Matt Of All Trades

 Every year for the past I don't know how long now - at least a decade - I've posted Darlene Love's annual TV performance of her classic "Christmas Baby (Please Come Home).   For the past few years, she's done this on the chat fest show, "The View." It isn't happening this year. Yes, Covid got in the way again.  Thankfully and most importantly, Love seems to be A-OK. One of her band members tested positive, so the entire band was quarantined.  In a video i nterview last Friday with The View, Love says she feels fine. She said she's fully vaccinated, had her booster shot, and also a flu shot.  The band member who tested positive with a probable breakthrough infection was also fully vaccinated, rendering that person a bit less likely to spread the virus.  The quarantine was lifted last weekend, and Love was once again able to give public performances. o You can't stop tradition, so I'm using that video for this year's Darlene Love salut...

Ted Nugent: In the running for stupidest person of 2021? UPDATE: Though I hate to cheer when people get sick, it does look like Karma has hit our buddy Ted Nugent. After pretty much denying that Covid even exists for the past year, guess what? Nugent has Covid. "I have had flu symptoms for the last ten days.  I thought I was dying. Just a clusterfuck....I was tested positive today.  I've got the Chinese shit." Ever the poet, even in illness, is he? Despite his illness, he's still apparently against the Covid vaccine because, as he falsely says, "Nobody knows what's in it." Well, we don't know what's in that brain of yours, either.  PREVIOUS DISCUSSION I know I'm a bit of a bully but I just love picking on some dumb people.   Not every dumb person.  Hell, I'm not the sharpest crayon in the shed, which is how I like to mangle that expression.   Nevertheless, I still like to take the hot air out of the blowhard variety of stupid person, so ...

An image from a very simple, but also very effective PSA from Google encouraging us to get Covid vaccines. A lot of public outreach is going on now to encourage everyone to get their Covid vaccines to defeat this horrible pandemic once and for all.  A big part of the effort are public service advertisements, designed to convince us all to get our vaccines.  The more we overcome the hesitancy among some people to get the shot, the closer we get to herd immunity and end the pandemic.  Spoiler: In my case, they're preaching to the choir.  I am SO looking forward to getting my first Covid shot this coming Wednesday. One ad that came out about a week ago is from Google. You can see it at the bottom of this post, and it's totally worth the watch.  If you watch the ad, a warning: If you're anything like me, you might need a Kleenex, because the one minute PSA packs a surprising emotional punch.  At least for me, it did. I don't know why I reacted to the ad as I di...

Some right wingers (and a few kooks) are mad that Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has decided to do more to prioritize the state's small BIPOC population for Covid vaccinations becausetheir vaccination rates were falling behind.  Vermont Gov Phil Scott, doing something that I thought was sensible, tweeted the following on Thursday:  "If you or anyone in your household identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC), including anyone with Abenaki or other First Nations heritage, all household members who are 16 years or older can sign up to get a vaccine!" Meanwhile, other people under the age of 50 need to wait a couple weeks before they can get themselves appointments for vaccines. Scott did this because Vermont state health officials and many others noticed that the BIPOC community bore a disproportionate share of Covid cases, hospitalizations and death. This same group is lagging behind in vaccination rates. The Vermont statistics say at all. As of Friday, about ...

One of my favorite songs from the 1970s was " Killer Queen" by Queen.  I'm often, but not always happy when  some of my faves are turned into something else for parody. In this case, I'm happy.   Anybody who knows me understands I'm a real Covid-19 vaccine enthusiast, and I can't wait for my turn to get inoculated. (The state of V ermont Health Department says starting March 29 I can start trying to get an appointment for my shot, so yay!!)   By turn, I'm frustrated by ant-maskers and anti-vaxxers, so any PSA, no matter how biting and comical, gets my Seal of Approval.  Which leads me to the video below, from Meidas touch and Heather Gardner doing a parody of "Killer Queen" urging us get vaccinated and ignore the (mostly Republican) naysayers.  Gardner has done other great parody videos, too, like a takeoff on George Michael's "Faith"   this time pointing a finger at bad faith lies from Fox News.   Seems like Randy Rainbow has ...

Right wingers like Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro aren't affected by talk of saving lives and morality in battling Covid. For people like this, try threatening their power and money to get them to change course.  Brazil's jerk of a president, Jair Bolsonaro,  is even worse than Trump was at making the Covid pandemic worse.  The situation has grown dire.  Live by the sword, die by the sword. According to Euroweeklynews.com: "Silvio Antonio Favero, 54, who proposed a bill before the Legislative of the Brazilian state of  Mato Grosso do Sul to prevent mandatory vaccination of the population against Covid, died on Saturday, March 13, a victim of the disease." The publication said Favero shared Bolsonaro's doubts about the Covid vaccine, and shared social media posts by Bolsonaro of his denial of the pandemic and distain for social distancing. As of last week, at least 277,000 Brazilians have died in the pandemic, the second most of any nation behind the United States. Th...

