Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Arrangements ...
Still Waiting ...
... for money from the gov't., & pay from these crooks & liars. You can bet your ass I'm not holding my breath, as it is obviously my fate to suffer nothing but the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune.
Keep it up you rat bastards. Justice will be rendered.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Angela Davis Still Causing Trouble
Letter to the Editor: Students demand answers, action — Angela Davis, a renowned activist and author. Her event at Butler was cancelled without student input. Photo courtesy of Trident Booksellers and Cafe. — On March 29, without warning or discussion, Butler University administration canceled an event titled “Joint Struggle and Collective Liberation,” which featured a conversation with the revolutionary author, abolitionist and anti-racist activist Angela Davis. The administration abruptly and unilaterally canceled the event without the input of – and without even notifying – the student leaders who spent four months of tireless planning, coordination and collaboration on the event.
U.S. Reaches Deal W/ Russia For Alaska, Reagan Almost Gets His, Clapton Born, Cagney Dies
Compare & contrast:
March 30: President Ronald Reagan shot; William Seward reaches deal to buy Alaska from Russia; Actor James Cagney dies; Musician Eric Clapton born.(2011)
Guess ol' Seward got hisse'f cancelled.Highlights of this day in history: President Ronald Reagan is wounded in an assassination attempt; The U.S. reaches a deal with Russia to buy Alaska Territory; Actor James Cagney dies; Musician Eric Clapton born. (March 30)(2013)
And all the Clapton one could stand or need.
Spot The Loony Dep't.
Religion Is A Mental Illness
According to West, the dream involved a stairway to Heaven made up of living multicolored stones on which the word “TRUMP” appeared in gold, “in ascending order, starting from the bottom of the stairway—touching the nations—to the highest of heights in heavenly places.” As West tells it, each letter of Trump’s name appeared with a corresponding word: Truth, Righteousness, Unity, Mercy, and Peace.The dream involved visions of a rotting oak tree, a healing rainbow-colored whirlwind emerging from a door in the tree, a great eagle, a snake-devouring owl, the roar of a lion, the face of a lamb, and a “snow white dove” appearing “within the fiery orange winds of the mighty whirlwind,” West said.
In her interpretation of the dream, West wrote that she believes “it speaks to what God is now building and establishing in and through His Ekklesia”—a term used by Pentecostal dominionists to refer to the church as an assembly with governing authority on Earth.
Monday, March 29, 2021
Read It Or Shove It
Guess they don't read what I type, 'cause my "Pay me you cheap bastards" plea was published.
Sunday, March 28, 2021
All-American Murder Mixture:
Two Cars, One Gun
Vrooom! Vrooooom!!
Bang! BANG!!Allyson Waller / New York Times:
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Friday, March 26, 2021
Four Ptomaine Palaces That Should Be Burned To The Ground
Also Sonic.
Fast Food Giant Claims Credit For Killing $15 Minimum Wage
In internal company documents, a private-equity owned conglomerate is bragging to its employees about successfully blocking a boost in pay for low-wage workers.
[The Daily Poster]“Our Name Signifies Our Admiration For The Qualities Embodied By Howard Roark”
Inspire Brands is majority owned by Roark Capital — a $23 billion private equity giant named after the self-centered protagonist of Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead, which is considered a foundational conservative text for the defense of billionaires and economic inequality.“Our name signifies our admiration for the qualities embodied by Howard Roark,” the firm says on its website. “We are committed to being a good partner in good times, and an even better partner in bad times.”
Still Waiting, You Rat Bastards
Now it's up to the fucking I.R.S. Nazis?
Republicans want your scared elderly racist vote, but couldn't care less if you die. Starvation, unmanaged plague, whatever. Every one of them is a criminal; lock 'em all up before I slit their throats!Alexander Sammon / American Prospect:Olivier Knox / Washington Post: The Daily 202: Biden just set rules for how he'll work with Republicans
Cancun Republican Senator Rafael "Ted" Cruz's Telebision Of The Ridiculous
"... waving flashlights, yelling & taunting Americans!!"
Live footage from the banks of the Rio Grande.#BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/aO4EyANrRQ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 26, 2021
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Texas Republican Senator Rafael "Ted" Cruz's Theatre Of The Ridiculous
So, wait until they murder & then get the murderers, "Ted"?One min. & 16 secs. of prime Texas bullshit. No one's "taking away your guns", unless you're a crazed serial killer.
