Full Disclosure (Installment #1)

 

My acceptance of social distancing / isolating is 99.999% driven by my belief that it is our moral and civic duty to protect one another from harm. That’s the human / humane thing to do.

So… what about that 0.001% deficit?

Well, that infinitesimal value is what drives my defiant attitude towards my homeland’s “leader”… who… deep down… is adamantly opposed to looking out for anyone’s well-being… well… other than his own.

Is not my attitude a form of inhumanity?

Sure… but since I’ve mostly internalized that 0.001%, how would he have ever known? Ergo, no harm done.

To keep it all real…

• There is one more duty involved here… patriotic duty… which requires me to sound out unsound leadership and, when necessary, sound the alarm.

• Had the fake prez acted promptly, proactively and persistently, he might’ve even prevented the pandemic, stateside, and we’d not now be discussing this issue at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our (Vids of the) Day Will Come…

Mort Garson’s sophisticated “dotted” clefs, Bob Hilliard’s optimistic penned lyrics, and Ruby and the Romantics’ superbly orchestrated, upbeat R&B score had all conspired… in the best of ways… to establish Our Day Will Come as a 1963 Billboard Hot 100 chart topper… all of which this ensemble performed on the syndicated Mike Douglas Show, way back on 04/16/1964. See the vid below.

As for our above vid… Eva Pérez and her (regrettably anonymous) accompanists present their socially isolating / distancing, pandemic motivated cover / update. Although they’re apart, together they’ll lead the way to the better days that await us… provided we remain patient, follow the best advice of the learned pragmatic scientists and flip off the dangerous, greed driven ignorance, barked out by crass materialistic (mis)leaders.

Stay Safe! Stay Home! Stay Healthy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Takes To Task Task Force (Vid of the Day)

In our above clip, CNN’s Don Lemon frankly assesses Donald J. Trump’s 04/27/20 coronavirus task force briefing.

To add in my two cent’s worth… while witnessing the fake prez boast, “We’ve launched the most ambitious testing effort, likewise, on Earth. The United States has now conducted more than 5.4 million tests…” I have crunched out his numbers. 5.4 out of a U.S. population of 328.2 million souls amounts to a paltry percentage of 1.65!

Turning our attention, now to the bottom of the CNN screen, we must update those 2-days-old, sobering statistics…

MORE THAN 1,030,000 U.S. CORONAVIRUS CASES;
MORE THAN 58,964 AMERICANS HAVE DIED

In a scant 2 MONTHS, America’s Coronavirus death toll easily surpassed the 58,220 Americans who, for 2 DECADES (from 1955 to 1975), fought and died during the entire Vietnam War. Granted, this post is a bit America-centric, but I’ve only gone that route to statistically point out how much more dangerous Coronavirus really is.

It’s a bleak illustration, such as this, which, hopefully, will convince any rare individuals, out there, who still do not take the pandemic seriously enough… who still doubt the value of life saving social distancing / self-quarantining tactics, to rethink such a self-centered stance. Truth is, humanity’s very survival depends on everyone accepting this life or death matter from a WE not ME perspective.

STAY SAFE! STAY HOME! STAY HEALTHY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just Desserts? Just Deserts! [Part 1]

 

Once upon a time, deep within the far-flung Kingdom of Doom, there ruled Brutus the Barbarian… the foolhardy, blowhard, hard-liner, who fancied himself omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Yet, truth be told, His Highness was as dull as his daily routine.

Each, typical new morn, he’d emerge from his bedchamber… lumber down the flickering, torch lit corridor and pause to rattle the door handle to his estranged wife’s boudoir. Without fail, she had locked it and, on occasion, he’d even hear her snarl,

“Buzzeth off you unfaithful scum wad!”

By that time, Barry the Barber would, for the umpteenth time, bounce on by to offereth his services, but, per ususal, Brutus would shoo him off. His Majesty actually preferred shaving off his royal whiskers for both practical and preposterous reasons. After all, he knew he must not trust anyone to wield a straight-edge anywhere near his carotid artery. Besides, his making this a DIY task did offer him the perfect excuse (not that he really needed one) to gaze longingly into his mirror, primp and preen, comb over his golden, slumbers-tousled tresses and, last but not least, fess up how he was, actually, in mad, Mad, MAD, purple passionate love with… With… WITH…

HIMSELF! Only pangs of hunger could pry him away from his reflected self. And so, with tummy growling, the 250 kg / 550lb Brutus would then waddle down the gradually spiraling, red carpeted staircase, his fur trimmed orange robe all a’flutter in the castle’s musty drafts. Upon his grand entrance into the Hall of Audiences… the adoring crowd (estimated to be 6 million souls) would give him a Standing O and the Royal Trumpeters would fanfare him onward to the very table where he, alone, would be seated. It was there, that a bevy of wrongfully objectified, scantily clad handmaidens awaited him with (faked) bated breath.