This is Peter Kwok, a transit cop in British Columbia. He takes honors as most chill cop in the world as he took abuse from the most obnoxious anti-mask Karen in the world.   For the past year, we've seen so many anti-maskers causing scenes and filming themselves that it's a cliche.   It's almost like there's some kind of competition to see which one is the most obnoxious. And.....We have a winner!  Last December 5, a woman in British Columbia, Canada, riding the Canada Line, refused to wear a mask, and boy did it escalate! While we're handing out awards, we're going to concur with the website Vancouverisawesome.com and award the transit cop involved, Peter Kwok, in this mess the prize for being the most composed cop in Canada, if not the world.  Go i nto this link to watch the whole, drawn out 11-minute video. It really is something. To set it up, the transit cops were doing mask compliance checks because of a British Columbia rule issued in November tha...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans don't appear to care whether people die needlessly of Covid, because they hope it would make Joe Biden and other Democrats look bad. It's a political calculation.  I'm getting more and more convinced a large number of Republican politicians actually want more people to die or suffer from Covid.   I hope I'm wrong, but I my conspiratorial mind is wondering if believe their political calculations are more important than how many lives are lost.   Or, to put it more bluntly, who cares if people die if I, and the large radical elements in the GOP can regain power. Insurmountably, they hope.  There's been so many examples in the past week that seem to fit. Going against all health experts' advice, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted most pandemic-related restrictions.  It's all part of a feedback loop the GOP has created, led last year by Donald Trump and taken up by most of his minions.  Here's how it works:...

Dolly Parton literally getting a dose of her own medicine Tuesday. Her $1 million donation helped lead to the  development of the Moderna Covid vaccine. A doctor administered a dose to her Tuesday.  America's Most Loved Person, Dolly Parton took to her Twitter page Tuesday to publically receive her first dose of the Moderna Covid vaccine.   Back in April, Parton donated around $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Covid-19 research.   That donation helped lead to the Moderna vaccine.   Tuesday, Vanderbilt returned the favor by giving her a hot of the Moderna vaccine. Which means she wasn't kidding when she said she was getting a dose of her own medicine. Couldn't happen to a better person.  Parton, in her Twitter post , warmly and humorously encouraged all of us to get our vaccines. She even changed the lyrics to her iconic song "Jolene."  Sample lyric: "Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine/I'm begging of you please don't hesitate....

Owners of this UPS store in Newport, Vermont lost the  business after refusing to comply with mask wearing mandates. Photo via WCAX. Everywhere, including here in Vermont, a few people are incredibly willing to die on the anti-mask hill, with terrible person consequences.  A few end up dying.  Most make fools of themselves. Some ruin themselves financially for no good reason.  It's so illogical. The latest one involves the operators of a UPS franchise in Newport, Vermont.   Weeks ago, they put up a sign in the front door saying they would not wear a mask, customers could choose whether or not to wear a mask, and to please not ask employees to wear masks because they won't.  This goes directly against an executive order Vermont Governor Phil Scott issued last year mandating masks in stores. It also goes directly against UPS policy, which says that face masks are a required part of their uniform and everyone must wear them on the job.  The franchise...

Tucker Carlson probably doesn't care if a few extra people die as long as his ratings stay up  Tucker Carlson wants to see more Americans die.   That's the conclusion I have to reach as he's using his platform to question Covid vaccines, and to discourage people from taking it.  Carlson uttered these falsehoods on his broadcast this past Tuesday.  "From the very first day, the way the authorities handled the Covid vaccine did not inspire confidence. If the vaccine was so great, why were these people lying about it? Honest question. And they were lying. Clearly they were lying. You know that for certain because from the moment the Covid vaccine arrived, the most powerful people in America work to make certain that no one could criticize it." That last sentence is rich, coming from an idiot criticizing the vaccine to his more than 4 million viewers. Carlson did not specify what the alleged lies are.  After making the above accusation about vaccines, Carlson e...

