welp

 You know what's not so reassuring on the last day of school before you plan to send your precious offspring back in person? Getting a message like this one:

Parents- We have received a few calls and messages about school closing. As of right now, school is OPEN and in person all next week. We are telling students to treat every day like a snow day where we we could POSSIBLY get the call to go virtual if COVID numbers are high so they need to take their supplies home each night. Again, as of Friday at 11:20, school will be OPEN all week next week unless you receive a call or email from Mr. Hartley. Thank you and have a great weekend!

Yikes, y'all.

covid terrorists

Hey, remember when those armed assholes stormed the Michigan state capitol? 

I sure do! Every day since that day, I've worried about my aunt Chris going to do her job in Lansing and having to wear a bulletproof vest because armed white terrorists (NOT A MILITIA, THANK YOU VERY MUCH) have invaded her workplace. 

Well, guess what? Turns out that some of these same assholes plus some of their asshole friends who are also white terrorists have been plotting to kidnap Governor Whitmer and either kill her outright or put her on trial. The plan was foiled today by state and federal authorities working together. Federal charges have been brought against six men, and state charges against seven more.

And listen, even if there are "only" thirteen of them, think about what that looks like for a minute. Imagine being a woman being PUT ON TRIAL by more than a dozen right-wing entitled white terrorists. Think historically about how those kinds of "trials" have played out. Spoiler: They never turn out well for the woman. EVER. This is terrifying, y'all.

Especially when you think about her "crimes." 

What did Governor Whitmer do that was so terrible? I'm so glad you asked. She shut down her state at the start of the pandemic, just like most other governors did. She initiated a mask mandate in her state, just like most other governors did. She worked to reopen the state gradually and in consultation with scientists, just like most other governors have.

So what makes Gretchen Whitmer so much more offensive than those many other governors? 

1. She's a woman.

2. She doesn't apologize for doing her job.

3. She does her job well while being a woman.

These people were serious. They met in the basement of a shop that they had to access through a trapdoor. They confiscated cell phones during their meetings. They planned out how to take the governor at her vacation home, then blow up a bridge to evade capture long enough to put her on trial, convict her, and sentence her to death. For the crime of legislating while being a woman.

Sometimes I just don't know what to say. I'm so glad she's ok, and I'm amazed at how brave and poised and defiant and strong she continues to be. And I'm incandescently angry at these terrorists, and at the president who has blatantly encouraged them. I hope they all live long enough to go through their own trials, in the actual American judicial system, and that they all get convicted and spend the rest of their lives in prison understanding what it *really* means to have their freedoms taken away. I'll bet if that happens, they'll wish that they had just shut the fuck up and put on masks like sensible human beings.*

*Of course they won't. Men like these never take responsibility for their own actions. Not when there's always someone else to blame, like a mouth Democratic governor who doesn't know her place. Gross.

this is just to say

These boys have been home with me for seven months now. They're going back to school Monday, and I'm terrified for them. For all of us.

It's been very hard spending seven months doing my own full-time (and usually more than full time!) job and shepherding them through school every day while also trying to keep us all safe and alive. It's been an enormous stress that I'm not sure I've fully even processed. I don't know what happens when they go back to school and I'm here alone with the dogs and my work and my thoughts, and I can focus again and work through everything. I really don't.

BUT.

I also want to say that I'm going to miss them so much. Right now, I can hear Liam singing in the basement when he's not laughing and talking to his friends (it's lunch break for him). I can hear Henry in the kitchen making lunch for them all. I can hear Max moving around in his room above me. I can verify that in this very moment, they're here, and we're safe. I can force them to give me a hug if I want. (I won't; that's not my thing.) I have this moment, and we're here, and it's all ok for now, and I just want to make a note of how much that means to me. This assurance is a precious commodity, and I'm about to send them off into the world again and lose it.

covid, covid everywhere

 The world is pretty terrifying right now.

The president has COVID, checked himself into and out of the hospital, says he feels better than he did 20 years ago, and doesn't once acknowledge that it's probably because he's taking powerful mind-altering steroids as part of his highly experimental treatment. The White House cluster has encompassed senators, former governors, senior advisors, the press secretary and four of her deputies, the president's military valet, housekeeping staff, journalists, and others. There's no clear information on how anyone is actually doing, and every morning I wake up with dread/anticipation of what I will see in the news.

