Leaving would be the last thing on my mind if I could turn back the hands of time.

  The News and what's been on my mind today meshes. That is, the explosion of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 and just how poorly we are prepared to deal with it. Plus, the planet's on fire. Jesus.

 The country finally reached Joe Biden's goal of 70% vaccination but considering how virulent this new strain is and how adamant the pro-COVID group is, as small as they are, one wonders if it'll do any good in the long run.

 And for the record, yes, if you're nutty about wearing a mask or getting a vaccination in this day and age, I'm saying you're pro-COVID. Like people who want to ban abortion are anti-choice, I'm tired of screwing around with you. The last couple of days, Twitter's been inundated with tales of right-wing disc jockeys, right-wing club owners, and right-wing politicians who've spent the past year screaming about their freedoms being curtailed because of said masks and vaccinations... dying from COVID. In some cases, they're expressing regret for not getting the shot.

 There's just no sympathy for these yo-yos, mainly because we're also seeing stories of kids younger than 13 having to be flown 150 miles because all the surrounding ICU beds are filled. There should be, or at least some empathy, but they put a lot of work into this and it's really hard to feel bad for them when it bites them in the ass. 

 Now, Sturgis is starting and Lollapalooza happened this week, and I swear before God, I don't understand people. I mean, I get being stir crazy and wanting to have a good time, but really, does anything think this is a good idea or something that's necessary? I wonder if I weren't in the position I'm in - middle-aged and disinclined to have anything to do with anyone - where I'd fall on this. It's like everyone always says they've been against slavery or for Civil Rights had they been alive in that era, when the truth is most of us go along to get along.

 Anyhow. This is pretty interesting. It's about voids, empty parts of space billy-uns and billy-uns of light-years across. And when I say empty, I usually mean empty. No stars, no gas, no galaxy, no nothing. However, by pure definition, the largest void in the universe is one we're more or less in the center of. It's a matter of density, really. There's less stuff in our area of space than in the rest of the universe. This means we have fewer stars in our sky than planets in other parts of the universe. It also means we're in what could be considered the backwaters of the Universe. Douglas Adams downplayed it.

 We really underestimate not only the incredible distances in space but just how isolated we really are. We've yet to leave our gravity well. The much-ballyhooed dick-wavings of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson cost a couple of billion dollars apiece and barely scraped the edge of space. We haven't figured out how to keep a human being in space for any length of time without their body being destroyed by radiation and lack of gravity.

 Y'all, get the shot and demand governments do something serious about climate change. This is all we got. Have a nice weekend.

I can't think of anything.

  I just woke up from a dream where I was writing. My set-up was truly something and the initial paragraph was actually pretty good. It's a shame reality pales in comparison in so many ways. I read somewhere that copious marijuana use retarded dreaming or, at least, remembering dreams. That sort of tracks, as I really didn't remember the dreams I'd had when I was smoking more weed than Willie Nelson.

 That may be what I miss most about not being able to get (or stay, let's be honest) stoned. I remember my dreams these days and it's always disappointing. It's either a work dream and everyone hates me because I suck or it's got something to do with school where I'm late for a class I can't find and everyone hates me. Lots of dreams where everyone hates me, and I'm sure that says something but I don't care to know what. I have no illusions about my self-esteem. so all I'm getting from that is I really loathe myself more than I will admit. That's unsettling.

 The dumbest one I've had lately is I dreamt I was late for work at Whole Foods because I'd gone to a mall across town for a McDonald's hamburger. Or maybe it was a sausage-and-biscuit for breakfast. In any event, it was someplace I wouldn't go for something I don't like making me stress out over a job I hated. Imagine trying to be in a good mood after that.

 There are also the... I wouldn't call them "sex dreams" because there's no actual sex. They're definitely fantasy because they involve a woman I'm incredibly attracted to who desperately wants to be with me. To my shame, I've never had a heavy lust for any woman who was actively interested in having sex with me. Granted, the sexiest thing a woman can do is be physically interested in me so I've usually managed to get over that. It does generally come out in the end, though.

 That's a lie. Twice have I lusted after women who wanted in my pants, but neither woman wanted to stay around after the loving was through. I'm not sure I should count them, but again, that's all pretty telling, I think. Anyhow, the not-sex dreams are probably the most disheartening. Again, I don't mind that living my life as I wish has led me to become single in my mid-40s but it's still no fun when my subconscious rubs it in my face.

