One year ago today was the last time I was on campus. I plan to stay away for as long as possible - in fact, if I can manage to stay remote, I would like to do it until I retire.

Here is a dilemma. A couple days ago I read this on Facebook: "Tips is in need of a home.....We are here to help, all others will be deleted and banned.....We adopted 16 yr old Tula 10 yrs ago. She is a beautiful tiger striped cat with a very calm and timid personality. We are moving to SC this summer and there is no way we can bring her.. I'm looking for her to be the only pet as she deserves special attention in her late years. She has early stage of kidney disease with no meds required right now. Her numbers actually improved from last May. We will miss her terribly if we find good home , but believe it's in her best interest."

It is from Steve Caporizzo pet connection, he is a weatherman for the local ABC affiliate and an animal advocate. His page occasionally spins out of control, with followers judging and harshly criticizing pet owners who are seeking to re-home a pet. Sometimes the object of condemnation asks for the post to be deleted and takes drastic action with the unwanted animal. (Taking it to shelter, euthanasia…or maybe dropping it along the road*, choking it to death*…) The post quoted above would be a classic example. Steve deletes and bans anyone who comments negatively, and puts up a scolding post when it happens. He believes such dialogue does not help the needy animal, and of course he is correct. I don't join in because I can't stand the drama and also respect the page host's wishes. I really, really appreciate moderators who reduce or eliminate animosity in comments and try to facilitate a kind community. However, I also believe behavior such as the above quoted text deserves to be called out as unacceptable, immoral, and abusive, rather than normalized or condoned with a shrug that all is relative.

So here's my dilemma. Not whether to join or start a slugfest (I wouldn't, and it would get me banned anyway) but whether to unfollow Steve? I hate to do that, as I might be able to help someday (and in 1995, I adopted Rudy - a MHHS puppy who was on Pet Connection), but reading such posts greatly upsets me. The subject isn't of the "just scroll by" variety. It hurts me to know that such people are out there. At least I can share this here! Well -- move to SC, lowlife. NY surely doesn't need you.

Unrelated, except in the appalling behavior category: The media continues to hound the governor. I believe it is because of his requirement for police to create a plan by April. That lobby has risen up and will do whatever they can to try to bring him down.

 *Kidding, sort of

 

 This month I am eligible to retire, because I will hit 59.5 years old next week. Ironically, I am being considered for promotion in academic rank- my first since at the campus. And tomorrow those 60 or over become eligible for the vaccine; will miss that by 6 months!

I am pissed that Texas and Mississippi have rolled back mask mandates. What aholes the governors
must be. I'm happy about J&J vaccine, alarmed by St. Louis & New Orleans dioceses advising against. I oppose abortion but mostly feel that battle was lost in 1972 and in a democracy toleration is important. I thought all vaccines were based to some degree on aborted material, even if the cell chains go back 50 years and the connection is remote. I guess the J&J connection is more direct? Does that matter? This is actually a serious philosophical, moral and ethical debate (but sadly the media is too stupid and agenda driven to seriously and sensitively explore it). Is outcome more important? Does science trump those concerns? Does public health and the good of society overall take precedence? I oppose animal experimentation. Were lab animals used in the development? How should I feel then? What about a hypothetical - say if the research was not based on aborted material, but derived from Nazi science or unwilling prisoners or people of color? Would it still be okay?

This is true: It is COLD and windy. I forgot...yesterday was GBP's 19th anniversary! And I didn't forget -- but didn't post here, Saturday was Rosie's ninth Gotcha Day.

 Today I got another sales call from the newspaper hawking a four-day per week subscription. I told the
sales rep what I have been saying ever time I am pitched, that I have not read a paper copy in a
decade and cancelled my digital subscription a couple months ago because I must maintain my peace
in this stressful time. I unfollowed news sites on facebook, cancelled subscriptions and don't watch TV
news any more. I wasn't rude, and didn't share that I think 99% of journalists are scum.

 I am so, so happy our trends are going in the right direction again. I ventured out and got a haircut! 

I've stopped following news sites on social media, but last night I was so upset by the 11 o'clock news (I wanted & needed to see the weather) -- I resolved that I am no longer going to watch any news on television. I am following the weatherman on social media and will find out the forecast that way. I cannot be exposed to the unethical, snarky, blowhard full if itself media. F each & every one of them.

