A person bunkerooed at a roadmeet

Today was the long-awaited Cincinnati roadmeet that I hosted!

A half-dozen people showed, coming from as far away as Missouri, Tennessee, and Illinois. As Roads Scholars, we drove about the roads of Cincinnati like the unassailable superpeople we are.

Someone said the meet would have drawn even more people, except that recent circumstances may have discouraged them.

Best all, as we gathered in a restaurant parking lot as we prepared to leave, I briefly detected the unmistakable bouquet of a silent-but-deadly bunker blast.

Why I stopped trusting so-called liberal websites

I think that by now, it's clear that I'm alt-left or pirate socialist - no longer actually liberal. In the past few months - through the early presidential primaries and the coronavirus crisis - I've lost almost every shred of trust I had in so-called liberal websites and in the Democratic Party.

The websites profit off panic and fear. There's never any good news to keep morale up. It's all negativity, all the time.

I don't have the sunniest personality, but there's only so much gloom you can take.

For over 2 months, these sites have backed authoritarian methods to fight the pandemic. To this day, even after most states and countries have lifted these practices, these sites support continuing them. They bash Democrats and Republicans alike who seem to support ending these policies.

These sites have used outright lies to back up their stances. All to exploit their readership for profit.

These sites have also become increasingly classist and conspiracist.

Since these are historically liberal sites, they do of course get some pushback in the comment section. But dissenters often find themselves hounded off.

The people in charge of these websites are backstabbers. People supported these sites for years - only to have these sites betray everything they stand for.

As folks on the left and the right have found enough common ground on sites like the "LockdownSkepticism" forum on Reddit that they've begun to respect each other, I've lost respect for ostensibly liberal sites that profit off panic and prolong the crisis.

They've gone clear off a cliff, and I refuse to go off the cliff with them.

Having a (bunker) blast at Sharon Woods!

Earlier, I was informed of something uproarious that occurred on the loop trail around the lake at Sharon Woods. A man walking around the lake released a loud-and-proud bunker blast that could be heard from 100 feet away.

Maybe he was practicing for a roadmeet!

Alaska to drop all coronavirus rules

Regulatory powers shouldn't be all or nothing in the fight against coronavirus. But responses that were too authoritarian should have been rejected out of hand for being doomed to fail.

Now Alaska is set to become the first U.S. state to lift all coronavirus restrictions. Certainly, local governments will be allowed to have regulations to strike a middle ground without imposing a police state. But statewide rules will be just a memory. Alaska was also one of few places in America able to block out-of-state visitors, because it does not border any other part of the U.S. Even that restriction is probably being lifted on June 2.

It's also interesting that states that repealed lockdowns the earliest - Montana is another example - now have some of the fewest cases of this virus per capita.

Nationwide, the prevalence of this virus is estimated to be less than one-fourth of what it was at its peak, based on the case count weighted with the number of tests given. But some act as if it's only getting worse, and blogs make money by whipping up this fear. If Alaska can drop all its rules, certainly the other states can drop enough of their rules that they can honestly claim to not be a command state. But don't hold your breath. Some folks don't want anything reopened until the case count is precisely zero - which may be futile even with the long-awaited vaccines or similar preventative antibody treatments coming, as even polio still has a handful of cases each year.

Panic has accomplished nothing. Only science will win - as new treatments or even vaccines will be rolled out soon.

Left and right united against lockdowns

At long last, the right and the left have found an issue they can agree on!

That issue is coronavirus-inspired lockdowns and other authoritarian responses to the pandemic. By and large, we agree with each other that the lockdowns are a failure. I never for once doubted this policy was doomed to fail, or that it was an unwarranted infringement on civil liberties - at least in regard to shutting down small private gatherings and severely limiting movement. Now there's a Reddit board against lockdowns, where the left and right stand together.

After all, does anyone really gain from these lockdowns? There's plenty of evidence proving how ineffective and harmful they are.

This anti-lockdown coalition primarily represents the rank-and-file of the right and left. It doesn't represent anti-freedom racists who have tried to exploit this issue to recruit followers, and it doesn't represent the so-called liberal blogosphere that has profited from the crisis using fear and panic. The real battle now is against elites who refuse to sacrifice but want to control or exploit everyone else.

The rank-and-file right is actually showing respect for our side, so our side gives them respect in return. Common ground is much more productive than the screeching doom and demagoguery practiced by the blogosphere that profits off the crisis. Frenzied warnings of inescapable doom now permeate self-described liberal and conservative websites alike. Reddit commenters on the left have called it an unprecedented betrayal of what the left purports to believe, and their wallets are now closed forever to websites they once supported. Those on the right have stopped supporting their former heroes as well.

