Don't you never cuss that fiddle, boy, unless you want that fiddle out of tune.

 Though we're just now getting into the change, I'm really trying to keep the news and politics stuff over at WordPress for the News while keeping the Gibberish over here. Sure, there's going to be some bleed but I do want to keep it to a minimum. If for no other reason that separation of strokes being good practice.

 That being said, it's tougher than I thought it'd be. Granted, one reason is my life is pretty dull and won't change much since I like it that way. I don't remember who asked, but the only thing holing up due to CORVID-19 is keeping from doing what I enjoy is traveling. I love to ramble from here to there without a set schedule, getting there anyway whims take me. Otherwise, I haven't left the house in two years except to go to the gym and see whichever doctor I have to check in with.

 Nice thing is, though, I haven't been in the mood to do much rambling since last year's Big Trip and even if it weren't for the pandemic spreading like wildfire, I'd probably still be staying put for the time being. So it works out just fine. Beyond that, though, politics and the media have been so much a part of my life for the past 20 years I can't just shake free. It is baked in.

 As an aside, so many people who spent the past two decades telling me to stop worrying so much about politics are the ones who're full-throated roaring with indignation with the latest pig-eyed bullshit the President and his GOP lackeys are pulling. I'm glad for it, as it takes some of the load off me, and I try my best to not remind them that if they had been listening to me for the past 20 years, we might not be in this mess. I still get a bit of a kick out of it in any event. Anyway.

 I must admit, though, this is all starting to get to me. Not the "social distancing" part or even the changes in society that's popped up. It's the mendacity and pettiness of the president, Republicans in Congress and Republican governors, especially ones in the South. Worst of all is the Base, the people who hoot like seals for Trump and will slit the throat of anyone who crosses him. I am completely convinced they will drown in their own juices rather than go against their Idiot King. The rotten bastard has even owned up that if we do everything from here on out and we're extremely lucky, we're looking at least 100,000 dead.

 They're still calling it a hoax. They're still demanding the president "reopen the country." They're still saying that the doctors and experts calling for more caution and the media reporting on them - which is doing a fine job, apart from a few instances - are just trying to bring down the president. They're still saying it's Democrats alone who're clamping down on civil liberties and wrecking the economy just because they hate Trump.

 They are, in essence, pretending nothing is happening. Mississippi's unemployment claims jumped over 1,500% from last week with 31 million people applying. Percentage-wise, Mississippi leads the nation in hospitalization for coronavirus. We're having over a thousand people nationwide dying from it, with their families separated from them and dying alone. We've topped a million cases worldwide in less than three months. And they still say it's all a big con to make Trump look bad when the dopey shit gibbers through a daily rally that does it well enough.

  Six million people have filed for unemployment across the country. When asked if he'd open Obamacare to help the uninsured, Trump's claiming that the one-time $1,200 check coming maybe in three weeks will take care of that. I guess, though, if nothing else this rips the mask of a number of social shibboleths we've long taken as axiomatic.

 People who stock shelves and cook deserve a wage that's enough to live on and more because they're one of the most important segments of the economy. We can do most of our work via teleconferencing and don't have to keep coming to an office to kiss a boss' ass. We can pull up two trillion dollars in less than a week to bail out the airliners, so the idea that we don't have enough money for, say, single payer or Medicare for all is horseshit. Making the rent each and every month isn't as big a hanging matter as we thought.

 I wonder if it'll stick. I know the average MAGAt is a lost cause, as is most hardcore conservatives and the average libertarian. I'm seeing my own mother, who is very conservative, starting to question things that were considered gospel two weeks ago. I'm not seeing this on Twitter, which is the first bastion of the truly wacky, but I'm seeing it here in Mississippi, which is not liberal at all. We are at a "boiling frog" moment, like with FDR and LBJ, and the strain is starting to get to us.

 Well, it's getting to me, that's for damn sure. I will say I am extremely glad I don't have kids or anything really invested in the future, nor do I have any real reason to interact with the world outside this hill apart from getting groceries and seeing doctors, barring unforeseen circumstances. Anyway.

 I really haven't done much the past couple of days except for the News. Still not sleeping for shit, still reading on the same book - science books take a little more time to dig through - and taking the daily constitutionals with Otis. The wound on Bounce's back is getting better. I woke up with an Old 97's song in my head this morning, so I wrote about it for the Tumblr site. It's pretty good, I think.

 Beyond that, I just don't know, man.