. Paying for health insurance. Paying for the right drive on an interstate. I don’t rightfully understand it. Light bills, water bills, cable bills, internet bills, and the list goes on and on and on.

When in actuality: The homeless are on to something.

Oh, boo hoo, I’m sure if you think this post is snarky as hell? It sure is. Because those people who want off of the streets can do so.

Need to start over and get back on your feet? There’s a program for that.

Need to sober up and get off of your drugs of choice? There’s a program for that too.

We need to have an emergency place to stay with food. There’s a program for that also.

Need to have health benefits, housing placement, clothes, haircuts, transportation, cellular phones? Yes, there are programs for that.

There are so many programs, I could break my whole life down into one large backpack go find a spot under a bypass or a homeless camp and start over.

But many homeless people do not.

And this leads me to believe that there is a certain type of solitude and independence of living the way you want to live. And for some people, this isn’t bad at all. It’s just the homeless lifestyle flies against the morays and folkways of the established community. And it takes a certain type of bravery I do not possess to do such a thing.

Vale ~H~

Pandemic Woes

HazMat Marine Training 

At the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, I have witnessed the insane ignorance in the face of overwhelming evidence. Ignorance even with the evidence you say. How dastardly? Armed protestors are rushing the capital in Michigan for the right to die from coronavirus. People on Instagram are swearing that this virus can be cured with saltwater. Pastors refuse to adhere to the warnings even after their parishioners perish.

There has been the “Man-Made Virus,” crowd, the “If I get it, I get it” crowd, “open my stores back up” crowd, and “the I got to go to church crowd.” “The nothing can stop me” crowd and “I gotta go to the beach” crowd. The "just eat fruits and berries" crowd.

People are drinking bleach and taking fake cures. People are still mingling and mixing instead of paying attention to the mandate of social distance.

Science is finding out that the virus can remain airborne for up to three hours.

False news, fake information, mass graves, refrigerated trucks filled with dead bodies, unrefrigerated trucks filled with dead bodies.

Governor Larry Hogan(R) should run for president. Just sayin.

And all along the Coronavirus has been a silently making a mockery of us all.

Yet with all the wonton ignorance, watching someone die from Coronavirus is horrible. It is probably the worst imaginable death I could ever imagine. Where the patient is drowning the entire time. And I will save the deep details from here. But as this person declines. The sudden realization that I could be next. Because there is nothing that can stop the virus. One slip of my decontamination protocol and I too am dying a lonely death. I too will be placed on oxygen and comfort flow and when that doesn’t work-on to intubation. And for us in healthcare, we harden ourselves to what happens when a patient is intubated.

Vale ~H~