What is even still right-wing about some on the right? What is liberal about those so-called liberal blogs? Today, none of us are liberal or conservative, but leftist. The botched response to the pandemic broke the country. Why wouldn't it create a political revolution too?

Ohio primary rigged and nobody does a damn thing about it

They're not even trying anymore.

Over 300 residents of Butler County, Ohio, won't have their votes counted in the recent primary election because the Postal Service delivered their ballots late. The ballots were postmarked on or before April 27 as required - but the board of elections didn't receive them until Monday, which was 3 days past the May 8 deadline to be delivered.

Why did it take 2 weeks for the Postal Service to deliver them?

I firmly support making voting easier, especially in these tough times. But when Oregon became the first state to allow voting by mail, I foresaw this very problem. By then, many government agencies had been beset by right-wing corruption. The Postal Service was certainly no exception. I started to see the Postal Service's leadership as just some political operative who holed themselves up in their room and made a pretend post office by cutting up paper grocery bags, writing fake addresses on them, and pasting them all over the bedpost.

What exactly is being done about these lost votes? So far it's just been breezily dismissed as part of life. We suffer immensely under a media and political culture that rejects science and facts like it's going out of style. Quite frankly, I think a significant number of public officials lately have no fucking idea what they're doing.

Have no fear, the May ish is here!

The May ish of The Last Word is late because of my cardiac episode and other reasons, but now it's here, so don't spill your beer!

This issue talks about people stealing from Circle K, using bubble gum to fight coronavirus, the ruinment of aircraft carrier toilets, USA Today's stupidity, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/460487980/The-Last-Word-5-2020

If that doesn't work, point it here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2005.pdf

Ludlow won't enforce social distancing in parks

As the U.S. is seeing far fewer new conservavirus cases, even mild social distancing measures are starting to wear on some.

The local city of Ludlow is reopening its parks, along with most park features such as basketball courts. And Ludlow police have put out a message on Twitter saying not to call the cops if people aren't following social distancing protocols. The post reads...

"Do not contact us because groups are congregating in the Parks.

"Ludlow Police WILL NOT be enforcing people's decisions to not social distance."

Yeah, it's over. Probably.

If this was April 8 - not May 8 - it might make sense to more rigidly police these rules. But I don't think it does any good now. How many weeks has it been since Kentucky has enforced these rules? There's "protests" at the Capitol all the time now. Ludlow's decision seems to run afoul of state rules, but it seems like the state rules just aren't being enforced anywhere anymore.

At this point, I think Sweden may have had the best approach all along.

Alabama! Pennsylvania! Game day bucket go boom!

Lockdowns are over - but only if you want it.

I think now we know how people - at least in America - react after being locked down for 7 weeks. They just stop caring about the lockdowns. After all, our public officials completely wasted most of these 7 weeks.

Today, walking around the neighborhood, I saw cars with Alabama and Pennsylvania license plates parked on the street. And this is in a neighborhood that doesn't get tourists even in normal times. So yes, people are going on roadtrips. I saw a news photo of Central Park from just a couple days ago, and photos of California beaches from the previous weekend, and it's obvious nobody cares about stay-at-home diktats anymore. Lockdowns wear on you. They're not just ineffective, but unsustainable.

I knew lockdowns would fail. I know that doesn't give anyone a license to do anything too stupid, but there's limits on what people can tolerate.

Conservavirus in the U.S. isn't spreading nearly as much as it was a month ago - because pandemics die. Viruses like this just don't stay prevalent for very long. They can't, and they won't. But I am convinced lockdowns delayed its decline. I've done my homework on this, and the experts were wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

Be safe - but live a little.

Another electric rate increase rubber-stamped

Because this is a day ending in y, Duke Energy's latest rate increase request was of course rubber-stamped. So our already exorbitant electric rates are going up by another 10%.

I don't remember voting for this, do you?

Tuesday's cardiac incident

I knew it would come to this, but nobody listened. I'm just lucky I'm still around to tell about it.

On Tuesday morning, I suffered a cardiac incident and a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) and had to go to the hospital. They said I was very close to either a heart attack or a stroke. I think it may have actually been a mild heart attack.

I have been very weak since then and have mostly just laid down in bed for days.

This had been building up for 6 weeks because of the ongoing crisis. It's been 6 weeks of sheer terror. My heart has been racing all the while. The hospital said I had a heart rate of 133.

