Today is Monday, May 23, 2022. For those who might be wondering about my absence yesterday from this page, you don’t have to worry anymore. I didn’t write my blog yesterday because of my having technical difficulties with my keyboard that stopped working in the early part of the evening. With the Apple keyboard, after a certain length of time, one needs to recharge the device, so I thought this would be a routine task. So I began recharging the keyboard at around 8, thinking I would have it by 10 or so. To make a long story short, recharging the keyboard last night did not restore the keyboard. I had to resort to recharging the device the entire night. When I woke up today, you can imagine my surprise over not being able to type anything: the keyboard was still inoperative. So I waited until later in order to call Apple customer support to help with fixing this issue; I got a very patient technician by the name of “Joe” who was able to successfully diagnose the problem. As you can see, I can now type with ease once more. I even bought batteries for the mouse in Home Depot, thinking that that was the reason for the keyboard not operating, and as you now know, this did not hold the “key” to restoring vigor to the keyboard.

As if having to cope with getting COVID-19 these days wasn’t enough, in the past two days or so, a new transmissible disease has been recognized in the world. The disease is called monkeypox and it is typically found in Africa, where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents and primates, and the President himself has expressed concern over the global spread of this new invader. The article is entitled “Biden voices ‘concern’ over global spread of monkeypox,” by Shant Shahrigian.

In the article, the President was queried by reporters on his way to traveling to Japan for the first leg of an Asian trip about the emergence of this new health threat and he said that “It is a concern in that it if it were to spread, it would be consequential.” He did say that everyone should be concerned about it. Again, it’s not as if COVID-19 is declared over as a health threat, as infection rates appear to be rising again in many regions. Of course, many municipalities have been lifting many COVID-19 measures for awhile now, which would seem to be the explanation for cases to be rising right now. Also, people themselves have become lax in wearing face masks in indoor spaces and in other venues. But now we are being informed of this novel threat to people’s health and sanity.

Thus far the disease has been discovered in a New York resident and in someone living in Massachusetts. The article does not indicate where these people traveled to or how they might have contracted the illness. The disease is linked to the same family as smallpox, but it has milder symptoms including fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

With the onset of a fever usually follow a rash and a number of lesions. This particular disease can last from two to four weeks and has known to be fatal in one in 10 people afflicted, the CDC indicated. This is serious news.

Cases have been detected in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Italy, London, Portugal, and Spain. Good news, though: monkeypox is not expected to spark a worldwide pandemic on par with coronavirus, according to the Axios news site.

Another bit of good news for American citizens is this quote from U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan who confided in reporters on the President’s flight to Tokyo that the United States has a supply of “vaccine that is relevant to treating monkeypox.” He added, “We have vaccine available to be deployed for that purpose.” Echoing that sentiment was Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID Response Coordinator, who said “Anytime we have an infectious disease outbreak like this, we should all be paying attention. But I feel like this is a virus we understand. We have vaccines against it, we have treatments against it, and it spreads very differently than SARS-CoV-2 [which stands for “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” that causes coronavirus]. Also, Jha indicated that this health threat is not as contagious as COVID-19. That should come as welcome relief for exhausted Americans – and people all over the globe – everywhere. Let’s hope that this new danger will not achieve the heights of the last health crisis known as COVID-19. Supposedly it will not, according to the experts quoted in this article.

Actually, the United States did have an earlier monkeypox outbreak with dozens of cases in 2003, according to the The New York Times. At that time, authorities believed all of the cases resulted from exposure to infected animals.

To update the route of transmission for this new disease, another online article now points to close physical contact between people – including sexual intercourse – as the actual means of transmission in people who have succumbed to the illness in the United Kingdom. There more cases are being detected daily, a senior doctor has explained. It would seem then that individuals who identify as gay or bisexual or men who have sex with other men are seeing more cases of monkeypox among the population. I think it’s too early to say that this is the only route of transmission of the virus. But I thought I needed to report it anyway. There are still many unanswered questions about this disturbing new health hazard, so we should not jump to conclusions. We should all just be aware of it at least; it’s not the same with COVID-19 where concerned individuals can practice known safety measures right away. In the case of monkeypox, should I dare suggest that “members of the tribe,” so to speak, be more circumspect with regard to having indiscriminate sexual partners. I might be lambasted for this recommendation, so I am being circumspect with this advice right now since we still don’t know the true etiology of the disease quite yet.

Countering recent comments made by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said he’s going to start voting Republican because the Democrats have become the “party of hate,” Democratic political adviser Kristal Knight responded with the truth, which is that the GOP and their conservative allies are the true party of hate, on Fox News, which is the home of the foremost progenitor of hate, “Fucker” Carlson. This exchange between the liberal guest Knight and that of the Fox News host appeared in an online article from the Independent by Josh Marcus entitled “Fox News guest calls out network as ‘party of hate’ for spreading ‘Great Replacement’ theory.”

Knight bravely called out the disreputable network for regularly airing content echoing or directly referencing “great replacement” ideology, a white supremacist conspiracy theory that was incorporated by the 18-year-old suspect in the Buffalo massacre last Saturday in his rambling 180-page screed in which he referenced the theory.

The comments made by Knight occurred on a recent episode of The Faulkner Focus [which I’m certainly not familiar with at all]. Knight unwaveringly noted that Fox News personalities like Tucker Carlson often explicitly mention the racist theory, which posits that elites are trying to replace white hegemony by encouraging immigration. She stated, “We also have to remember the ‘Great Replacement’ theory that has been spewed on this network alone, and the Buffalo shooter referenced it. These are all remnants of the Republican Party. That’s the party of hate.”

If Fucker Carlson would now try to deny that he referred to the despicable theory on his show, evidence found in analysis conducted by The New York Times has shown that the chinless host mentioned the theory at least 400 – 400, I repeat – times on his program, sometimes explicitly.

In response to Knight’s allegation, the conservative host played dimwit by saying, “We’re gonna let them adjudicate that case without us commenting on it. And you can have your opinion on whatever it is.” What a cowardly, shitty response from someone telling the truth about this network of haters!

Another analyst went horribly further by suggesting that Knight was “trying to advance a partisan political agenda.” He actually had the nerve to say that “it is just beyond reprehensible to me.” What a disgusting response.

For his part, Carlson says he is still not “sure exactly” what great replacement theory is, despite referencing it by name. If you believe this lying shit since he’s now being lambasted for plugging it so many times on his show, then I have a bridge to sell you. He now has the balls to say the theory came from the left on his show last week. This shows how he’s trying to deflect criticism away from him. He needs to bear full responsibility for peddling this dangerous theory on his program that fueled a bigoted youth to murder 10 innocent people. I’m so angry that there is no consequences for this powerful “news” personality. In the old days, someone like Carlson would have been fired a long time ago for his dangerous musings. It’s Rupert Murdoch, his boss, that should be stripped of his American citizenship and sent back to Australia. Actually, Bette Midler suggested this route of action for Murdoch in a recent Twitter post. I wholly endorse it, even knowing it would never happen, unfortunately.

Well, that’s it for now.

It’s undeniable: We are living in dangerous times with a party that is openly embracing fascism right here on our shores. We must be ever vigilant about this when we confront certain choices at the ballot box in 2022 and beyond. Democrats must unite behind a unified message denouncing this alarming proclivity exhibited in the other party – before it’s too late!

Stay safe and be well.