Spontaneous Musings

I tried to read a thinky post about brain stuff and my brain shut off.

1. Scott Allie - Dark Horse Comics Cuts All Ties With Scott Allie Amid Accusations of Sexual Abuse

Warning, the abuse detailed is rather harrowing. It also read a bit like some of the explicit sex scenes in various "erotic" contemporary romance novels. Mother and I, who have both read a lot of romance novels in our lifetimes, and continue to do so - discussed this at some length today at lunch time. (I call my mother twice a day now - once at lunch, and once after work, sometimes three times a day - it breaks up the day for both of us, and helps me stay sane.)

Mother stated that she prefers historical romances to contemporary in part because they are less sexist. The difference in power - makes more sense. While in the contemporary it feels almost misogynistic. As does some of the sex.

We also agreed that comic book industry is not a good place for women. I hate to say this - but it's made up of people like the Trioka in Buffy, and the gang in Big Bang Theory - run, ladies, run. I know this because I've read comics for over thirty years, and I've interacted with a wide variety of comic book fans. The women are rather cool, and so are some of the men. But there's a lot of sexism and a lot of jerks. It's mainly about power. The film industry, to be fair, is no better. My sisterinlaw gave up on film in college and pursued design instead partly due to that.

In regards to Allie? I did not like him. And stopped reading the Buffy comics for a bit, in part, because of him. I skipped S9 for example. I found him obnoxious and his view of the series did not fit mine. Also, he reminded me a little of Warren Mears.

He stopped editing them sometime around Season 10, when a new creative team took over the comics - possibly due to the events that transpired in 2015. And you could tell the difference. Suddenly it seemed to be less misogynistic, and less sexist, also less male fantasy. There was a definite shift in tone. And the artist was female, so that helped as well. Season 10 and Season 11 were good. But I'd skip S8, 9, and 12.

2. In our continuing saga of the State of New York vs. The Corona Virus

Per the Governor's email: New York is reaching out to offer assistance to states with high infection rates. As states across the nation are seeing spikes in new cases, New York's outlook remains good. NY is contacting Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states with high infection rates to offer our help. In our hour of need we had volunteers from across the country who helped us go from the worst situation in the country to one of the best, and we will repay that help and that kindness in any way we can.

Yes, we are making everyone from your states self-isolate for 14 days upon entry, but we are also willing to send aid in your hour of need. Huzzah!

I explained to project manager today that while our agency was part of a bigger transportation agency, it was really it's own little governing force most of the time. Kind of like the State of New York and the United States.

And..according to the NY Times...A federal judge ruled that houses of worship in New York City can hold indoor services at 50 percent capacity, rather than the 25 percent allowed under the state’s reopening plan.

Gotta love that freedom of religion thing - under the US Constitution, you have the freedom to kill your congregation with a virus! Huzzah!

I don't know about you, but I see this as continuing proof that the US Federal Government and specifically the Republican Party is attempting to kill us. Very glad to be a Unitarian - they are not congregating any time soon.

3. In the continuing saga of the World vs. the Corona Virus (which kind of demonstrates and proves my theory that the human species is not only self-absorbed, with the attention span of a hyper puppy (actually I think the puppy has a longer attention span, I'd say a cat - but I've watched cat's stare at a bug for hours), but also colossally stupid.)
( spoiler alert - the world is not winning it's war against the virus. )
But it's not all dire, apparently donations and giving hit an all time high, there's more giving and donations to charitable causes this year than any previous one, including 9/11. Something tells me that 9/11 will be kind of a footnote in history after this.

4. Black Lives Matter vs. Latin Lives Matter..

I think people (meaning our ever fickle and somewhat lacking in attention span news media) have begun to get tired of the Black Lives Matter Movement and there's a slow shift to Latin Lives Matter now.

The NY Times reported on two stories - one where a Latino man in Tuscon, Texas also was killed by an illegal choke-hold and the video was finally released, with all three men fired. and two, that the number of Latino deaths and infections out number most other deaths across the US.

( excerpt )

This is going to get worse. Apparently our evil federal government has urged the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Healthcare Act Again or Obamacare. This is worrying for me, because my brother and his family are on Obamacare, as are my cousins. Without it - they can't afford medical care or are in trouble.

I hope and pray that the US Supreme Court does the right thing and votes with their conscience, not their greed, and tells Trump to go fuck himself.

Ugh. Painful. Hence the news break. John Scalzi stated he was taking one for a bit, after waking up in the middle of the night with a stomach ache.

It's why I'm reading "The Widow of Rose Hill" - a funny little mystery/paranormal ghost story/historical romance. And watching Black Sails, Artemis Fowl, and whatever else I can find that is fun and fluffy this weekend and has zip to do with current events.

The pic below kind of expresses how I'm feeling at the moment about all of the above..