In my Facebook post about this, I only made a brief mention of what caused this health scare, yet still someone was petulant enough to drop me from their friends list. Some people are not true friends. They're just lying, idiotic bullies.

When the pandemic is allowed to end, there should be a tickertape parade for the healthcare workers who put their lives in danger to save others' lives.

Nurses protest at White House

The response by many countries to the ongoing pandemic is among the worst failures in history, and America is no exception. In the United States, every level of government has completely failed.

Yesterday, a group of registered nurses held a protest outside the White House to call for mass production of medical equipment. The event was organized by National Nurses United, a nurses' union. Nurses came from as far away as California and Puerto Rico.

At the protest, the names of nurses who died from the virus were read. Protesters demanded the Trump regime use the Defense Production Act to order mass production of protective gear, test kits, ventilators, and other needs.

By all accounts, this protest had self-discipline and humility. If we're serious about any cause, that's how it has to be.

Another cause ruined by irresponsible idiots

The lockdowns have got to go. But you don't get to act like an ass about it.

Every time I join some worthwhile cause, it gets infiltrated. Every single time. Occupy is a good example.

I'm horrified at the current martial law policies. Frankly, I never even dreamed America would sink to these depths. I've actually had physical pain in my heart for over a month because of this terror. But the "protests" lately are counterproductive and idiotic, and are a scam. These events are being put together by interests that just want to exploit public sentiment instead of effectively fighting the lockdowns.

A real rally for freedom wouldn't look like the bar scene in Star Wars.

What I'm fighting against is primarily lockdowns. That's not the same as business closures or some other emergency government powers. Yes, our public officials have a responsibility to quantify and remedy economic loss from these closures. But you can't put a price tag on the horror of societal loss resulting from martial law.

The media won't cover my perspective, because they want to equate opposition to lockdowns with these "protests."

America is full of brave medical workers who don't need their work insulted by idiots who don't even give a damn about the cause they claim to support.

A person bubbled in 2 cities at the same time

Earlier, I walked around the neighborhood, and some woman bubbled in 2 cities at the same time!

As I was walking up O'Fallon Avenue - which runs on the line betwixt Bellevue and Dayton - some woman was walking across the street. She pursed her lips, and everyone knew just what was coming next. Why, she bubbled! Best all, she bubbled at the precise middle of the street - meaning she bubbled in both Bellevue and Dayton at the same time!

Gordon look-alike sighted

I've just received a very important e-mail about a celebrity look-alike. According to this bulletin, a man who strongly resembled Gordon of Sesame Street was seen at a local Meijer store. This was not the Gordon who took over in the mid-'70s, but an earlier actor.

In other comedy genius news, a man and his granddaughter were heard arguing about bunker blasts at a park.

Kentucky GOP passes unconstitutional vote suppression bill

Now is not the time to pass garbage like this - though with the bipartisan failures at fighting the current crisis, it might not make much difference.

Recently, Kentucky lawmakers passed an unconstitutional Republican bill to require a photo ID to vote. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed it. But now the legislature has overridden his veto.

Then how am I supposed to vote in the upcoming primary? Recently my ID was stolen. I can't replace it because the courthouse is closed indefinitely.

So how can I vote? Does Kentucky like being sued?

Sweden fights conservavirus without martial law

Wow, someone on Daily Kos has actually posted something intelligent about conservavirus instead of attacking people who disagree with them...

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/13/1936788/-The-facts-about-how-Sweden-is-battling-the-corona-virus-pandemic

As of that writing, Sweden has not imposed a lockdown but has seen considerable success fighting the pandemic. Some of the Daily Kos groupthinkers sided with Trump when he mischaracterized the Swedish response to the virus. I don't expect the facts to change their minds though.

Swedish authorities have warned that if people don't follow commonsense sanitation measures, they'll crack down. But - like people I see around here - folks in Sweden are heeding the advice.

Another suicide caused by lockdowns

This is the latest suicide caused by lockdowns, this time a 15-year-old girl in Stockton, California:

https://fox40.com/news/local-news/stockton-mother-reminds-parents-to-reach-out-to-their-children-after-daughters-suicide

Educators in the area say at least 2 other teen suicides may have resulted from the lockdown.

Welcome to the new materialistic world where life means nothing.

Oregon county suspends habeas corpus over conservavirus

Boom...

https://www.opb.org/news/article/umatilla-county-oregon-suspends-habeas-corpus-hearings-coronavirus

Are the people who said the government wasn't going to use conservavirus as an excuse to gut constitutional liberties happy now?

Umatilla County, Oregon - a 62% Trump county, not surprisingly - has done what the "centrist" thought police claimed would never happen. The county is using the virus as a pretext for suspending habeas corpus.

