Welcome to week three of lockdown England! While everyone else is wandering about and MP’s are under self-isolation, what the hell is actually happening out there to help prevent the spread of this virus? Nothing that I can see from my four magnolia painted walls of my enforced cell where I stare about all alone daily. So let’s see what the headlines have to say.
As Trump sits in the people’s oval office sulking over his election defeat and refusing to accept the peoples vote by ordering all departments not to share information with the Biden team, the American people are the one’s suffering with the death toll from COVID-19 surpassing the quarter of a million mark. Trump’s administration has declined to speak about their plans on how to fight the pandemic or even distribute the vaccine they keep saying will be available within days and the lack of a formal transition is just making this issue even worse. As an outsider all I see is a man hell bent on destroying a democracy he doesn’t believe in, as he once again reneges on his duties as president with a schedule that insiders say is empty of substance with no plans as it has been for the last 12 days since the elections projected result was aired worldwide.
Instead of a smooth transition of government, the American people are getting a subverted melodrama which would be more at home on the local network as a TV show, but in fact it is reality coming home to roost as it was predicted over a year ago before the electoral race even started. Since the election result certain parties have suddenly disappeared from sight. Where is the Trump siblings hiding? Now big daddy Trump is on his way out the door? Are they running scared waiting for the long arm of the law to feel their collars for all the corrupt money laundering acts they have performed? Trump’s eldest sons are still trying to spread the conspiracy lies of fraud while Trump’s eldest daughter and her husband who are part of the Whitehouse staff are playing a waiting game. What is most important to Trump and his family is legacy not accomplishment. Trump’s ego is at the heart of every decision he makes, this is something a president should leave at the Whitehouse front door because whomever sits in that oval office is a global representative of the American people and should show a diplomatic façade which is something Trump is incapable of doing. He is a ‘take no enemies’ type of person which is okay in big business, but as a political leader who should be walking a fine line of diplomacy it just doesn’t work and that has been proven over the last four years as Trump as alienated every democratic nation of the world while befriending the dictatorships of Russia and North Korea.
Trump’s ideology is what has divided America, his support of far right groups if not publically is a driving force of the unrest in the country. This can be seen by the way militia groups like the proud boys, Boogaloo Bois and the KKK have resurfaced from decades of hiding under a rock to once again walk the streets of America fully armed as is been seen in Michigan where a lockdown has been implemented as COVID-related deaths are up by 150% on what they were just two weeks ago. The new rules state that there should be no in-person teaching at schools or colleges, no inside dining and no theatres, cinemas or gyms can open. The police are eerily silent on the streets of Michigan while armed white folks saunter around claiming freedom and liberty. When BLM supporters take to the streets unarmed the police attack them with paint pellets, gas and pepper spray, but when armed members of the Boogaloo Bois, a self-styled, anti-government militia show up to protest the lockdown the police stay away, this is some real F***** up shit America. These people who openly disregard lawmakers are been allowed on the streets of Michigan with assault rifles loaded, cocked and ready to be used, is this a peaceful statement or an act of disobedience? In my eyes as a person living in a country which has no overt gun culture it dumbfounds me that America hasn’t destroyed itself sooner. The representatives of the Boogaloo militia movement seen at the state capital are the most extreme Trump supporters and should clearly be put on an ATF watch list if they aren’t already on one. As America continues to implode from death and political mayhem the rest of us still watch on wondering whether the big orange man in the oval office will do something unimaginable which starts a civil war, not of words as it is right now, but a full on bullet flying/bomb exploding civil war last seen in 1865 as the ‘Unionists’ went to war with the ‘Confederates’ which was a war of brother versus brother. This time around it will be anarchist versus anarchist!
On that worrying note I will skip back to dear old Blighty and survey the shitstorm currently brewing on home soil. So as the number of deaths in the nation keep climbing and positive COVID-19 cases soar all eyes and ears are on what the government is going to do about it. As Scotland and Wales saunter on with restrictions, Northern Ireland sits out a four week partial lockdown and England enters week three of a four week full lockdown we wait with bated breath to hear what the next step in this 2020 fiasco is going to be as we start the countdown to Christmas and look towards the new year of 2021. As I have said before Christmas and New Year isn’t as important to me as it is for some. I am a single bloke who doesn’t socialise or drink, so the festive season is just the same as the rest of the year to me [Yes I’m an introverted isolationist]. So the question should be, how will Christmas differ for the rest of the country?
Well, the government hasn’t laid down the rules yet but it will definitely be nothing like we have seen before in our lifetime. There will be such changes as smaller family gatherings as the ‘Rule of Six’ will most likely still be implemented, less food to buy as households stay in their small isolated bubbles, no extravagant work parties or big festive parties as locations could be shut, high street shops will feel the pinch as online purchasing hits an all-time high, no ornate pantomimes as theatres remain closed and a very quiet New Year’s eve as crowds and parties will be stopped from gathering to count in the new year. All in all the outlook on the horizon is forecast to be a very bleak mid-winter of sombre reflection especially for those who have loved one’s battling the virus or have lost loved ones to this pandemic. What should happen is instead of the nation celebrating the New Year, we should hold a remembrance for the 60+ thousand people who have died of COVID-19, and we as a nation have lost due to this pandemic.
When 2021 is finally here, what will the memories of 2020 be? Will it be the hell on earth we faced together while been separated? Will it be the new found community spirit? Will it be the rise of the freedom movements? Will it be the fall of the fascists? Or will it simply be a sigh of relief that as an individual we survived 2020? Only you can answer that question. For me it will be how one country overcame the warlord it had elected four years earlier, as well as how that same country stayed blinkered to the corruption within its halls of power re-electing two of the most corrupt senators back in to power. America is on a new knife edge of change and we the world hope it is for the better rather than seeing it descend in to civil war. On the opposite side of the ocean back in dear old Blighty I will remember the ineptitude the elected government showed in the fight against a deadly pandemic with inexcusable policies and laws which within weeks of implementing them they either walked back their decisions or made a full U-turn creating a stupidity factor on how they ran the country in a time of emergency. I know I only consider two nations, but that is because I live in one and the news headlines have been dominated by the other. Also I openly detest both countries leaders who should have never been given the chance to call themselves leaders due to the overwhelming dishonesty within their past endeavours and their glory hunting need for celebrity status. Both men are blights on the histories of their respective countries and should be torn from past, present and future historical records. On that rather angry note I will call it a day,
Rant you tomorrow!
