Zimbabwe and Covid

 This is a little story over Covid and how things worked in an odd way.

So in Zimbabwe, Covid arrived in the spring of 2020.  They got all the way to July of 2020.....before Covid deaths started up (remember, their winter starts in July....at least to what you'd describe as just a rainy season).  Five deaths in one single day were confirmed.

For the record, Zimbabwe has a population of around 14-million, and size-wise....it's about the same as California in terms of size.

In terms of new cases?  They were averaging around 100-to-140 per day, in that first big wave of Jun-Jul-Aug.  Naturally, you'd say....it's a third world country, and they simply aren't testing at the same rate.  Around December of 2020, the rate bounced way up....with deaths reported daily at around 20 to 50 a day for the entire country.  

Shortly after Christmas of 2020....an unusual matter occurred where in a ten day period....three key ministers in the cabinet of Zimbabwe passed on, from Covid.  Then the government did this odd thing....they approved ivermectin as a Covid drug.  The death rate from 31 January to the end of February?  It dropped like a rock.  Five deaths were reported on 1 March 2021, from Covid.

They get all the way to June.....with an average of 1 to 3 deaths per day noted.

June sees a dramatic rise in Covid deaths....eventually rising to a max of 81.  Since 21 September 2021?  Well....its been around zero to four (on average) daily.  That's it.  

So here's the odd factor....if you asked the health folks about the vaccination rate?  it's around six to seven percent.  That's it.

Ivermectin alone doing this?  I doubt it.....there's probably a vitamin D angle to this, and some odd local practices.  

Getting Ivermectin?  Well....before this came along....this was a normal prescription drug....given out for a very cheap price.  After the approval for Covid....the price kinda escalated.  If you wanted a 'shot' of Ivermectin....that was going up to around $5 (US).....probably ten times of the previous price.  Yeah, some folks were still getting rich off what was a cheap drug.

Should you even bring the Zimbabwe thing up in conversation?  No.  An intellectual would say it's a 3rd-world 'hell-hole' and the data is all faked-up.  To be honest, before Covid came along...Zimbabwe averaged around 111 deaths per year per 100,000 residents....from the flu/pneumonia.  I would imagine that if you dug through the numbers....it was mostly older people who fell into the death numbers (just like Covid).

How I See the Rittenhouse Situation Playing Out

 Whatever money that Nick Sandmann has made off lawsuits of news organizations insulting him....I see Rittenhouse making twice the amount of Sandmann.

Who to sue?

1.  CNN/MSNBC to start with.  

2.  WaPo and the NY Times probably did enough insults with the term 'White Supremist' to get them on the list.

3.  President Biden?  Yeah....he's got a comment or two.  He'll be dragged in for insults.

4.  The Hollywood crowd?  They will be shocked with court documents arriving at their door and offering them a one-time chance to settle.  Some will swear off social media for the rest of their lives after they settle.  

5.  Facebook/Meta and Twitter?  Based on content and them not using their 'God-given' powers?  They will be in court as well.

6.  Finally, the GoFundMe crowd, who prevented fund-raising for Rittenhouse....will find themselves dragged in.

7.  The political crowd who started up on Friday suggesting they will get the Attorney General hyped up to do an FBI investigation on 'other' charges?  They will be dragged into court.  Even the FBI agents who attempt to conduct an investigation.....will be dragged into court. 

There's just tons of money laying there, and this could go on for five to ten years.  Lawyers just standing there in shock of the easy work....the cash to flow?  It'll bring tears to their eyes.

That Griis Kid

 Back in the 1670s....we have this episode that unfolded with the 'Gävle Boy' in Sweden.

It's an epic piece, but I'll try to tell the story in forty lines.

Griis was his first name.....son of a shoe-maker.  

Somewhere around age ten to twelve.....some episode occurred in the village (far east side of Sweden).  No one has the entire story, but it appears that the village had this witch episode start up, and Griis had made an accusation or two....over his mother being a witch.

We know that his dad had passed away in this period, and it would appear that they (Griis and his mother) were not on good relations.

There was this island that folks would claim was a witch's 'hangout'....called Blockula.  If you got dragged to this island.....you were under some spell, and probably having demons within (so the belief was).  Griis had said that at some point....mama was a witch.....had taken him to Blockula....and had physical relations with him

Naturally, folks got upset....a witch case started up, and everything that Griis spoke of....was regarded as true.  The mother?  She was eventually executed.

After this....folks in Stockholm took an interest in the kid....regarding him as an expert on Witchcraft.

