Imagine A January, 2020 Conversation From Yourself 4 Months In The Future

April, 2020 Julie Nolke tries to explain the world to January, 2020
Julie Nolke, and it's confusing. 

(EDITOR'S NOTE) Fun Update to this post when you scroll down past the video with this first post.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION 

Almost none of us new the coronavirus pandemic would this be horrific and all consuming back in January or early February.

Imagine if your future self, from April 2020 sat down for a chat with you in January, 2020. The future self maybe couldn't give you all the details, but could provide hints.

Julie Nolke did imagine that. So she made a video of her January self hanging out blissfully in her home when the April version of Julie Nolke appears.

How awesome! The January Julie Nolke is going to learn what will happen in her exciting year. But, it becomes apparent that what actually happens is not her ideal version of exciting. January Julie Nolke learns that the giant Australian wildfires (remember those?) will not be the defining image of 2020.

It kind of goes downhill from there.

This video, by the way, was made before the nation erupted in protests over the George Floyd, who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in May.  The video probably would have been much different, and darker, had it been made more recently.

In any event, the video is genius. Watch:




UPDATE: Now, Nolke has an update, a darker one, really, of the April self in the video above talkig with her June self.

"Murder hornets? Murder hornets!"   Then the conversation devolves from there, believe it or not.

It's a great video, but to make absolutely sure the new video gets revenue, I'll just have you click on this link.  Proceeds of the video go to the Official George Floyd Memorial fund.

Randy Rainbow Has Some Advice For Clorox Virus Fighters

A bit of a scary screenshot from Randy Rainbow's latest
Time for a Clorox treatment! 

After Donald Trump's ill fated appearance Thursday in which he "sarcastically," so he said, suggested using household cleaners in our bodies to kill the coronavirus, people have of course reacted with an appropriate mix of horror and derision.  

However, as usual, Randy Rainbow has the last word on this subject with a new video dropped perfectly timed this morning - a nice Saturday treat.

This time, he's channeling Julie Andrews with this (very much NOT) medical advice

One of the things I love about this latest video is how cheerful it is, with such a grim topic. I know, I'm a bit weird, I know.

So sit back with Dr. Rainbow and enjoy "Spoonful Of Clorox"

Happy 100th Birthday Dad, Wherever You Are

Here's an open letter to my dad, who would have turned 100 years old today:

My dad, Red Sutkoski, would have turned 100
years old today. Happy Birthday, dad! 

Dear Dad:    

Happy 100th birthday!  I hope wherever you are, they're showing you a good time. 

I can't believe it's been more than four years since who left Earth.  But you never really did leave us, did you? You show up in my dreams at least twice a week. Lynn and Laurie say you visit them frequently, too. 

In those nightime visits, you're the same as you always were. Steady, good humored, ready with good stories. You always remind me to try and be the same way.  Funny how I always wake up feeling better on mornings after your visits. 

As you well know, times are tough right now down here on Earth.  That virus going around the world is killing lots of people, and scaring the rest of us. The economy has bottomed out. A lot of people are unemployed.

We're told to stay home and socially isolate ourselves so we don't make the situation worse.

It would have bothered you to have to do what we're doing now. You were always such an outgoing, social person. You always wanted to hear the latest stories, the latest news, the latest silly pratfall somebody in town did. 

But you would never complain about the situation, would you?  You understood duty, and your responsibility toward others. You always found ways to make do. You would have in this situation, too.  I try to use all that as a guide for me to get through this mess.  

You lived through tough times, too. You endured the Great Depression and World War II. You always told all kinds of colorful stories about those times. You'd acknowledge the difficulties during those years, but barely. 

Instead, you focused on the life, the color, the humor. You talked about how sometimes, you'd indulge yourself by watching  a film at the Joy Theater in West Rutland during the Depression. Or tell a funny story about how Mrs. Reczek got busted for moonshining during Prohibition.  You'd tell us about the leaders, like FDR, who shepherded us through the rough times. 

And you cherished the memory of World War II, finally ended, as you and your mates were serenaded by the song "Sentimental Journey" as you sailed home into Boston Harbor. 