Oh yeah, and all the Joint Chiefs are quarantining too because Admiral Charles Ray, second in command of the Coast Guard, has COVID too. Let me just emphasize that: The heads of all branches of our military are in quarantine because this administration refuses to follow science and get a handle on this virus. It seems entirely likely that Trump himself is the source of Admiral Ray's infection, at that. Jesus, these people.

And it's getting bad close to home too. Yesterday, a staff member at Henry's school tested positive. One of the firefighters on my dad's fire department tested positive and may have exposed the rest of them. The school across the street from my parents is shut down entirely for (at least) two weeks because there are so many cases. A maintenance guy at Mike's work tested positive. 

It feels like there's no escape, and that's very very scary. 

And the convergence of this renewed first wave of COVID (Note: We are still in the FIRST wave!!!) with the closeness of the election is really ramping up the tension. Everything feels uncertain and tenuous and dangerous in a way that I can't fully express. 

These are bad times, friends. Stay safe.

so the president has covid ...

 We didn't have to wait too long for our "October surprise" this election cycle. We found out on Thursday morning that Hope Hicks, a close advisor to Trump, had tested positive. She had been in close contact with him all through the week, including debate prep and his disaster spitshow rabid performance in the debate on Tuesday. But knowing that his close contact had COVID-19, did Trump isolate himself? No, he did not. He instead went to a fundraiser at his golf club, where superfans paid $250K each to spend time in close quarters with the president ... and his shedding virus. Yippee!

It's not just him, though. Turns out that the source of the outbreak is probably the Rose Garden ceremony a week ago where Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to fill the seat of Our Lady of Dissent Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was a craven move that he never should have made, and I'm not a religious person like ACB and all the rest of them claim to be, but if I were, I would sure as hell think that God was smiting me and my whole crew for our (their) terrible sins.

ACB herself reportedly had COVID-19 "over the summer" but recovered. I put the quotes there because let's review: She's a lawyer, and also "the summer" could mean anytime before September 22. So if "over the summer" sounds deliberately vague, I'm sure that's not on purpose or anything. (It's totally on purpose.) 

Anyway, so ACB didn't get COVID-19 after this even, but you know who has? Donald Trump. Melania Trump. Sen. Mike Lee. Sen. Thom Tillis. Former Governor Chris Christie (who is already hospitalized). Campaign manager Bill Stepian. Former senior advisor and peddler of "alternative facts" Kellyanne Conway. Oh, and Fr. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, who was there because ACB was a professor at ND. 

SO FAR.

Those are just the big names. In addition, several White House reporters and staffers have tested positive. And those people are on their own to figure out their health care. They don't get helicopter rides to Walter Reed or experimental drug cocktails just for funsies.

But back to the president. He announced very early Friday morning that he had tested positive, and by Friday evening, he was taken by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. There have been confirmed reports that his oxygen levels were low enough for him to need supplemental oxygen at times on both Friday and Saturday. He was given an experimental antibody cocktail on Friday, then started remdesivir, a drug that has only been approved for compassionate use in severe cases. He'll get a five-day course of it, and theoretically, it will make it harder for the virus to replicate. Then today came the news that he is ALSO taking dexamethasone, a steroid that the World Health Organization said showed promise in reducing mortality for critically ill patients. 

Yet Trump's doctors insist that his symptoms are mild and that he's on the road to recovery, and might even be released from Walter Reed and sent back to the White House tomorrow to continue his recovery. Do you believe that? Yeah, I don't either.

And listen, I'm not saying I hope for any bad outcomes. I don't. I want him to get healthy so he can get his ass kicked in this election and then spend the rest of his life being held accountable for his many crimes. But it's not up to me, and it's not even up to him anymore. The virus in in charge now.

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Wear your mask. Don't be like this parade of dumbasses.

P.S. You would think that in this situation, Mike Pence would be in total isolation with Mother Pence, just waiting for his chance to fulfil his lifelong dream of ascending to the Oval Office by hook or by crook. But NOPE, he's out campaigning in person like everything's totally fine! Listen, just between you and me, it seems entirely plausible that we could end up with President Nancy Pelosi on or before January 21. Stay tuned.