All this led to Griis being regarded as an expert on cult stuff, and demons.

There's roughly a period of 12 to 18 months where witchcraft was a big deal.

Eventually, enough of the stories were deemed far-fetched, and fake.....and the authorities finally decided that Griis had to be executed....to get people off the subject.

So around 1677....the government ordered all the priests in the country to deem the witch problem to be gone.  Anyone on the accused list?  Well....they were more or less stamped 'cured' and non-threatening. 

What Griis was executed for?  Well....since witchcraft was cured....he had to be executed for false testimony.  

I would imagine for a decade or two after that.....Griis was brought up and folks wondered what happened to him to make up the whole story.  

Topics of Conversation

 My brother brought up this related subject....having guests over and how couches might influence a situation (his intention to get new living room furniture).  In Alabama, this type of purchase leads off into different directions....especially if you were to buy a funny-looking couch with a deer/bear design in the landscape.

I contemplated conversation in Alabama now, versus the 1960s/1970s.

In those days, folks tended to come over after work, or on a Sunday.  

Typical chat topics from fifty years ago?  The weather, NCAA football, some recent episode of the Virginian TV series, road paving schedule for next summer, school bus accidents, so-and-so being sent off to a mental facility in Montgomery, more ticks than usual, hunting episodes gone wrong (usually involving alcohol), a fired Baptist minister from the local area, some local guy going to Daytona Beach for the race, or so-and-so flying off from Huntsville to New York City.  

So, if you go and ask folks now....in 2021....the chat topics are vastly different: Covid, the weather, corruption in NCAA football, some reality TV series that is deemed awful fake, meth-heads, police raids, so-and-so's wife who has gone to alcohol rehab, houses broken into and robbed, women's immodest attire, Trump (either for or against), juveniles kicked out of school, some teacher who appears to be an unidentified gender (not male or female), Chinese products in the house which seem to fail within six months of purchase, and so-and-so who flew from Huntsville to the Philippines who seems content there and will never return.  

I read a piece from a guy last year (Covid era) who noted that he felt more content that guests weren't visiting him more often and lessening the dramatic or trashy talk in his life.  

Back in 2016, I read some guy's chatter about ill feelings with relatives that would stop by and let him know it was ok with Jesus if he didn't vote for Trump.  They seemed to show up more frequently as election day approach....with increasing amount of hype to avoid voting Trump.  He felt relief after the 2016 election, while the relatives were in some uneasy state of mind....like they'd emerged from their car in the middle of the Amazon jungle.

In some ways, I'm glad I don't have to face this type of social problem.  I'd have to proclaim when the relative entered the house or sat at the front porch....you got 30 minutes of chatter time, and there's a list of forbidden subjects (like I don't really care about gender situations, NCAA football, script design of Star Wars, this puppet Ernie being gay, NFL football in a failing state of existence, scantily-clad women with $10k worth of plastic surgical stuff done, or so-and-so's cousin who sits in county-jail with nine charges).

If you just want to talk over famous Greek philosophers, science stuff, baseball before the home-run era, travels, what the professor should have built to get Gilligan off the island, or UFOs?  Just have a seat, and I'll fetch you a ice tea.  We can sit for a while.  

Joleen

 In a decade, I expect Meta (formerly Facebook) to have a virtual inter-play world created.

So you come home from work, and put on the helmet, and suddenly your virtual 'wife' Joleen appears.  

Joleen is wonderful.

Joleen has the physical look of Marylyn Monroe, Dolly Parton, and Greta Garbo....combined.

Joleen has a vast knowledge of NCAA football....citing scores, players, and coaches going back to the early 1960s.

Joleen knows every inch of the highway between Pulaski, Tenn to Ardmore, Tenn....down to the number of mailboxes, the approximate roadkill average, and who lives in what house.

Joleen openly weeps over Cry, Cry, Cry by George Jones.

Joleen sings Vince Gill songs around the clock.

Joleen worships every sentence you utter.

Joleen preorders your groceries for you....ensuring you buy only nutritional food, no beer, and only premium coffee.

Joleen keeps a tally over your heat and electricity usage, telling you at least once a week that you need to be aware of cost.

Joleen tracks all of your relatives and their geo-locations....making you aware of Uncle George's visits to a nudie bar, and Aunt Mary's occasional visits to a mental health clinic.

Joleen laughs over Minnie Pearl jokes from the 1960s, and continually repeats these monthly.

Joleen suggests occasionally that your political stance is too far right-wing.

