By Erik Dolson
At 6 a.m. I stretched tarp over hatches to keep out rain that had been falling for hours and found its way within, waking and alerting me the weather had changed with “tap, tap, tap” as drops hit the wood sole of the cabin.
Clouds heavy with rain snag in the low conifers of Brown Island, muffle the world.
Silence on board is so intense I hear clouds rip free from the overcast. Occasionally a … Read more…
by Erik Dolson
Another day lost to the coronavirus, another week gone by. We’re in a row boat, Republicans have the only oar. They row on their side only and around, around we go.
“The states will do testing,” Trump says (on Monday, could change any time). Mitch McConnell says “blue” states should be punished for past spending by withholding money needed to pay cops, nurses, firefighters. “Let them go bankrupt,” he says.
It’s one thing if McConnell’s Kentucky opens up for business today or tomorrow. Agreed, that’s up to their governor. But then, … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
God, it pains me to say it.
The press is being unfair to Trump.
His missteps last Thursday at the coronavirus update were serious. Talking about using light on people to kill the virus in a minute, or wondering if there was some way disinfectant could be used internally to destroy the virus, was not his best moment.
But if I usually try to look at what Trump means, as opposed to what he says, I have to do the same here. In his own way, Trump was asking if these things … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
The coronavirus is a once-in-a-generation event. As it has ended many lives, going forward it will define many others. It will perhaps define our country, what we have become and who we will be.
The virus is an insidious enemy, spreading among people who do not appear to be sick. It can attack in terrifying ways, causing blood clots and strokes in young and seemingly healthy people, invading the lungs in a way that … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
Shut up! Just shut up, you Cheeto-colored, fat-headed blowhard! Shut up and quit using coronavirus updates to put your ineptitude on display, as if you were proud of it like a five-year-old holding up a drawing done in kindergarten. You are embarrassing America.
Your ignorance, your cluelessness, your egotistical grandstanding, your obvious floundering, are making the Pretend President Show painful to watch. And dangerous. More popular than “The Bachelor,” you say? Bigger audience than … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
There was a time, 70 years ago, that liberals are now looking to with nostalgia, as are Republicans who want a return to that golden age. The problem is, that era was an exception, not a norm. The conditions that created the 50s no longer exist.
The U.S. had just won WWII, and thanks to the Marshall plan, was rebuilding the rest of the world. Europe and Asia had no industries left, their cities were shattered, and we had it all, including a pent up demand for homes and jobs.
In this situation, U.S. capital and labor … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
In the last two weeks of March, nearly 10 million people lost their jobs. Of those, more than 3 million also lost their health insurance.
With the coronavirus looming over every household, think how this might feel — your father is sick? Your child? Everything you worked for is on the line when you sign those hospital forms. Feeling sick yourself? Maybe just see if it clears up, right?
That loss of health … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
Donald Trump does not care how many die of the virus. He does not care about the economy, either, except how it affects his own wealth. He only wants to be reelected, and rich, and prove he is the greatest man in the world.
On Monday, realizing the economy is getting ugly, he panics. He wants to reopen the country for business, now! He says he has total control over the nation.
Somebody points out this isn’t true, and actually makes him responsible if things don’t work out. Deaths don’t matter, reelection does.
Read more…
By Erik Dolson
Okay, this is my favorite so far.
An article in Business Insider described how three women who know fabric were appalled that people, including health care workers, were wrapping T-shirts around their heads as a mask against the coronavirus.
Lindsay Medoff and Heather Pavlu of Suay Sew Shop in Los Angeles, and friend Chloe Schempf, bought a $1,400 particulate-counter device and actually tested out various … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
My local hardware store carries pleated furnace filters. The highest grade of these claims to have a pore size of .1 to .3 microns and be able to filter viruses. So I bought one and tore it apart, getting rid of the metal screen on both sides.
Then I cut a piece a little larger than the width of two of my hands with about seven (7) full … Read more…
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Posts from Alaska
We took the boat to Alaska. Some impressions of the trip.
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