Strange day yesterday. Turns out it’s OK to carry an assault weapon in a crowd downtown and kill a couple of people if they frighten you. No consequences (other than a couple of families missing a loved one). I think US law needs to change on this one.

And we had a woman President for about an hour and a half yesterday. That’s an historic first, and the nation didn’t collapse or even notice. Good for us.

The House passed the second Build Back Better (man, I hate that phrase) bill yesterday, but now they’re sending it to Manchin and Sinema-land for edits and votes. That may take a while. But I have to hand it to Biden and Pelosi – they’re getting things done. If only the people they’re actually helping (low and middle income) would notice and give them credit.

The Cats won the game last night, but it was an ugly win. They looked bad in the first half, but thankfully woke up in the second. Lots of talent, but the jury is still out on this team.

Science.org, a reputable source, has a new article out that says COVID originated in the Wuhan live animal market after all, and thinks they’ve identified Patient Zero. Interesting. Their research indicates that the zoonotic vector was racoon dogs (what the hell is a racoon dog, and why would anyone eat one?), not bats. Even more interesting. But I still can’t get over the coincidence that a virology lab experimenting with SARS coronaviruses was right down the street.

It’s strange to think that in December 2019, the world changed dramatically and no one knew it. A disease infected humans and animals in a Chinese market. No matter where it originated (nature or lab), it escaped into the world and the human population. Two years later millions of people are dead and the disease is only moderately under control. Where were you when the world changed?

In December 2019 I was in KY trying to find a way to get my Dad under some kind of care, beginning his transition to assisted living. That was incredibly lucky – he and Phyllis would not have survived the early days of the pandemic alone (can’t prove it; just know it). In those days he was drug-addled and in poor health, making poor decisions. The timing of it all is…strange.

And finally, strange human behavior. I’ve stumbled upon the Youtube channel “Karens in the Wild“, with a stream of entertaining, horrifying, and depressing behavior caught on video. I’ve become pretty cynical about people post-Trump and post-pandemic, and the Karen channel just reinforces that cynicism. There are a lot of disturbingly hateful people out there.