Joleen often makes digital cat-picture pillows.....which Meta ships one to you every four weeks (for $49, from China).

Joleen puts on a cowboy outfit occasionally to shock you and suggest fantasy situations where the two of you might go rob a bank in Dodge City, and escape off into the hills where Marshall Dillon will hunt you down.

Joleen often takes you to five-star digital hotels in Beverley Hills when some digital guy named Jose serves you oysters and Champaign.  

Joleen always asks about your day, and seems to care....even if it's fake digital 'care'.

Joleen will on rare occasions puff on a cigarettes' and slip into a raspy voice..

Joleen will claim that she's been to Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.  She acts like she's lived there her entire life. 

Joleen comforts you, when you feel despair or in a hopeless situation.  

Joleen will sit with you in the virtual world and watch episodes of Hee Haw, Barnaby Jones, Dallas, and Zena.  

Joleen is 100-percent fake.  But you get used to this virtual world Joleen and can't see ever leaving her.  

The Thousand-Odd Days of President Harris?

 Based on this rumor situation....I'd say the odds are pretty good in the next three months for President Biden to step down (declining mental situation) and President Harris to arrive on the scene.  What would I expect for the next thousand-odd days?

First, the news media will have to carry a ton of 'water' for her press conferences and speeches.  Whatever they were doing for Joe in this past two years....just go and expect more of the same.

Second, that awkward laugh 'act' probably needs to stop.  It'll become a comedian 'magnet', which draws unneeded criticism.  

Third, I hate to suggest it....but her knowledge base on economics probably amounts to a 3 x 5 inch index card (more or less the same as Joe Biden's knowledge).

Fourth, a number of people who were 'Joe-people' within the White House will be dismissed or let go.  Nothing shocking here.....just that they held their nose over Harris and her team for the past year, and she will remember all of that.

Fifth, there's zero gain for the mid-terms.  Maybe a hundred-odd journalists will suggest otherwise.....but where are these Lincoln-like or Kennedy-like speeches that she's given over the past decade?  As a motivational speaker.....grading one to ten.....she's a dismal 'four'.

Sixth, the way that she moved up in San Francisco politics?  It'll be brought up over and over.  This will be openly discussed.

Seventh, long-term view from beyond the US shores?  A lot of questions will come up....who knew about the dementia problem and for how long?  Harris won't be able to answer that question in public.

Eighth,  you will already see individuals gathering up by late 2022...for the 2023 debate season and competition against Harris.  Her position will weaken by mid-2023 as people point out various lack of skill for the job.  Will the DNC order people not to compete against Harris....when she's the weakest candidate out there? 

It'll be an interesting thousand days.   

This Rumor of Approving a New VP?

 There's a rumor over the past three or four days.....of some House of Representatives insider, who says that the folks have been asked to pull out the instructions on how you approve a new VP (coming in).

Naturally a lot of people have assumed that this means Harris is about to exit in some fashion.

I sat and pondered over the rumor, and the quality of Harris in recent weeks.  There's no doubt that Harris has stumbled around and generally goofed-off.  There's not much to say for accomplishments in the past six months.  

Do I believe the rumor?  Yeah, but for a different reason.

After much pondering, I think that Joe Biden's 'team' have reached a level where they know without doubt....he's suffering from dementia.  The poppy-pants story from the Vatican wasn't argued to be fake.  

So I'm going to this prediction....somewhere after Christmas...probably toward Feb or Mar....on a Friday morning, President Biden will announce his sudden exit as President.  Within minutes, VP Harris will do the oath and she will be President.  Biden will exit and be flown to his house in Delaware.....where I don't think he will be seen in public again.

The news media will spend one single weekend talking about 'signs' and then leave the dementia story laying there on Monday....never be discussed again.  About ninety percent of the nation will be shocked of the news handling of this and ask more questions.

President Harris?  Her approval rating will start somewhere around 44-percent and in a matter of three months....fall to the high-30's.  The awkward laughs....the lack of executive leadership....all add up.

Who ends up as VP?  The House and Senate have marginal sums of Democrats.  I don't think the new VP will be a Senator, or House member.  It's likely to be a Democratic governor.....Newsome (Cal), Cooper (NC), or Northam (Virginia).  

As for this getting positive traction in 2022 for the Democratic Party?  How?  What's the magic angle?  Covid remains.....recession remains....logistical woes remain....and the border crisis stays as strong as ever.  If the news media were smart...they'd just lessen 50-percent of coverage over Harris for the whole spring period....to look for fresh material without any political slant.