 Anyhow. So much for all of that. I'm depressed and miserable and probably desperately lonely and undoubtedly in denial about how deep all that is, but it's neither interesting nor all that revealing. This is the sixth day in a row that I've gone to sleep just before the sun came up and slept well into noon. I've decided to give into it for as long as it lasts. Might as well, it's been as hot as a bastard while the sun was up.

 It's been ridiculously hot here at Enon Holler World Headquarters. We've had heat indexes in the 110s all week, and we're not supposed to get relief any time soon. Apparently, the country's under a "heat dome," which is when the atmosphere holds heat in from hot ocean air. It's linked to climate change, so there you go. Between that and the spike in Delta cases - and particularly the conservative zealotry against vaccinations and the ilk - humanity is not looking good.

 I watched a YouTube video the other day saying how one would probably survive a Romero-style zombie outbreak. I used to think so myself, if for no other reason that eventually dead bodies break down. It takes a year or so for a human body to completely melt away, but give it a couple of days and your tendons would be so dry they'd snap, no worries.

 I'm not as certain now. Night after night of Tucker Carlson claiming zombie bites caused death and resurrection into a flesh-eating monster was merely a Democrat hoax to make Trump look bad would have a deleterious effect. Multiple Facebook groups where ding-dongs convince each other that there are no actual zombies and only people who live in fear would mind being bitten would have a deleterious effect.

 We would be at Day of the Dead within six weeks, man.

You can teach me lots of lessons. You can bring me lots of gold.

  We are on day two of the Big Freeze. Weather forecasts are saying it's supposed to get even nastier before the weekend comes. So far we've been lucky here in Enon Holler and in Mississippi in general, as there hasn't been much if any disruption in our power. It might happen in the next couple of days, though, but for now, this has mostly been a pleasant excuse to do nothing all day but nap and read. The only difference is, of course, a lack of guilt due to the outside world being iced over.

 It's been thus all over the country. That is, except in Texas. As we've all learned in the past couple of days, Texas is not part of any national power grid. Indeed, most of the state is self-contained. So, while Georgia Power, for example, might be a private business, the power lines are connected to all the rest of the power lines East of the Mississippi. There's one that covers West of the Mississippi. Fascinating stuff.

 Anyhow, Texas is all on its own because fuck you, they're Texas, and it wasn't prepared for such a vicious ice storm. Therefore, they've been without power since early Monday morning and folks there are getting pissed. Part of the reasons folks are hacked off is Texas' political leadership - Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Dan Patrick, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn - have spent the last couple of years being dickholes about other state's power issues. Especially California. Wingnuts hate California. I don't know why, it's a lovely state. Expensive as hell, but lovely.

 People across the nation, no doubt tired of the shit that streams nonstop from the above-mentioned politicians, have been dickholes themselves about Texas' current deep freeze. Not cool. I mean, I live in Mississippi, which is rarely mentioned in any sort of positive connotation except for "thank god we're not as bad as Mississippi."

 That's part of the national consciousness, I guess. I grew up being told to hold the North in contempt and to look down on city folk. Living in the cities, I know they're told the same about country folk and I've been out of the South enough to hear a bunch of dumb shit people think about the South and Southerners. And I've been online long enough to be completely tired with "let the secede this time" or folks who're assholes about not living in cities.

 Anyhow. We'll thaw out by this time next week and I'm sure the state leadership of Texas will have learned absolutely nothing from this whole to-do. I'm not even sure why I'm bringing it up. I mean, it's perfectly within conservative ideology for the state to radically change the power structure because this will happen again. Not even considering global climate change, okay? You know this will happen again, just as you know Texas will be caught with its pants down again because that bunch of dingbats can't ever admit their misinterpretation of free-market capitalism might, at the very least, need a bit of tweaking here or there.

  Moving on. I have something of a quandary. I like to hype stuff here as much as possible, especially if it's art made by people who aren't getting the big bucks for it. One of the neat things about Kindle Unlimited - and yes, I know, Amazon is evil, but if there's a Hell below we're all going to go - is that it offers access to all manner of writers trying to Make It Big however writers are supposed to do it. Obviously, I don't know how that works or I'd tell them.

 What's come up is I've read a book that has a great premise but awful execution. Passably done, but cliched to the point of ossification. Seriously, when the Female Character showed her obvious attraction to the Lead Character, it was almost like an alarm going off on a clock. Once she was introduced, it was just a matter of time. Where Dead Shock seemed like it was being padded for the series' sake, this one seems like it was being unnecessarily rushed for the series' sake.