GOP-controlled Wisconsin State Assembly: Another group on the wrong side of history.   It's important in a crisis to call out the people who will end up on the wrong side of history.  With the Covid pandemic, it's unfortunately a big, huge rogues gallery. Add the Republican-led Wisconsin State Assembly to the list. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday: "GOP lawmakers in the state Assembly voted Thursday to repeal the statewide mask rule by ending the governor's health emergency health order - the first measure passed by the state Legislature in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 10 months.  But (Wisconsin Gov. Tony) Evers put the mask requirement back in place almost immediately, saying he was doing so to avoid an unnecessary risk to the public's health. If Evers hadn't acted, the state may have been at risk of losing tens of millions a month in federal food assistance without an emergency order in place." The Journal Sentinel reported th...

The anti-maskers are bad enough. The anti-vaxers, if  anything, are even worse Tiffany Dover, a 30-year old nurse manager from Tennessee, is alive and well.  As nice a person as Dover seems to be, her healthy condition would normally not be a concern to any of  us. She's just doing her job, trying to make people healthy.  Here's the problem: Back in December, the health care worker got one of the first Covid vaccines in Tennessee as news cameras rolled. Unfortunately, Dover briefly passed out moments after the vaccine. It turns out the vaccine wasn't the problem. Dover has a condition that sometimes makes her lose consciousness after a minor pain like a vaccine shot. Dover recovered within moments, and gave alert, lucid interviews to reporters on the scene just a few minutes after the incident happened. Dover remains perfectly fine and healthy. Other than that brief fainting spell, she had pretty much zero side effects from the vaccine So why the hell am I making a b...

Motorists stuck in a snowstorm near Grants Pass, Oregon, receive Covid shots in the snow. The shots would have gone to waste if they had not been used on the spot Earlier this month, some motorists got stuck in a snowstorm on a high elevation highway near Grants Pass, Oregon.  Such a situation is usually regarded as bad luck. However, among those stranded in that snowstorm were health workers on their way back from a vaccination clinic at a high school. They were carrying extra Covid vaccines designated for other recipients. Stuck in this ripping snowstorm, the vaccines would expire, meaning nobody would get these badly needed shots.  Except for the fact that other motorists were also stranded. Apparently t hinking waste not, want not, the health workers started knocking on car windows in the snowstorm, seeing if anybody would be interested in accepting the vaccine on the spot.  There were plenty of takers, as you might imagine.   There were only six doses left...

A still from the latest Budweiser ad, which will not appear in the Super Bowl, breaking a 37-year tradition. Instead, the ad is aimed at encouraging Covid vaccinations  A staple of Super Bowl advertising for decades has been Budweiser ads.   We're familiar with the heartwarming Clydesdale horses , and the goofy other commercials that advertise this alleged beer (I'm a beer snob, deal with it). Everything's been turned upside down over the past year, so why not Super Bowl ads. Instead of the Super Bowl, Budweiser is turning its attention to Covid. Why not? Everybody else has been forced to. Of course, the Super Bowl won't be entirely Budweiser free. There will be at least one Bud Light commercial .   Plus, it appears Sam Adams beer has hijacked the Clydesdale horses this year.  In the main Budweiser 90-second ad, Rashida Jones narrates "Bigger Picture" which reviews some of the ways we've learned to cope during the pandemic. Like the Clydesdale ads, thi...

More than a year before any of heard of  Covid, a fashion designer named, of all things, Kovid Kapoor designed this face-masked outfit for "Project Runway" I guess it's fun when you find something that was unintentionally prescient,  so let's introduce a guy named Kovid Kapoor.   Back in 2019, Kapoor was a contestant on "Project Runway," which pits various designers against each other in a series of fashion challenges.  In one episode, Kapoor participated in a challenge called "Head To Toe" in which contestants had to create a printed design that was featured, as you'd guess, head to toe.  As HuffPost describes it: "Kapoor's design for the challenge eerily evokes a look that would become all too common just a year later. In a red plaid design, Kapoor created a suit with an accompanying face mask." You can't help notice Kapoor's first name in this context.  Kovid, though is really a Sanskrit word meaning intelligent or poe...

One of the more obnoxious viral anti-maskers out there. Unpatriotic, stupid, terroristic, entitled, hateful They all need to be outed and shamed  for who they are. Among the most infuriating things about this pandemic is the self-righteous, unpatriotic butt wipes out there who make videos of themselves refusing to wear masks, violating rules and regulation put in place to try and control the pandemic.  They are the ones who march into stores and restaurants without masks and record themselves making things absolutely horrendous for retail and other customer service workers.  They have no shame, obviously. Mean and dumb is probably the worst combination for humans, and these 'Covidiots" as they're called,  fit the bill to a T. Sure, they're annoying because they get their facts entirely wrong, as stores do not have to honor fake (or even real) medical or religious exemptions to mask requirements.  The worst part is the emotional abuse these Covidiots inflict on i...