Your style is a road map on how to get through our times.  I'm taking notes on how we are all coping through the current crisis, how humor and compassion like yours is helping people get through this now. 

All through life, at your tavern, Red's Place, you always knew to surround yourself with good, fun, kind and down to earth people.   Sometimes they were raucous, and they always made us laugh.  You know the type. Friends like Julia Redington, Clay and Jeanie Burney, Larry Carrara and all the rest. You kept each other grounded. Sane. In good humor. You taught me that's the way to do it. It's a good lesson for all of us. 

Down here on Earth, we can't get together now in a bar like Red's Place. At least for the moment. But we have technology and such, so we can connect and  find ways to laugh, and raise a glass. And try to look on the bright side. 

To blow off steam, or just to keep yourself occupied, you always had outdoor projects. You would build stone walls, clean out the Whipple Hollow Cemetery, or just tinkering around out in the fresh air.  I find myselt doing the same thing, as it works so well. It really clears my mind.  I always feel better after planting more perennial beds, clearing brush, and yes, building stone walls. 

Jeff says hi.  Jeff still keeps telling me how appreciative he is of you because of how accepting and warm you were to him when he came into my life. Also, your embrace of Jeff confirmed that I had chosen well in marrying him. 

That was your M.O. anyway.  You held tight to anybody from any background who was a good person. You rejected the haters.  It's a great way to go through life, as I keep discovering, over and over again. Thanks for instilling that in me!

Jeff's mom just joined you up there a month or so ago. I hope Jeff's parents, Don and Lois, are able to swing by to wish you well today. But I guess everything is pretty well up there, isn't it?

So a toast. Only a select few will understand what I'm saying, but I raise a glass in your honor and to you: Nice Driveway! 

Love, Matt

Cuomo Brother Begin Coronavirus Family TV Comedy-Drama

The Cuomo Brothers, Chris and Andrew, have been giving us a bit of
family comedy amid the tragedy of the Coronavirus pandemic 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to lead his state through one of the world's worst and most tragic "hot spots" in the global coronavirus pandemic.

His brother, Chris Cuomo, is a CNN anchor trying to report on this massive story. In a plot twist, Chris Cuomo has come down with the illness.

Chris has had to interview his brother Andrew through this.  The brothers' sibling rivalry has become maybe the hottest TV comedy-drama out there.

Its' obviously the brothers love each other, but boy, are they brothers in every sense of the word!  Through this serious time, despite the Cuomos serious demeanors, they've given us several splashes of welcome comic relief.

Here's a highlight video to prove my point:

A Departure For Randy Rainbow: He Praises His Target, Hilariously, Of Course

Randy Rainbow today offered a video love letter to Andrew Cuomo.

We're all used to the brilliant comedian and satirist Randy Rainbow skewering political nitwits in his videos.  

Today, he dropped a video called "Andy" which is to the tune of "Sandy" from "Grease."

The target in this video is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and the good gov survives the video unscathed.

Rainbow's "Andy" is a love letter to the level-headed, fact driven, compassionate but tough Cuomo, whose daily televised coronovirus updates and briefings are some of the most informative, reassuring information we get about the Corvid-19 pandemic.

I certainly feel myself drawn to Cuomo's briefings. They sure are, ahem, a big contrast from what we're getting from the Trump administration.

Rainbow is so smitten by Cuomo in "Andy" that he sings that he now identifies as a "cuomosexual."  I kinda do, too, frankly.  If only all our leaders could be as good in a crisis as Cuomo.

Here's Rainbow's latest to give you a little levity in this dark week:

Parody Music To Help Get You Through Pandemic Isolation

Chris Mann trapped indoors like the rest of us due to coronavirus

I certainly get it that the coronavirus pandemic is one of the greatest tragedies in modern history. Depressingly, it will only get worse before it gets better.

To stay sane through this, I think we all need some gallows humor to help us get through it.  Singer/Songwriter Chris Mann to the rescue.

He's had a serious and successful music career ever since he was a finalist on The Voice in 2012.

