28 December 12020

339,032   deaths in America from the current pandemic mean nothing, according to the magas, right-wingers, economy boosters, and austerity proponents. Surplus population, in the words of Ebenezer Scrooge, the Spirit of Capitalism Past. At least the Lame-Duck-in-Chief took time out from his busy golfing schedule to finally sign the Covid relief bill—which, let me remind you, is intended to help save the American economy, not American lives.

Anyway, 28 December 12020 is Proclamation Day (Australia), the Fourth Day of Christmas (Christianity [west]), Republic Day (South Sudan), and King Taksin Memorial Day (Thailand). It is also when Boxing Day is observed in many countries, as the day itself fell on a Saturday this year. Assuming no miscalculations on my part it is 28 December 2020 (N.S.) or 15 December 2020 (O.S.), 13 Teveth 5781, 13 Jumada I 1442, 19 Koiak 1737, 7 Pausa 1942, 8 Dey 1399, and JD 2459212. The saints of the day are the Holy Innocents—the imaginary children slaughtered by Herod the Great in a vain attempt to eliminate a future rival to his throne. And it’s Stan Lee’s birthday.

On this day in history (11973) President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law, one of the most important pieces of legislation in my lifetime. Inadequate though it is, and weakened by savage attacks on it (especially during the Bush II and Trump administrations), it still remains a dyke against the rising tide of eco-destruction being rained down upon us by present-day Capitalism and other related evils. Unfortunately dumbasses in this country have turned away from consulting people who know what they’re talking about in favor of people who have only ignorance to contribute (along with the liability of a financial stake in the outcome) with catastrophic results. (The Bush II administration again is heavily to blame for this approach—but the Clinton, Obama, and Trump administrations all contributed their bit.) And so the fire awaits us all—unless we repent.

In the news I see that a Green Beret killed three people and wounded three others in a shooting spree in Illinois—and yet there’s no outcry from the Proud Boys et al against the United States Army Special Forces. They’re being a bit inconsistent here, aren’t they? I mean, if every Black Lives Matter protester is guilty of actions committed by somebody else associated with the movement, shouldn’t the same apply to the Green Berets? Still, I imagine that Duke Webb (the alleged shooter) will come out all right. I mean, we now pardon mass murderers so long as they’re in the military. He can go the rounds of the right-wing rallies with Vile Kyle and the Blackwater killers and clean up. And to hell with Justice.