The county - which has 2 large state prisons - has canceled all habeas corpus hearings for the next 2 months. About 12 cases were canceled. Many of the inmates have severe medical conditions.

There's no reason to cancel it over the fear the virus might be spread, because in that county, these hearings are almost always by remote video or phone - not in person.

ICE protesters defy lockdown, except they really didn't

How does it defy social distancing guidelines to travel by car?

As the patchwork of martial law continues to grip America, a coalition of civil rights groups organized a protest against ICE in Newark, New Jersey. The thing about this protest is that it was by car. It wasn't on foot where people might break social distancing rules. The protest consisted of a motorcade of about 20 cars that circled 2 local ICE hotspots.

Guess what? Participants were ticketed even though they were clearly more than 6 feet apart, as they were in cars.

How is it even constitutional to ticket someone when they weren't even violating the guidelines?

ICE detaining so many people in crowded conditions is what really spreads viruses.

Airlines want to repeal refund rule

Aw, the airlines aren't making as much money as usual, the poor things.

Many flights have been canceled lately - not because the airlines feared the spread of viruses but because passengers have canceled their plans. Passengers who haven't canceled are being crammed onto more crowded flights - at a time when this is least desired. It would be better and safer to just run mostly empty flights.

Now the airline racket is begging government regulators to repeal rules that require airlines to refund customers over canceled flights. Airlines have already circumvented these rules by giving passengers credit for future travel - which expires before the end of the year - instead of refunds. Formal complaints have been already been made against airlines for this practice.

Some nobody with the airline industry said issuing refunds "is almost unbearable."

One, two, three. Aaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww!

Grow up, airlines!

Colorado man cuffed for being in public

It's as predictable as the day is long. Our right-wing overlords love a crisis, because it gives them an excuse to take our rights away.

Some folks said that nobody in any Western country would be arrested or handcuffed for violating the lockdowns unless their behavior is too egregious for the circumstances at hand. That was a lie. I knew it was a lie.

In Brighton, Colorado, a 33-year-old man was handcuffed by police at a park just for playing softball there with his family. He was cuffed and shoved into a police car in full view of his 6-year-old daughter.

The man had refused to provide identification - probably because America isn't supposed to be a right-wing police state. Well, guess what? It is now, unfortunately.

Who really violated social distancing guidelines? Small private gatherings are constitutionally protected. End of story. The police violated the guidelines by cuffing the man.

Is there any stretch of the imagination where this is even remotely acceptable?

FDA approves more Trilafon

The FDA won't approve remdesivir, but they approve mind control drugs like this.

Trilafon (perphenazine) is one of these drugs like Ritalin that's handed out like candy every time a patient disagrees with a shrink. It has dreadful side effects that often last long after a person stops taking this drug.

Now the FDA has just approved new dosages for this horrid drug.

Approving a discredited drug must be a mighty big emergency, huh?

Man pardoned by Bevin faces child porn charge

Among the many convicts pardoned by Matt Bevin after he lost the election was a man in Christian County who had pleaded guilty in a 2014 sex offense against a 15-year-old.

Now this same man is facing federal child pornography charges for a video he allegedly made at the time.

People shoplifted from Circle K

This story is more like Last Word material, but today I went to the local Circle K convenience store and saw people shoplifting.

There was a woman and a teenage girl in there who had just obtained orange juice from the dairy case. I thought they were going to, you know, buy it.

Instead they darted out the door and skipped away!

The cashier saw this ghastly deed and chased after them on foot. But after only a few seconds, she decided she couldn't catch them and went back into the store.

Ohio lawmaker wants Trump tried for crimes against humanity

The "centrists" like Gavin Nuisance who praise Trump all the time may deny it, but there's no mistaking this: Donald Trump should be tried for crimes against humanity for his actions that have exponentially worsened the conservavirus pandemic. I figured this a month ago. Trump's actions have been not only incompetent but intentional. I don't think he's the only culprit, because some entities are more interested in money or hype than in saving lives.

Ohio State Rep. Tavia Galonski, an Akron area Democrat, is looking into referring Trump to the Hague for crimes against humanity. One of the main reasons is that Trump touted misusing chloroquine to treat conservavirus.

Some of Trump's apologists have complained about news outlets that have reported positively on remdesivir despite it not being FDA-approved. Tough toilets. Many doctors have confidence in remdesivir because it has already saved the lives of critically ill patients in a compassionate use program. Another crime against humanity is that the FDA won't give full approval to remdesivir under the emergency rules.