Lately, though, he's been putting out parody videos of how his stay at home is going. Spoiler alert: Not that great.

Mann is among millions of us going stir crazy at home, trying to maintain the social distancing we all hope will blunt the coronavirus impact.  I'm sure Mann's YouTube channel will have more in the coming days and weeks.

So let's enjoy what he's got so far.  in addition to "My Corona," a parody of the bad 1979 hit "My Sharona," we have two other even better ones.

First, we'll bring you "Hello (From The Inside)" a parody of the heartbreaking Adele song "Hello" from 2015.  Mann's version is heartbreaking in quite a different way. Click on the this sentence to watch it. Totally worth it.

Up next, we go back a little further to Madonna's "Vogue"

I especially like the sort of semi-wrap part in the middle starting at about 2:20 in:

Scenes From A Pandemic: Faith In Humanity Editiion

People throughout the world are pausing each evening, going out to
their balconies and porches to cheer all the life-saving health workers during
the coronavirus pandemic Above is a recent scene from Madrid.

I'll warn you right now, this post will probably make you shed a tear or two.

This coronavirus pandemic is bringing out the worst in a few people, but the best in many others.

Here's some examples:

People worldwide, under lockdown, are trying to encourage others from their balconies and windows.

Here's a young woman in Italia singing a beautiful, mournful and defiant version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."   At the end the translation of what she says in part is: "Thank you, but one thing I have to say: I didn't do this for publicity or to hear people telling me that I'm good. Absolutely, you all know that luckily, thanking God, I have a job it with my heart for the people of Pascarola."

Here's the vid:



In the "we're all in this together" department, residents of a German apartment complex get together to sing "Bella Ciao."  The improvised instruments are a nice touch:



One great idea that has spread around Europe faster than the virus is, each evening, people holed up in their apartments stop, go to their windows and balconies and cheer on health workers. This idea is also spreading to the United States and Canada, among other nations:



Turn up the sound on this one: It's haunting. New York City. Locked Down, but glittering like always. But the air is filled with the sounds of ambulances, sirens wailing scrambling back and forth bringing new victims of Covid-19 to hospitals:


In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, an extended annually gather at Alfred Vecoli's house to celebrate his birthday. This year is his 92nd.  Due to social distancing, the gathering was called off. But not really. His family decided to just do a parade in his honor. Stick with this news report. It gets more and more touching:



And this one's kind of cute. St. Patrick's Day parades were canceled worldwide, but this familly in Ireland decided to have a parade to mark the occasion anyway.  I especially like the floats that feature hand sanitizer and toilet paper:

Furloughed Sportcaster Gives "Mundane" Sports Play By Play, Hilariously

Which pedestrian will make it across the street first?
Sportscaster Nick Heath has the coronavirus play by play. 

British sportscaster Nick Heath is temporarily out of a job. There's no sporting events on due to the coronavirus, so, he had to come up with a different plan.

You know, to stay in practice, to make sure his skills don't fade during his layoff.

So, Heath has been going around doing his sportscaster thing on people doing mundane things, like walking their dog, or grocery shopping, or sitting outside a cafe.

The results are strange, but pure comic gold

Below are a couple examples of Heath's play by play.

Randy Rainbow Instructs Us Hilariously On Social Distancing

Randy Rainbow this Sunday morning released a new, much needed
musical video urging social distancing because of the coronavirus

This Sunday morning, the always-welcome Randy Rainbow dropped another video to help get us through our coronavirus lockdowns.  

Rainbow's output of videos seems to be increasing lately. He must be staying at home and making these.

I'm sure his shows are suspended for now. I notice his tour schedule is blank through May 1, at least for now.

He's obeying the social distancing orders to blunt the spread of the coronavirus.

That's what he urges us to do in this latest video, which is a parody of the song "I Can Go The Distance" from "Hercules."

As always, Rainbow starts with a news interview, this time with who he describes as "The dance captain of the coronavirus task force Mike Pence."

Rainbow notes that, at least in Donald Trump's mind, the disease is now called the "Hillary Flu."  At first, Rainbow resists Pence's call for social distancing by noting he already has purchased tickets and doesn't want to cancel his Passover plans to participate in the Black Light Underwear Foam Party in Cancun.