Warning, this post will be vulgar. The New York Times makes me feel like puking. Latest example...A front page story dissing the health department. As an outsider, I see it on a daily basis because of the "new normal:" The staff works 24/7 to contribute to the fight against the pandemic, and that snarky elitist scum J**** et al play "gotcha." I've never been a fan of its self-absorbed urban hipness POV; I remember once during a grad school presentation that I gave on Gould's Mismeasure of Man (for a class I now teach), I described the book as having been panned by the popular press (ie, the NYT), the (spacey, snotty) instructor interrupted me, all offended, to say, "the liberal intellectual press" and I shot back, "hardly, it's written for eighth grade reading level!" Years later, they were exposed for shoddiness when articles were written in Brooklyn that alleged to be eyewitness reporting from Iraq--complete with photo-shopped images! So not only are they grade 8 but unethical too. Well - the NY Times was once used to wipe asses in outhouses, and it still is used to train puppies, shredded to fill cat litter boxes, and line birdcages. In other words, it's only good for absorbing piss and shit.

I am annoyed at our local media again. It pisses me off that they focus on minutia in the past, instead of having a present or future orientation. There will be plenty of time when this pandemic is in the rear view mirror to review, reflect and opine about what could have been done better, right now we need to laser focus on beating COVID-19. We don't need legislative hearings about which column on the spreadsheet deaths should be entered in.

Despicable people: Rich Couple Accused of Taking Vaccine Doses from Indigenous Elders.

 

 Just now I noticed a post on Facebook from Mohawk Hudson Humane Society that said Major, who is one of the new first dogs at the White House, is a rescue, adopted from a humane society in Delaware. Wow!! That makes me so happy, raises my esteem!

There is a narrative that people have been drinking more during the pandemic. Is it true, I wonder? I have hardly been drinking at all. I thought about why, and I guess because I would have a glass or wine or two in restaurants while having dinner. It was totally social, and now I am ordering GrubHub and not doing any socializing. I ordered a bottle of wine with dinner on New Year's Eve and didn't even open it!

Interesting POV. I'm not sure I agree - the horror of this series comes more from how evil and mentally disturbed this guy was. He was extreme even for a serial killer. I didn't think the theatrics or photos (admittedly the one showing his teeth was nightmare worthy) were any worse than the other true crime shows we've seen or even the average Criminal Minds.
 

 I noticed this week that many of Trump's ardent supporters among my Facebook friends are women around my age. Why? The cult of celebrity? Sexual fantasy? Dreams of wealth?  It isn't that Biden was a great choice; he is senile and he has had so much plastic surgery he can't even move his eyes. Why don't we choose better candidates? Younger, visionary, ethical, smart - not the least common denominator, because it is their turn? But regardless, anyone would be better than the conman Trump, the carnival barker that the media enabled to win.

Today I cancelled my digital subscription to the Albany Times Union and un-followed them on Facebook (I haven't gotten the paper version in years). You have to do it on the phone, and the very nice customer service person asked why? So I told her that I have no choice, it's self preservation. I can't take it any more. I'm tired of all the articles grousing about restrictions, then today the final straw was when writer Chris Churchill called the governor out for allowing the Bills to have fans at their playoff game. I told her I've already stopped following CBS-6 WRGB for all their snark on pandemic issues. She laughed and thanked me for my honesty and said she found it refreshing, that she completely understood being offended by the hypocrisy. I also told her I hope the cancellation doesn't result in me getting nonstop hot room calls hawking subscriptions to the TU, as always happened in the past, and she laughed at that too. I forgot to add (but never fear, I'll have the opportunity when I get future sales pitches), that the comments on their Facebook posts are appalling and the toxic forum they encourage is a disincentive to following the newspaper.

PS Bob's birthday. He's 61. GrubHub & Amazon movie. Life during the virus!

 Happy New Year! I'm making this post because I want an increase in posting over last year - and this post does that!!

Today I concluded that the regular media news, print and television and radio are determined to undermine and harm us in any way they can, and justify it by claiming the moral high ground and proclaiming the purity of journalism's motives. I have always felt this way a little but now I am sure of it. It isn't social media -- it is regular media. The news outlet's social media administrator shares certain stories on social media and generates a forum of ignorance in comments, but social media is not the culprit (although the regular media glories in placing blame there). Today I noticed a headline "Vaccine rollout is more like a dribble so far. What went wrong?" I've seen or heard stories like that a lot recently. Anyone with a functioning brain knows it will take a long time to vaccinate everyone, assuming that's even possible, which it really isn't. Yet I know this is what reporters are going to be pushing, ginning up controversy, pointing fingers, starting fights, increasing drama, hoping for Congressional hearings, hoping for scandal and unrest.

This makes me sick. Also I have more respect for the small number of members (happy to know it's a bipartisan group) who are waiting until all front line workers and seniors have access.