While they served up his piping hot, six-course morning repast, Brutus, upon unceremoniously dropping his silk pantaloons and whitey tighties, would seat himself atop his glistening, one-holer gold throne… all bejeweled with sparkling diamonds, emeralds and rubies. As expected, everyone would be “treated” to yet another disgusting, grunting and grimacing, voiding and moving moment. And to top that, this was whilst he’d be chowing down… no less (eewwww)! Ofttimes, while talking with his mouth full, he’d lament over how it was physiologically impossible to outsource each nature’s call to some “lucky” lackey.

Once His Majesty felt a bit… uh… relieved, Harold the Herald, would take that as his cue to enter. In fine baritone voice, he’d loudly attempt to verbally pretty up… to make rhyme or reason out of each and every last damned one of Brutus’ non-accomplishments. He would really shovel on the praise, whilst reciting and regurgitating, ad nauseam, the litiny of royal whoppers.

At that point, it would be incumbent on the note-taking Miniver the Minstrel to, first, mentally string together the appropriate musical notes… to next pluck and strum his lyre to transform Harold’s talking points into lyrical epics. At that moment, Jessie the Jester would literally stumble upon this already strange scene… his mission? To appear so damned outlandish and doltish that, by comparison, Brutus the Barbarian would appear The Very Stable Genius… that he wasn’t.

All throughout the festivities, the enraptured egomaniac leader would gesticulate nonsensically, flash his sadistic ear to ear grin and nod his noggin in mindless approval and contentment.

As one might expect, daily, day long binge and purge, culinary orgies… all accompanied by Harold’s accounts of Brutus’ bogus sham exploits… all set to MIniver’s melodies… all punctuated by Jessie’s gymnastics / pratfalls… left absolutely no possibility for anything of consequence to ever materialize… anywhere… at anytime.

As such, it was dumb luck… not Brutus the Barbarian… that stood between their utterly defenseless homeland and an overlooked, opportunistic, lurking off in the shadows, take no prisoners, genocidal assailant.

Little did the Kingdom of Doom’s denizens know it… but… their luck was about to run out…

 

Stay Safe… Stay Home… Stay Healthy…

Stay Tuned, too, for the next installment of Just Desserts? Just Deserts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Death Tolls: Coronavirus’ > Vietnam War’s

As of my 04/28/2020, 18:09EDT posting time, the following, sobering COVID-19 stats serve as a grim reminder of just how astoundingly efficient a killer the coronavirus actually is… as well as provide a wake up call to anyone who has yet to take this ongoing threat seriously enough.

• 214,000 in four months = the Worldwide COVID-19 Death Toll.
• America has exceeded the 1 million mark of diagnosed cases.

• 58,412 in two months = the stateside COVID-19 Death Toll.
• 58,220 in two decades = the USA’s Vietnam War Death Toll.

To give credit where it is due, humankind got in this mess due to world-wide, wishy-washy, weak-kneed, brain-dead leadership… especially that found stateside. Seeing how they’ve yet to learn from their errors, these stats will be on the rise.

 

Stay Safe! Stay Home! Stay Healthy!

We can avoid COVID-19 infection by following our learned medical community’s best advice (and by also following #5’s link to a short, surprisingly EZ to grasp, life saving tutorial)…

[1] Scrub hands often (at least 20 seconds each time), [2] Cover all coughs and sneezes, [3] Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, [4] Observe social distancing protocols (remain at least 2 meters / 6 feet apart [5] Wear protective face masks in public [6] Avoid large crowds / Socially isolate at home [7] Self-quarantine if you’re feeling ill and [8] Understand that even though you may feel fine, you can still be infected and spreading this disease to others!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trekian Lysol™ and UV Light?

 

Lysol™ spokesperson, UK’s Reckitt Benckiser… duly alarmed by Donald J. Trump’s trumpeting of life-threatening claptrap on worldwide TV… deemed it PRIORITY #1 to issue this Disclaimer to NBC news…

“As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route). As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines. Please read the label and safety information.”

My Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only and in absolutely no way… REPEAT… IN ABSOLUTELY NO WAY is intended to validate the BIZARRE and DEADLY therapies, which Quack Dr. Donny has been huckstering. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING he’s been “prescribing” will cure anyone of COVID-19… unless CERTAIN DEATH is your idea of a cure.

My Excuse: Being in social isolation mode… just like you… I have had too much time on my hands. We can blame this blog on Trump and other inept leaders’ monumental mismanagement of a mindless microbe, which caused Coronavirus to go pandemic… to biologically debilitate / decimate humanity and economically devastate an entire global economy.

That Duly Noted: Let’s all take a look-see at how Kirk, Spock and Bones manage the 23rd Century’s mindless microbes and malevolent macrobes…

 

Episode Title ~ Miri: The storyline features Kirk and crew discovering / surveying a planet, which is Earth’s nearly identical twin. The major diff… on this “Earth”, Quacks had deliberately unleashed a series of contagions, bio-engineered to sicken and strengthen the entire adult populace. The “side effect” was supposed to prolong life so everyone would achieve near immortality. The unintended consequences: Nearly immediate death of all adults and impending death for the surviving, temporarily “immortal” kiddies. Yep, in their world, puberty literally is to die for! Kirk and the landing party wind up infected and opt to self-quarantine on the planet, while Dr. McCoy races the Grim Reaper’s clock to discover the cure.

Episode Title ~ Operation Annihilate! This storyline (all clips below) finds Kirk and crew warping towards the planet Deneva to discover why one of their colonists had kamikazed his spacecraft into their sun. The landing party soon discovers countless pancake shaped, malevolent, intelligent macrobes, and once one of them attaches itself to Spock’s upper back, they also ascertain the alien MO… i.e., how they sting to invade the victim’s body and, once inside, their tendrils intertwine throughout the nervous system. This renders victims little more than puppets who, must follow these invaders’ marching orders or else face down excruciating pain. Once again, Dr. McCoy and the entire Enterprise medical staff works overtime ISO the cure… with Kirk, eventually, applying his own deductive reasoning to resolve this conundrum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far… yet so near… (Vid of the Day)

My headline interlaces a bit of wordplay re humanity’s “so near… yet so far” expression… which, as we know, can serve to exhale our regrets / sadness whenever we get oh-so-close to achieving all we want in life…

Alas… to no avail?

My transposition of the elements / sentiments in that emotionally charged equation is with good reason. Such a reversal conforms to the literal about-face re what we’d expect tradition to prescribe.

Alas… this involves an unorthodox response to comply with what the pandemic new reality requires it to be.

Even so, the London based Camden Voices Self-Isolation / Virtual Choir has managed to creatively circumvent such freedom limiting protocols… however, only in the best, medically / socially acceptable way.

On the bright, sunshiny side… this choir’s switcheroo also morphs that equation’s failure into success… i.e., seeing how viewing their mood elevating clip will draw viewers en masse, spanning the vast WWW, closer together.

And… for the time being… under the current circumstances…

We can all live with that… both figuratively and literally…

To be earwitness to the Camden Voices’ interlaced with gleaming sunbeams, cover of the George Harrison classic, Here Comes the Sun… is to behold their ushered in sunrise to this new reality day.

If we can manage to keep Camden Voices’ optimism alive, our kindred spirits can and will also carry us onward… into the days yet to come…

Stay Safe! Stay Home! Stay Healthy!

We can avoid COVID-19 infection by following our learned medical community’s best advice (and by also following #5’s link to a short, surprisingly EZ to grasp, life saving tutorial)…

[1] Scrub hands often (at least 20 seconds each time), [2] Cover all coughs and sneezes, [3] Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, [4] Observe social distancing protocols (remain at least 2 meters / 6 feet apart [5] Wear protective face masks in public [6] Avoid large crowds / Socially isolate at home  [7] Self-quarantine if you’re feeling ill and [8] Understand that even though you may feel fine, you can still be infected and spreading this disease to others!

