My break from the news is going to be tested severely by the debate tonight.
Month: September 2020
Monday 28th of September 2020
I’ve had to restart my phone multiple times per day since iOS 14 came out. That seems really kinda not great. 14.0.1 didn’t fix anything, either.
COVID-19, Day 197
Third day of avoiding the news and I still accidentally caught wind of Trump's taxes. I know there was a blowup. I figure it was meant to freak people out, sway voters. It won't. No one will care. His supporters will say, "Hur hur, he didn't pay taxes, wish I could do that! What a badass!" And the people who despise him will just have one more reason to continue doing the same.
If the things he's done so far haven't turned people off, there's little he can do now that will change that. Roughly 42% of America supports his dumb ass, and that isn't going to change.
We need to have a serious conversation as a nation about that 42%.
COVID-19, Day 195
Day one of not reading any news was hard! I'm not sure what my iPhone is for at the moment besides posting this and sending text messages. I miss the twitchiness of filling every free second with doomscrolling.
A friend and I discussed this today. What we came to is that there's no need to follow the news anymore in the US. We know what's coming. There will be an attempted coup on November 3. The only question now is: what are you going to do about it? No news outlet can help you with that.
COVID-19, Day 194
I have entered into a pact with a close friend. I have sworn off the news until Tuesday, November 3. Not all of it. 99% of it. Especially political news.
Let’s see if I can make it.
Thursday 24th of September 2020
I will be attempting to install a few GFCI outlets in our 80+ year-old house this weekend.
😬
What If Trump Refuses to Concede? – The Atlantic
According to sources in the Republican Party at the state and national levels, the Trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority. With a justification based on claims of rampant fraud, Trump would ask state legislators to set aside the popular vote and exercise their power to choose a slate of electors directly. The longer Trump succeeds in keeping the vote count in doubt, the more pressure legislators will feel to act before the safe-harbor deadline expires.
They have a plan. It’s not hypothetical.
COVID-19, Day 187
Our kids finally start school tomorrow. We moved halfway across the country a week ago, and our previous pediatrician slow-walked some paperwork to the new school, so we’re over a week late with enrollment. But it’s finally done–with almost zero notice for the kids. They’re a bit shell shocked that tomorrow’s the first day.
Our belongings are still on a semi headed for our new city, so we’ll be gathering around a long folding table with the kids for day one. No idea how we’re going to work while sitting next to them, shepherding them through their day while answering phone calls and pings on Slack.
I hate this.
Not the moving part, not the being without furniture part, not even the part where we have to be teacher’s aides. I hate that this was avoidable. Our kids could be in school if our government and a bunch of right-wing idiots had just done the right thing. We could be mostly back to normal if it weren’t for a handful of incredibly selfish cretins.
More than six months in and the CDC says we’ve got almost a year until enough vaccine doses exist to start distributing them to the general population. Ten or more months until things can start to move back toward normal.
Thanks, Trump voters.
Sunday 13th of September 2020
A long distance move is great for keeping yourself from doomscrolling the news.
Thursday 3rd of September 2020
It’d be cool if the pandemic led to people putting away their cell phones at concerts when concerts are a thing again.
Just be there in the moment. Stop recording everything and actually experience something.