 There's nothing wrong with a self-contained book, y'all. My conundrum is whether or not to reveal the name of this book or its author. I'm not a critic anymore, so I don't see I'm doing anyone any good by pointing out what could've been better. So I'm not going to reveal any names here. I'll just say it has to do with a paramilitary strike force dealing with extra-dimensional nasties thanks to the Large Hadron Collider. That whole setup is incredibly cliched as it is, the delivery could've been a bit more original, is all I'm saying.

 So that's well over word count and I've got nothing else interesting to say. I've spent much of the Big Freeze napping and will probably go back to that. If something comes up, yadda yadda. Stay warm.

It's a rough and rocky road, and it's hard, hard, hard.

  I've got some Actual Paying Work to get done tonight and, frankly, I'm not particularly in the mood for this. The world is a mess and it's wearing me out. How y'all who are actually engaged and have some skin in the game get through the day without throwing a screaming na-na, I don't know.

 The second debate, a town hall format, was supposed to go down tonight, but that ain't happening. As we all know, Trump got sick and Joe Biden wasn't down with the idea of being in the same room as that guy, yadda yadda yadda. So the end result is each of them is doing their own town hall on different networks. The upshot is, of course, I'm not watching either.

 Not to put too fine a point on things, I really doubt there's much movement left in the needle. People may not admit who they'll vote for once they get in the booth, but they already know. Rudy Giuliani's attempt to smear Hunter Biden yesterday seems to have evaporated like a fart in a hurricane. Wingnuts won't let it go, of course, even if it contradicts itself. I imagine we'll be hearing about this for at least the next year if Biden wins.

 Speaking of wingnuts, Trump made a comment at one of his rallies about the execution of that anti-fascist activist in Portland who shot and killed someone connected to the Patriot Prayer bunch. The President of the United States of America said, in essence, the U.S. Marshalls didn't want to do anything but kill the guy right off, so they did. That of course isn't the issue at hand. We all know Trump's a violent, mean-spirited slug.

 But I guess I really shouldn't be shocked that his rally crowd applauded and wingnuts on Twitter were almost universally cool with it. It's just another example of how the Right is down with the idea of an authoritative government stomping down on the proper people, be they from the federal government or local police. If it happens to them or one of their loved ones, well, they probably deserved it and still have no issue with the state of things.

 I've come to the point where fears of the country slipping into fascism really don't move me anymore. The more I study history - and the older, more cynical I get - the more I'm convinced we've been dancing on the edge of fascism from the get-go. We were fine with wiping out the Native tribes and cheating them every chance we got. We were fine with enslaving Black people and then keep our foot on their necks once they were freed. We had to force corporations and bosses to treat their employees like human beings rather than replaceable, expendable cuts into their profits.

 In the early 20th century, when the Great Depression was kicking into gear, we came very close to socialism before Franklin Roosevelt "saved capitalism" with the New Deal. We also came damn close to outright fascism to deal with problems, particularly the Silver Shirts. Amusingly enough, they fell to pieces after police began to arrest anyone connected with them after Pearl Harbor.

 We've never really evolved, not really. Northerners had to see Bull Connor turn a firehose on children before they decided the South was out of line. Up until the '70s Native children were taken from their parents and tribes, and forced to assimilate sometimes at danger to their own health. We see nothing at all with a society where not only cops can kill people with impunity but also one that encourages people to spend a life in debt, working a job they hate and no guarantee they'll be taken care of if they get sick.

 Whatever fascism is in the 21st century, we've never been that far from it. What we're experiencing now is part of Trump's presidency encouraging others to rip off their mask but it's mainly using the internet allowing people to be awful without consequence. And that's what they are: awful.

 Well, that's not fair. We're awful. We really are. We try to pretend it's some other aspect of us, but it's us. We let it happen. We could stop it if we wanted to, really, but we don't. Not really.

 I guess that's enough. Like I said, I've got Actual Paying Work to do and need a nap before I get into it. We'll see how it goes but I imagine tomorrow's News will be a wrap-up of an incredibly silly week.

Is a bluebird blue? Has a cat got a tail?

  The number of people that are part of the Trump team who've found themselves testing positive for the COVID-19 virus continues to grow while he claims he's no longer showing symptoms. Probably the most significant new infectee is Staff Wormtounge Stephen Miller, which spawned a thousand "it can jump species" jokes.

 We're still dealing with the fallout of whatever happened this week with Trump and his hospitalization. He put out a completely brain-dead bit of propaganda about not letting the virus dominate our lives, forgetting that not all of us have instant access to Walter Reed-level medical service. It cut me as cold and heartless, and I can't count one of the near 210,000 victims of COVID-19 as one of my loved ones.