Luckily for all of us for a lot of reasons, Rainbow pivots, quickly and wholeheartedly embracing  the idea of social distancing as he launches into the song. "I will save the human race by lying on my couch," he vows. Rainbow adds, as he patriotically wraps himself in an American flag, "I'll defeat the enemy by binging 'This Is Us,'"

He concludes by singing "But for now just suck it up and stay the f**k inside," while we see an image of the of-so religious Pence solemnly nodding to the line in approval. Watch:

A 1946 PSA Will Make You Laugh While Reminding You To Cover Your Sneezes And Coughs

This old PSA from 1946 is a funny, good reminder of what to do.

For weeks now, we've been told to be very careful about sneezing and coughing with the coronavirus going around. 

It's serious, distressing stuff, as we all know.

To make you laugh a little bit, here's a British PSA reminding people not to sneeze out in the open, to cover your mouth when you have a sneeze coming on.

Here it is:

Coved-19 Happy And Sad Again: Animal Edition

Desperate monkeys look for food in Lopburi, Thailand. Tourists would
always feed them, but now they're gone, chased home by the
coronavirus. Locals have been trying to help by leaving food out
for at least some of them. 

From what I've read, most animals don't get the coronavirus that is alarming everybody around the world right now.

That doesn't mean the disease has no effect on them. After all, anything that happens to humans can affect animals.

I have two of no doubt zillions of examples in this post.

First, the sad.

One of the charms of Lopburi, Thailand is the thousands of monkeys that roam the streets and buildings and temples in the region.

It turns out the monkeys' main supply of food is tourists, who kindly give them treats as they visit. The coronavirus has dried up tourism everywhere, including Thailand.

Now, the monkeys are incredibly hungry. They're viciously fighting each other over food, and running around in gangs through town, frightening people.

Locals have begun leaving food out for the monkeys to help get them through this crisis.

Now the (relatively) happy:

Wellington the penguin checks out the fish tanks at the Shedd Aquarium
in Chicago. The aquarium is closed to the human public due to the
coronavirus, so animals living there were given tours. 

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, like so many other attractions is closed to the public while we try to whether the coronavirus pandemic.

Well, somebody's got to tour the place, so why not let the penguins there have a look-see, since humans aren't currently in the way.  I'm very partial to penguins, by the way, so this is my kind of story.

"Without guests in the building, caretakers are getting creative in how they provide enrichment to animals.....introducing new experiences, activities, foods and more to keep them active, encourage them to explore, problem-solve and express natural behaviors," aquarium officials told the Chicago Tribune. 

One penguin, named Wellington, seemed particularly fascinated by the fish.

We all need distractions like this to get us through what I'm calling the plague weeks.

Here's a clip from CBS News about the penguims:

Coronavirus: Bad People, Good People

This idiot bought up all kinds of Lysol disinfectant wipes and tried
to sell them at a wildly inflated prices on Amazon

In every crisis, as I said a few days ago, jerks emerge, and good natured people emerge.

So it is with the coronavirus situation.  Two incidents add clarity to what I mean.

I'll get the bad out of the way first.

Meet Manny Ranga and Violeta Perez, who captured the outrage of Canadians and now the world for their stunt to make money off the coronavirus.

They raided a Costco store in Vancouver, British Columbiaa and bought all the six packs of Lysol disinfecting wipes recently, which normally sell for $20 for each six pack, according to The Star.   They completed loaded the back of their F-150 truck with the wipes.

The Star reported that the wipes fetch four times the price from Costco online, and Ranga said that represented a "big opportunity" for them.

They spent $70,000 on the wipes at Costco and profited more than $100,000 in gouge-priced sales on Amazon.

Amazon finally suspended their account Friday, saying the couple violated their policy on pricing inflation.

Ranga whined to The Star that he objects to the way he has been portrayed in the media. Reaction to the story was jeopardizing their livelihoods, he said. Poor baby.   Ranga and his wife normally work as home developers and business had slowed.

Too bad, bubba. We're all in the same boat.