 

CREDITS:

The Camden Voices Self-Isolation / Virtual Choir

Solos: Chloe Ravat & Kate Keara Pelen
Sopranos: Alex Wiseman, Elaine Camilleri, Amy Hall, Kadi Linda Kiisa, Bryony Thomas, Chloe Ravat, Sophia Steinsberg, Sofia Vilan. Anna Wyatt
Altos: Amy Rockson, Ella Bryant, Hansy Shore, Laima Ulozaite, Saara Kaldma, Sabah Carmen Barake, Cas Olowoyo, Maddalena Ghezzi, Harriet Crawford, Izzy Pietsch, Kate Keara Pelen
Tenors: James Rees, Kris Jackson, Tom Heath, Seth Stromboli, Brendan Jacot, Max Salzmann, Ned Westaway, Matt Ashworth
Basses: Lawrence Walker, Marios Panayi, Tom James, Ugo Rosano, Joel Hughes, Miles Horn
Video production, arrangement & piano by: Ed Blunt
Bass: James Hill
Drums: James Nall
Mixed and mastered by: Matt Cooke
Song by George Harrison (our version inspired by Nina Simone’s arrangement)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kamber Cain’s Positive Difference (Sunday Song Series)

My thanks for clicking by.

Admittedly, having just been introduced to Kamber Cain by YouTube’s King of Artificial Intelligence “His Majesty Al Gorithm”… about all I can say about our featured recording artist is that, most assuredly, she breathes life into her own website’s homepage motto…

“Striving to make a positive difference in this world, one song at a time!”

This vocalist’s commanding, captivating delivery and inestimable, inimitable style will serve as testimonial to her above stated philosophy. Her glorious rendition of Your Love Is Like A Sunday (a.k.a. our Week #85, Sunday titled song), may even compel some of you to sing along. Give her a listen.

As for the rest of her story, who knows that better than she? Pay her website a visit.

As for the rest of my story, pay this website a return visit for our next Sunday Song… seven days from now…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISINFECTANT IS FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY!

That this blog’s headline would even be necessary, serves as testimonial to just how nonsensical and/or non compos mentis Donald J. Trump is. Against the backdrop of his pandemic-related (usually) daily press briefings, the fake prez’s all too real, frequently life endangering, rambling discourse gets routinely disseminated… worldwide… at the speed of the Coronavirus, itself.

To expand on my headlined point, I must now issue the following life saving warning to all the gullible folks, who, no questions asked, eat up whatever crap their beloved Donny is force-feeding them…

DISINFECTANTS ARE FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY, AND WILL NOT CURE ANYONE OF COVID-19!

While Trump has since claimed his bizarre advocacy of disinfectants was nothing but sarcasm, nonetheless, Lysol™ spokesperson, UK’s Reckitt Benckiser, was also duly alarmed… deemed it PRIORITY #1 to issue this disclaimer to NBC news…

“As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route). As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines. Please read the label and safety information.”

Due to man-child Donny’s wholesale disdain for reading, in all likelihood, he’s never even noticed such labelled info, which is, typically, directed at toddlers’ parents.

Lest his reckless rhetoric, someday add to the COVID-19 death toll, one of these three methods could contain the Trumpian verbal diarrhea and, in a sense, disinfect the White House.

• This starts with the behind the dais crowd… a.k.a. the White House Coronavirus Task Force. In real time, they must debunk Donny. After all, to promote and maintain public health is not only a fundamental aspect of their very job description, it is their moral duty. As for the MDs amongst them, there’s also their Hippocratic Oath, which obligates them to do no harm.

• Let’s move on to the before the dais crowd… a.k.a. the White House Press Corps. While journalists are duty-bound to speak truth to power, at such press briefings and elsewhere, they must PULL THE PLUG on LIVE coverage… or… at the very least… put Trump’s audio / video feed on a 30 second delay to allow their respective network directors to deny the Drug Pusher-In-Chief the platform, from which to launch his snake-oil sales pitches.

• Finally there’s that ol’ Constitiutional route, too… a.k.a. the 25th Amendment Section 4, which so eloquently reminds…

“Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”

While a Pence presidency would not be much of an improvement, the housecleaning / White House spring cleaning must start somewhere. Of course, if he, too, proves as dangerous / dysfunctional as Donny… why not go the President Nancy Pelosi route? After all, as U.S. House Speaker, she’d be next in the line of succession.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catch This Catchy Tune (Vid of the Day)

Henri Herbert’s Quarantine Boogie is guaranteed to chase away our blues. His ten fingers flying up and down the keyboard are tantamount to society whipping our one collective finger squarely at that damned Corona boogeyman.

 

Stay Safe! Stay Home! Stay Healthy!