 But heartlessness is a feature, not a bug, of the Trump administration. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rodstein and other Justice Department officials, including then-AG Jeff "Dark Elf" Sessions, pushed hard for separating children from their parents at the border. Of course, this is one of those things the Base rubs itself over and fail to agree that it makes us the baddies. 

 I don't know who said it, but it bears repeating: I can't teach someone to have compassionate. Is there an issue at the border that needs to be addressed? Hell, yes, of course, there is. Are we doing it in a not-evil way? No, no we are not. I know wingnuts like to claim we have no responsibility for Central and South America, but the Monroe Doctrine says otherwise. You can't claim control over something just to drop it when it becomes inconvenient. We called for that tune and we ought to pay the fiddler. I'm not holding my breath, but there it is.

 But now that I've gotten started, let's leave the news for the News. I've made a few strikes at the Weird Western idea. It's just a couple of character sketches right now and I don't know where it's going, if anywhere. It's fun, though, and it feels good to get it out of my brain.

 I'm still in that foul, red-assed mood, and I think I've figured out why. Despite the Prozac and lithium and Wellbutrin, I'm doing all this with a clear head for the first time in 15 years. Not to put too fine a point on it, I used to smoke a lot of pot. I smoked so much pot, one of my dealers said maybe I should take a break. A constant burner is what I'm saying, and the only time I was straight was when I was at work or asleep.

 So regardless of those drugs that are doing a fairly good job of stabilizing my brain chemistry, I'm back to being pissed off all the time. That's how I grew up; pissed off and doing my damnedest to not let it show because no one cared and were probably more pissed off than I was. Knowing that it's due to some faulty wiring in my head doesn't make it much better, but there it is.

 Well, I've just finished supper and I've lost my train of thought. Really, all I want is a good connect if for no other reason than being pissed off all the time is a drag. But for now, I've hit word count and maybe I'll go back to my Western later. Probably not, though. This strikes me as a reading evening.

The miles were good but the miliage turning my hair grey.

 I'm getting this under the gun, so it still counts. Granted it's 11:15 p.m. Country Standard Time, so I doubt I'll get this finished before midnight. I say it still counts because, frankly, I make the rules. It's about the only place I have that sort of swing in this universe, so hell yeah, I'm going to abuse it.

 I pulled one of my all-day snoozes, and this one was legit. None of you're "wake up, read a little, and decide the world isn't worth it," no sir. After letting Otis out to do his morning ablutions, we both went right back down and didn't stir until after three. Granted, part of the reason is I spent most of last night getting a little further on Dragon's Dogma out of nowhere. I'm to that bit after you beat the dragon, the city collapses, and you're freefalling down the pit full of horrors from the dawn of time. Big fun.

 The big news in the outside world is still Trump's being taken to Walter Reed because he's come down with the COVID-19. Apparently, he's doing okay - even released a video to prove the point today - but the information we're getting from his camp is so full of static, all I'm willing to say is he's still alive, probably.

 Naturally, this has kicked off a Twitter snit between conservatives and liberals, as the "fuck your feelings" crowd is upset because the liberals hate Trump enough to not wish him well. Personally, I think this argument is garbage and nothing but a waste of time at this point. For one, people have celebrated the deaths of politicians they hated for years. I'd have to be more industrious than I am to look it up, but someone posted a news story from around the time Kennedy was shot. It was full of people gloating about his death, so it's nothing new.

 We talk a lot of nonsense about how our society has lost decorum, but we're also a society that used to consider hangings as a fun day out with the kiddies. It's the same place where all that "every life is sacred" bullshit comes from. When we have over 50 million children living in poverty without access to affordable health care or enough to eat, life ain't sacred. It just is.

 For the record, I am neither gloating over the rotten bastard getting sick nor do I hope he dies from it. Yes, I still want him out of office, and, yes, the irony would be almost Shakespearean, but it's not within my make-up to wish death on anyone. That being said, don't expect me to shame anyone who does. Especially the differentially abled, LGBT, or immigrants. And I still hold him culpable for the deaths of over 200,000 people due to the same virus he's currently experiencing.

 We demand decency out of each other that we refuse to show ourselves, so I'm not going to be a hypocrite about it. Him dying would be a mess because he's the president, but if nature takes its course, we all have to go sometime. I'm not going to waste any tears for a man I know wouldn't spend any on me.

 Hey, that's word count, and I've still got ten minutes. I'm going to go ahead and post this up and if something comes to me, I'll come back to it. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.