What happens if Trump or anyone else is tried for crimes against humanity? It's hard to say, but some legal rules may be much different than they are for ordinary criminal cases. And it might not work in Trump's favor. But I haven't looked into the details, because it's not every day that the President of the United States gets tried for crimes against humanity.

Unmasking Trump regime's bad mask advice

Another article about conservavirus? Well, as long as it's allowed to spread, that's going to be the top story here.

Because this isn't 1991, CNN has largely become a shambles, but here's a link to a piece about how little understanding of public health Trump's CDC has...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/coronavirus-who-masks-recommendation-trnd

A few days ago, the CDC recommended people wear masks to stop the spread of conservavirus. But - as that piece shows - the WHO doesn't recommend masks for anyone outside a medical setting and who isn't caring for someone with the virus.

"There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit. In fact, there's some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly," said the WHO's Dr. Mike Ryan.

The WHO's Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said, "In the community, we do not recommend the use of wearing masks unless you yourself are sick and as a measure to prevent onward spread from you if you are ill."

I would think the WHO would know more about this topic than the Trump regime does. In a speech in which he recommended masks, Trump announced he wasn't even going to wear one himself. Plus, if masks are that helpful, why weren't they used as much before this pandemic?

So why wear one? The WHO is pretty clear and unassailable on that. The CDC's website is way out of date on other aspects of this virus, and can't be trusted. Also, wouldn't masks interfere with eating? I'll blow a damn bubble with bubble gum in a public place, because that's how we face crises like this. We don't go around following orders that are completely discredited.

Another senseless death

I'm going to leave this story right here about the latest suicide caused by lockdowns...

https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/25/teenager-19-kills-fears-will-stuck-inside-coronavirus-12453434

This is more blood on the hands of public officials - but it was Boris Johnson who caused this death.

Our lives mean absolutely nothing to the little tinpot dictators who are interested only in their political goals.

Reuters report explores lockdown deaths

The media is in a mighty sorry state when we have to rely on Reuters for the full story to be reported. Then again, Reuters is based in Britain, and the major American media would never run an investigative report like this...

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-usa-cost

According to this investigation, even just the business closures are causing a spike in suicides, as people lose their jobs. The problem is magnified exponentially by lockdowns. Domestic violence is taking a toll too, as one New Jersey organization reported a 24% increase in domestic violence reports.

Even with the rigor of military discipline, few are able to adapt to lockdowns. The Air Force Academy has already seen at least 2 suicides caused by lockdowns that the academy instituted (which haven't even been in force for very long yet).

Health agencies are reporting a loss of tax revenue as businesses face a loss of customers. This in turn endangers important public health programs.

I'm not saying unessential businesses shouldn't temporarily close - as long as there's an adequate remedy for economic losses. But lockdowns are a much different matter.

Even the economic toll of lockdowns is immense. Stanford Univerity's Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said, "Depressions are deadly for people, poor people especially."

So that's what all of this is about. Once again, the lives of the poor are deemed to be expendable by our overlords. Next time you see some website or editorial demanding longer lockdowns, remember that their interests are not with saving lives but with protecting their lavish lifestyles. In every place lockdowns have been enacted, the number of new conservavirus cases always rises at a steeper rate, which proves this form of martial law is ineffective at stemming this virus.

There's nothing like a crisis to bring out the absolute worst of elitists' cold inhumanity.

Fox News sued for calling conservavirus a hoax

Conservavirus threatens lives in a variety of ways, but it doesn't help that people were encouraged to let their guard down earlier in the crisis.

Some weeks back, Fox News insisted the virus was a hoax. Now a little-known organization in Washington state is suing the channel along with cable companies that carry it because of this claim.

The lawsuit was filed yesterday in the Seattle area and seeks an injunction to bar the channel from "interfering with reasonable and necessary measures to contain the virus by publishing further false and deceptive content." Because of the channel's denial, there are still people who believe the virus is a hoax. The suit asks for relief under the state's Consumer Protection Act.

Sadly, Fox News isn't the only offender. Far from it. Some outlets are more into apocalyptic views than outright denial, but both stances are deceptive and harmful to public health.

Some have said the First Amendment protects Fox News. There's some problems with that, however. The airwaves are supposed to be a public trust. The FCC used to be very unkind towards outlets that distorted news.

Also, lockdowns violate the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. So why are we suddenly so concerned about the First Amendment while it's being violated to a degree not seen in modern times?

If this pandemic is ever allowed to end, we need to crack down hard on the fake news media. I hope to see a long string of lawsuits against media organizations for their coverage of a variety of stories.