Ranga's scheme might not have been uncovered if not for The Star reported Douglas Quan, who was reporting on a story about panic buying at Costco. He stumbled upon Ranga and Perez loading their truck and asked questions.

Quan said the couple appeared to have no regrets and seemed actually proud of their venture.

The couple isn't so happy now. They're getting slammed on social media, 'natch.

This is one example.  There are also plenty of examples out there of people price gouging. 

CORONOVIRUS MUSIC

One of the potential songs for your virus quarantine playlist 

Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have the coronovirus, unfortunately and are on lockdown in Australia.  They're hanging in there, and I have to appreciate Wilson's gallows humor through this.

She went on Twitter and asked for crowdsourcing help to develop a playlist for her Spotify account.  She knew it was a fun way to confront the crisis with humor and lots of people picked up on that suggestion.  

Some of the suggested songs are by Wilson herself

A lot of the song ideas were great, and I'll share them with you, as we'll all need this sort of thing, even if we're not under quarantine.

"All By Myself" by Eric Carmen.
"Dancing With Myself," by Billy Idol
"Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu," By Johnny Rivers
"U Can't Touch This," by MC Hammer
"I Wanna Be Sedated," by The Ramones
"I Will Survive," by Gloria Gaynor
"I Want To Break Free," by Queen
"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You" by Kelly Clarkson
"Leaving On A Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul and Mary.
"So Far Away," by Carole King
"Come Healing," by Leonard Cohen

Other people suggested:
"Splendid Isolation," by Warren Zevon
"I Think We're Alone Now," by Tiffany
"Stayin' Alive," by the Bee Gees
"Toxic," by Britney Spears
"If I Could Turn Back Time," by Cher
"In The Air Tonight," by Phil Collins

Randy Rainbow Takes On The Coronavirus

Randy Rainbow is giving us a bit of gallows humor
with "The Coronavirus Lament."

Leave to Randy Rainbow to give us a bit of comic relief for the coronavirus nightmare.

Over the weekend, Rainbow dropped a new video called "The Coronavirus Lament."

It's based on "Adelaide's Lament," by Frank Loesser, which is from the 1950 Tony-winning musical "Guys and Dolls."

I've been a nervous wreck during this crisis, so I definitely need a laugh. You do, too.

Televangelists Want People To Die Of Covid-19 So They Can Get Richer

Scamevangelist says if your church is taking coronavirus precautions, that
church is not really a religion. Obviously, if your church suggests
precautions, God would probably want you to go along with them. 

Everybody is an understandable, correct tizzy over the dangerous conornavirus, as I'm sure you're all experiencing.

One of many patterns I'm noticing is how evil televangelists and conspiracy theorists are through this whole thing.

I've always known most of these types are scum of the Earth, but to use a pandemic to get rich using scams, no matter how many people die as a result, is just....just.....I can't even come up with the word.

We give life prison sentences or the death penalty to mass murderers. Aren't these people doing exactly the same. Except not with a gun, but with words aimed at the gullible.

I've got just a few examples. Let's start with one dude named Jonathan Shuttlesworth.

Here's what he said about churches that close down and/or limit services.

"Shame on every European full gospel church, bunch of sissies, that shut down during this thing. Catholic Church not having holy water in the lobby - how holy is the water then?  That should be a sign to you that your whole religion's a fraud.  Any faith that doesn't work in real life is a fake faith. Totally fake.

If you're putting out pamphlets and telling everybody to use Purell before they come into the sanctuary and don't greet anyone, you should just turn in your ministry credentials and burn your church down -- turn it into a casino or something. You're a loser. Bunch of pansies. No balls."

Shuttlesworth has a solution to this though. Join his church!

If you join Shuttlesworth's ministry, he says. Just join up and send him all your cash, you will be given a supernatural protection from the coronavirus. So that's the scam.  So people will give this idiot donations, think they're protected, get infected and spread the virus to anyone who unwittingly comes in close contact with them.

Nice, huh?

Scammer Jim Bakker tried to sell a fake "cure" for Covid-19.
There's lots of cease and desist letters over this out there 

Same is true with Jim Bakker. You probably remember him, or his wife. He's been scamming for a long, long time.  Here's a recap, put succinctly by NPR:

"Bakker gained fame in the 1970s and '80s as the host of The PTL Club, a Christian television program he hosted with his then-wife, Tammy Faye. He stepped down from PTL after a sex scandal and later spent several years in prison after a jury found that he had defrauded his viewers out of millions of dollars."

Bakker's out of prison now for that.  So he's scamming people in a much more deadly way than his crimes earlier.

He's hawking a product called Silver Solution.  As NPR reports, Bakker had a guest on his show back on February 12 named Sherrill Sellman and implied it can cure illnesses associated with this virus.  "Well, let's say it hasn't been tested on this strain of the cornavirus, but it has been tested on other strains fothe coronavirus and has been able to eliminated it within 12 hours....Totally eliminate it. Kills it. Deactivates it."

Missouri filed a lawsuit against Bakker and his production compant to stop them from advertising and selling Silver Solution.  New York State issued a cease and desist against Bakker for this item.  Also, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission warned Bakker that he and his cohorts were selling unapproved new drugs in violation of the law, reports NPR.

Bakker has since taken down advertisements for Silver Solution, but Missouri is still pursuing the case because they worry Bakker might quietly start selling the stuff once attention to it starts to die down.

Creepy scamevangelist Kenneth Copeland says he can protect you from
the virus if you let him bless you by putting your hand on your TV
screen when hes on. 

Then we have the oh so creepy looking "televangelist" Kenneth Copeland, who told his viewers to put their hands on their TV screens in order to get God's protection from this virus.

Once people did that, Copeland instructed them to say "I take it, I have it. It's mine. I thank you and praise you for it."  Then I'm sure Copeland did his usual money beg for his grateful, but still very unsafe viewers.

But, according to Copeland, his viewers shouldn't be afraid because Jesus. Or Copeland. I don't know. Anyway, he said this weirdness:  "Fear is not OK. It is sin. It is a magnet for sickness and disease. The moment you begin to fear about anything, the devil goes to work on you. You are giving the devil a pathway to your body."

Got that? Coronovirus isn't a virus. It's the devil.  So an eventual vaccine won't help?

You might remember Copeland from early 2018 when he bought a private Gulfstream jet for $5.8 million.  He did so because he once called flying in a commercial airplane as "getting in a long tube with a bunch of demons." 

Anyway, I'm being Captain Obvious here. If you really want advice about coronovirus, televangelists won't help you.  Go to the CDC or better yet, the World Health Organization (WHO) if you want to learn ways to protect yourself.

If God were really speaking through these scamevangelists, I'm betting he'd be telling you to go to WHO, too.

Nation Getting More And More Stupid

No Corona beer has nothing to do with a virus

There have always been a lot of stupid people around.  Frankly, I'm not especially smart, but there seems to be a big, intensifying competition out there about how extreme stupidity can get.

I don't want to be a part of that competiton.  However, I can gawk at it, because there's tons of examples out there.

I'll start with a relatively mild one, and then let it go downhill from there. You are going to be rolling your eyes and shaking your head, guaranteed.

CORONA BEER CAUSES COVID-19?

Then there was the poll that suggested 38 percent of Americans would never drink a Corona beer because it's similarly named to the Coronavirus.  As if you could get the illness from anything with the word "corona" in it.

By that logic, I guess you could get the illness by going outside on a sunny day.  After all, the sun has a cornona, right?

To my relief, this 38 percent number in the poll could easily be misleading because the poll was poorly worded.

According to HuffPost, the questions and some of the answers went like this:

Question: "Is Corona related to the coronavirus?"  Disconcertingly, 16 percent of beer drinkers were "confused" at this.  Hopefully, the respondents were drunk when they were asked.  Everybody is confused when they're drunk.

Question: "In light of the coronavirus, do you plan to stop drinking Corona?"  Four percent of people who say they usually drink Corona beer would stop because of this. Dummies.

