Category: The Current Situation

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Florida of the Day Stranger than Fiction Tampa Bay The Current Situation

Florida of the day: Tampa Bay Times buried the lede on the “Tampa Bay radio DJs are catching COVID-19” (or: They offer COVID-19 tests at strip clubs?!)

In my opinion, the real take-away from this Tampa Bay Times article is that under the right circumstances, you can get a COVID-19 test at a strip club.

It appears in the article titled Mike Calta among staff with coronavirus at 102.5 The Bone. Here’s the relevant part:

The plan for now was for the Calta show to continue broadcasting live with with everyone working remotely from their own homes.

Drew Garabo, an afternoon host on the station who broadcasts from the same studio as Calta, said on his show Monday that he received a call from a supervisor Friday night while en route to a Tampa strip club in a rideshare.

…

Garabo said that he and a co-host were, coincidentally, offered a COVID-19 test in the back office of that strip club after they arrived. Both came back later showing no signs of the virus. He said he’s unsure if it could have been a false negative, or if he has been exposed since then.

My guess is that the tests at the strip club are for specifically for the employees and that Garabo was on his way to the club to do a DJ gig there. He probably needed the money — if you read the article, you’ll see a reference to co-workers at the radio station being roommates. The moral of the story is to tip well at the strip club; they don’t have the work-from-home options that many of us do, and they could use the cash.

Today’s Tampa Bay Times also has a story about DJs at Orlando’s Wild 94.1 coming down with COVID-19. DJ booths are tiny, high-touch environments; this story seems to be another data point about small, enclosed indoor spaces being a vector for the disease.

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The Current Situation

The Seven Donald Sins

Tap the image to see it at full size.

Especially “envy”.

Thanks to Jeannie Cool for the find!

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The Current Situation

Grampa Simpson vs. Antifa

References

Police attacking a news crew:

 

Police stepping over an old man they knocked down:

 

Police destroying water bottles, food, and medical supplies after assaulting medics:

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The Current Situation The More You Know...

It’s Philippine Independence Day!

In addition to being Loving Day, it’s also Philippine Independence Day, a.k.a Araw ng Kalayaan, which means “Day of Freedom”. It’s observed on June 12th, and on that day in 1898, the Philippines declared independence from Spain.

Among other things, Filipinos fly the flag, whose parts symbolize the following:

  • Royal blue field: Peace, truth, and justice.
  • Scarlet red field: Patriotism and valor.
  • White triangle: Equality and brotherhood.
  • Three stars on the corners of the triangle: The three main geographical regions of the country namely Luzon (my home island), the Visayas, and Mindanao.
  • The sun at the center of the triangle: Each of its eight rays representing the eight Philippine provinces that started the revolt against Spain.

I’m happy to mark Philippine Independence Day, but tracing it back to June 12, 1898 and calling it “independence” is, in my humble opinion, a bit of a stretch. While the Filipino revolutionaries did some impressive stuff, including drafting Asia’s first democratic constitution and forming Asia’s first democracy, that was quickly undone by:

  • The signing of the Treaty of Paris turned the Philippines into a U.S. territory,
  • The Philippine-America war, which would give us such gems as Rudyard Kipling’s dickhead poem, White Man’s Burden. Fuck you, Rudyard, and all your poems. I don’t even quote The Sons of Martha, and I was an engineering student. (And thank you, Mark Twain, for The War Prayer.)
  • The massacre in Samar, where U.S. forces just up and killed every male over the age of 10.
  • Garbage like this:

    Tap to see the racist garbage at full size.

In spite of all this, I still celebrate the day. I just don’t do it blindly.

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It Happened to Me The Current Situation

Happy Loving Day!

On this day in 1967, the United States Supreme Court issued their ruling on the case of Loving v. Virginia, which struck down laws banning interracial marriage across the U.S..

The case involved Mildred Loving, a woman of color, who was married to Richard Loving, who was white. In 1958, they were sentenced to a year in prison for marrying each other, in violation of Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which made it a crime for people classified as white to marry people classified as colored. In court, they had to plead guilty to “cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.”

The case also involved the state of Virginia, whose original state song lyrics included the line “There’s where I labored so hard for old Massa,” and the signature line of the chorus, “There’s where this old darkey’s heart am long’d to go.”

On this day in 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Racial Integrity Act and similar laws were unconstitutional, and this ruling was also used as a precedent in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that made same-sex marriage legal countrywide.

For some readers, 53 years ago may seem like pre-history, but think of it this way: Both presidential candidates were of legal voting age at the time. Actually, that does make it sound like pre-history. My point is that there are a lot of people alive today who were alive at that time (myself included, by a few months).

Today, we call June 12 Loving Day. While it’s victory for everyone, it’s especially so for me and Anitra, since it means we’re not committing a crime simply by being married.

Thank you, Mildred and Richard Loving, and Happy Loving Day, everyone!

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The Current Situation

Every now and again, Trump accidentally tells the truth

Tap the image to see the shocking candor at full size.

This moment of honesty — even though it was accidental — is quite refreshing. Ain’t nuthin’ as nice as a Trump self-own; I’m looking forward to seeing more of these over the next few weeks.

Thanks to Tony Pierce for the find!

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The Current Situation

Street Fighter 2020

Recently in San Diego, a racist picked a fight with an Asian man. It didn’t go well for the racist, as the photo above and video below show.

My favorite observation about this fight is this one on Twitter by @BCarniello:

He backed away from a pointless fight. He backed away some more. He kept backing away until he couldn’t anymore. Then he did what he had to do to defend himself. And even after he knocked the attacker out, he still tried to help him back up.

As a kid in grade school and high school, I lost every one of this type of fight. As an adult, armed with a better sense of self, started going to the gym regularly, and learned to fear this kind of thing less, I started winning — once with my accordion still strapped to my chest.

I’ve been in this guy’s shoes, and must confess that I’ve watched the video at least a dozen times in a row, cheering every damned time — not only for the coup de grace, but the grace he shows at the end by helping pick up his would-be assailant, a man who saw him as less than human. Do you think the racist would’ve done the same had he won?

Good on you, unknown Asian gentleman, for conducting yourself honorably in a difficult situation. Also: nice overhand right!

Worth reading

From the San Diego Union-Tribune: