In nature, mother birds regurgitate into the mouths of their young to provide all-important sustenance and nutrition. So too, in politics and the news, do those who are stationed above us puke into our upturned faces and expect a "thank you" for their generosity. And today, we're just not in the mood.
Reviewing news stories for today's blog, we managed to put ourselves in a foul mood (or fowl, if we want to stick with the bird metaphor). Enough so that we don't even have anything particularly clever to say, but will instead just list a few of the stories that are honking us off...
• On Sunday, two people were killed and 21 others injured at a mass shooting in Miami. News reports rather cryptically said that this occurred at a "banquet hall" and, for reasons we can only guess at, did not mention that it was a rap concert. The shootings were by three thugs who jumped from a white van and opened fire, then drove away. And despite the van being described as "white," no color was ascribed to the shooters. Including in the security video that showed three black guys with guns. But a mysterious shooting at a banquet hall just doesn't fit the desired news narrative as well as "black guys shoot up rap concert crowd because they can."
• There are more (and more) stories about hate crimes in which black folks beat the hell out of Asian folks. But again, the news reports only mention the victims' race...never that of the assailants, even though (again based on security video) it always seems to be black assailants. And we're bitching about this not because we've got a problem with anyone black, but we have a HUGE problem with "news" which distorts and hides facts which could be helpful in addressing a genuinely serious and growing problem.
• There are very few Covid-related topics we aren't sick of at this point, so we're not really enjoying the media's tiptoe approach into speculation that the virus was manipulated in, and escaped from, a lab in Wuhan, China. People who were paying any freaking attention at all have known this for more than a year. But the truth had to be covered up, lest the reality help Donald Trump's reelection effort. With very few exceptions, every news source has gotten so much wrong (often deliberately) about Covid that we just don't give a damn anymore.
• Holy sweet mother of pearl, do we dislike Biden and Harris! And all of their friends and co-conspirators.
• The White House issued a proclamation to remind us all that this is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. We're just unsure about whether it's racist when white LGBTQ+ people feel pride? We live in confusing times.
But rather than leave you with the impression that there's no such thing as good news anymore, we're happy to report that in Fitzgerald, Georgia, work continues on the construction of a majestic 62-foot framework which will soon become the world's largest living topiary chicken. It's stories like that which give us the will to keep going.