Question: "Would you buy Corona under any circumstances now?"  This was the magic question that got all the publicity. Thirty-eight of beer drinking Americans said they would not.  I'm just hoping and praying most of those who said they would not simply don't like Corona beer and wouldn't drink it even if the coronavirus wasn't a thing.

Or, as HuffPost notes, people might stop drinking Corona because it reminds them of something unpleasant they'd rather not think about, or that drinking a Corona in front of friends or in public would set them up to be the butt of a joke.

So, my bad for not thinking through the logic, or lack thereof, in the way the poll question was worded.

That doesn't mean there's a lot of stupid people out there.  It gets worse. Keep reading.

IT'S THE DEMOCRATS' FAULT

Some of Donald Trump's most ardent supporters have noted that so far, early in this coronavirus epidemic, the majority of cases have been reported in states and cities run by Democrats.

There could be lots of reasons for that.  Bad luck? More widespread testing in those districts? More people in these areas that have traveled to countries that have been particularly hard hit? All plausible explanations. Who knows, right?

Well, the MAGA crowd sure knows what's going on, apparently.   According to Raw Story, here are some of the reasons why the coronavirus has hit places like Washington State and California, both blue states.

I don't want to provide links to these people's Twitter accounts because I don't want to reward them, here's a sampling:

Some moron named Bob Berger tweeted, "Have you noticed all new cass of the coronavirus are in Democrat states Wash. Or. Cal. I'll (sic) RI. do you think the dems are dumb enough to get sick to make Trump look bad just saying."

Yes, because people always want to come down with a potentially deadly illness to own the MAGAs.

 They get worse:  "Prediction: Democrat run cities in the US will start announcing many sick people with coronavirus "symptoms" to crash the Mkts to hurt Trump. It's sad that this is where we are as a country but it's the truth. Democrats know the only chance to beat Trump is a mkt crash."

I'll repeat the above refrain: Destroy their own 401ks to own the MAGA's? Really?

A couple more before my headache gets too extreme: "Notice how the virus is located in Democrat states? Are the Dems purposely contaminating these people? It's a fair question."  So Democrats are into committing genocide?

The answer is apparently yes according to the most stupid MAGAs.  Like this tweet: "Democrat run Blue States will infect the poor with the virus in State Run Hospitals to exploit their deaths against Trump, because, well, it's the Democrats."

This almost, but not quite, makes me wish these ignorant tweeters would come down with the virus. But that would be mean.

GARTH BROOKS AND NOT THAT SANDERS

Garth Brooks wearing a Sanders football jersey.  It references
Barry Sanders, not the Bernie Sanders. But people are too stupid
to understand that, apparently

So this happened to country music legend Garth Brooks last week:

He was in Detroit and part of the plan was to honor Barry Sanders, one of most notable running backs and Detroit Lions NFL players on record.

Brooks wore a #20 Sanders football jersey at his show, and shared a photo of him wearing it on Instagram.

I get it that not every Garth Brooks fan knows who Barry Sanders is.  But it was clearly a football jersey, right?

Nope. Some now erstwhile Garth Brooks fans exploded in anger. The football jersey Brooks wore said "Sanders" so these ignoramuses just automatically assumed Brooks was campaigning for presidential candidate and Democratic-Socialist Bernie Sanders.

As Snopes reported, one person wrote: "I had no idea you wer a big freaking liberal socialist! I've listened to your songs for the last time!" Another wrote, "If this is for Bernie Sanders, I'm done with you. I thought you wer a true American that loves our country."

You wouldn't believe how many similar declarations there were out on social media over the past few days.

As far as anybody can tell, Garth Brooks has in actuality not given any kind of opinion on who he favors for president. Other than perhaps Barry Sanders, who tweeted, "Hey @garthbrooks, want to be my VP? #Number20For2020."

Brooks tweeted back, "I would run any race with you."  At least the country music star is keeping a good sense of humor about this whole thing.

TIN HAT TIME!

I'll leave you with this, um, creative theory from an actual U.S. Congress candidate Joanne Wright who apparently approvingly retweeted the following now-deleted missive:

 OK, my headache just got much worse. Time to shut this post down for today.