Overworked, redundant, illogical, ineffective, baffling, or irritating

I’m very glad to say goodbye to 2020 tonight. Let’s just call it a year and move on. I hope 2021 is much better. Joan McCarter of Daily Kos reported Moscow Mitch has blocked efforts to raise virus relief checks from $600 to $2000 a couple more times. He called the checks “socialism for rich people,” though that doesn’t make any sense. At this point one meaningless reason is as useful as any other. This Congressional session could technically run until Sunday, so there is still time. Mark Sumner of Kos reported that the vaccine distribution is going much slower than anticipated, even though the nasty guy bragged for months about how wonderful the rollout would be. The complaints are getting louder. The nasty guy is doing his usual of blaming others. In a second post Sumner described some of the distribution problems. Shipments of vaccine had to be thrown out because they had overheated in transit. That means other shipments are delayed until the logistics of refrigeration are corrected and replacements come from some other place’s allotment. States complain they aren’t getting promised doses while millions of doses sit in storerooms waiting for instructions on where to ship them. Cold storage isn’t being provided so doses aren’t getting to more remote places. Badly written rules mean doses are diverted from frontline workers, such as to hospital administrators who have no contact with patients. Sumner included a photo from Florida. Rather than giving the available doses to frontline workers the state advertised that any senior could come get one. Of course seniors rushed to line up (in unsafe lines) without anyone saying how many doses were actually available. In a third post Sumner reported an incident in Wisconsin where 600 doses were spoiled because they were left outside a refrigerator overnight. The medical center issued a statement saying a now ex-employee admitted to doing that intentionally. The person did not provide a motive. Pam Keith, a Democratic nominee to Congress from Florida, tweeted:

Raise your hand if you had ZERO doubts that Team Trump would knee-cap the roll-out of the vaccine because they intentionally sabotaged literally EVERY. OTHER. EFFORT. TO CONTAIN. THIS. DISASTER! I don’t buy incompetence. Incompetence improves. It’s malice. Pure & simple.

Sumner also reported that the nasty guy had given all signs he was at his Florida resort to stay. One of those signs was to sell hundreds of tickets to a New Year’s Eve party. For all the work he’s actually doing (close to zero) he might as well work on his golf game and stay out of the way. But suddenly he few back to Washington this morning. That’s six whole days before the Electoral College votes are tallied in Congress. Does he need six days to plan how to disrupt it? Might he be doing something else, like starting a war? What can be more important than a party full of adoring fans? Whatever it is can’t be good. Sarah Kendzior tweeted:

We're living through: 1) Worst pandemic in modern history 2) Worst economy since Great Depression (maybe worse) 3) Worst hack of US govt ever 4) An attempted coup 5) A brewing civil war 6) A brewing foreign war 7) An admin serving organized crime 8) Led by a nuke-loving sociopath

She left it at 8 things because she ran out of characters in a tweet. Ben Franklin tweeted about the day the Electoral College vote will be presented to Congress:

I have an especially bad feeling about the dangers of the 6th in that Trump needs a large, bad thing to happen on the 6th to maximize chaos and I believe he is willing to cause large bad things to happen on the 6th in particular to his supporters.

This was in response to a tweet strongly urging people to stay out of DC that day. Stay away so violence doesn’t break out giving the nasty guy an excuse to deploy forces. Franklin said more in another thread:

Okay, on to more practical things. In advance of January 6th, which will either be a clownshow or a deadly serious event, I'd recommend A) restocking useful stuff in case of an emergency and B) do not go to DC for this one. The other guys will hopelessly outnumber the good guys. If nothing bad happens on January 6th, then you didn't need to be there. If something very bad happens, there's nothing you can do to stop it and you'll be needed locally to deal with the aftermath. Just my opinion. There are good arguments which I support that say you should not allow the fascists to take physical, public space. I think on this occasion the odds are not in your favor to make a difference by showing up and the downsides vastly outweigh the upsides.

I’m staying home. Another of Franklin’s tweets:

There’s no such thing as “just a tantrum” sedition. There’s no such thing as “it’s just a grift” sedition. There’s no such thing as “theatrical” sedition. There’s no such thing is “guaranteed to fail” sedition. Sedition is a wildfire that can burn out of control once started.

After that we need a bit of humor. Lake Superior State University has released its annual list of words and phrases that should be banished for “overuse, misuse, or uselessness” or more generally because they are “overworked, redundant, oxymoronic, clichéd, illogical, nonsensical—and otherwise ineffective, baffling, or irritating.” No surprise that seven of the ten words and phrases have to do with the pandemic. Here are a few of them. * COVID-19 – yeah, medically useful but the committee still wants to banish it along with the virus. * In an abundance of caution – should caution be measured in metric or US standard units and how much is “an abundance”? * In these uncertain times – it is way too vague and dilutes reality. If you’re uncertain of the times look at a clock! * Pivot – basketball players pivot, companies don’t.