Occupy Democrats via montag's the burned over district.
No, Really?
Behind a paywall, so don't arse yourself.
Fucking nut-jobs. Get some help or just kill yourselves, drooling cretins.Mental Illness Runs Rampant In QAnon Crowd
PARANOIA THE DESTROYEROne in five Americans have a mental health diagnosis. The rate is three times that among Capitol rioters.
Big Talk From A Little Man
Bite my ass, you two-bit punk. Secret Service shown up yet, you traitorous bastard?
— M. Bouffant (@MBouffant) March 25, 2021
Allowed To Die: The Blood Is On Trump's Hands
Howard Schneider / Reuters:
U.S. COVID response could have avoided hundreds of thousands of deaths - research — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States squandered both money and lives in its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and it could have avoided nearly 400,000 deaths with a more effective health strategy …Jason Easley / POLITICUSUSA: Study Finds Trump And GOP Killed Hundreds Of Thousands Of Americans With Pandemic ResponseTaegan Goddard / Political Wire: U.S. Could Have Avoided Hundreds of Thousands of DeathsPhilip Bump / Washington Post:
A better pandemic response might have saved hundreds of thousands of lives — and Trump's presidency
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Mediterranean Snow
Not a cute drug name. Still think the climate isn't changing? Last month:Yesterday, by the time you read this:
Where's The Fucking Money?
I obviously couldn't possibly care any less about your stupid money, really I'm just inquiring about the whereabouts of MY damn money.
How much longer am I expected to wait? How long, how long?
No shit? This reporter has yet to see the US$600.00 Economic Impact Payment alleged to have been issued at the end of 2020.Arthur Delaney / HuffPost:
Democrats Say Agency Run By Trump Holdover Is Delaying Stimulus Checks — The IRS hasn't received the payment information it requested to send checks to Social Security recipients. — Millions of disabled and retired Americans are still waiting for their $1,400 stimulus payments …
Cristina Marcos / The Hill: House Democrats express alarm over slow stimulus checks
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Patrick Henry: "Give me liberty, or give me death," Hitler: "Give Me Germany & Give Me Death", Mir De-Orbited
De-Orbit, a/k/a Flame, Crash & Burn:
Comparing & Contrasting Cattle
Not to pick on the Krauts too much; compare $15.98 (saved three bones) of "Made in Federal Republic of Germany" cows ("Hand painted in Mauritius", however.)
w/ livestock from a budget American brand ("Made in China", probably by literal wage-slaves) stock pen that was $10.98 (saved $9.00).
Course I'll have to paint them (& the lumber) myself.
Monday, March 22, 2021
W.T.F. Is Next?
11 National Guard Soldiers transporting vaccines held at gunpoint in West Texas, suspect arrested — Idalou Police responded to the scene — LUBBOCK COUNTY, Texas (KCBD) - An Arizona man has been arrested after he cut off and held at gunpoint a caravan of National Guardsmen transporting COVID-19 vaccines …
More guns for the detective-deluded, I say!LUBBOCK COUNTY, Texas (KCBD) - An Arizona man has been arrested after he cut off and held at gunpoint a caravan of National Guardsmen transporting COVID-19 vaccines to Matador, Texas around 7 a.m. this morning [Sic, you redundant fuck!], according to Idalou Police.
Larry Harris, of Willcox, Arizona, is accused of following three National Guard vans from Love’s Travel Station on East Regis Street in Lubbock to about two miles east of Idalou. Police say Harris attempted multiple times to run the vans off of the roadway. He then turned his vehicle into oncoming traffic on Hwy. 62/82 and stopped the vans. He then pointed a gun at an unarmed National Guardsman, identified himself as a detective, and demanded to search the vehicles and ordered the rest of the unarmed guardsmen out of their vehicles at gunpoint.11 National Guardsmen held at gunpoint while transporting COVID-19 vaccines to Matador, Texas on Monday, March 22, 2021. (Source: Idalou Police Department) Harris told police he thought the people in the vans had kidnapped a woman and child. All 11 of the Guardsmen were in uniform.When police arrived on the scene, Harris was in possession of a loaded Colt 1911 pistol .45 Caliber. He had an additional loaded magazine on his person and another loaded magazine in his truck, police say.
The Idalou officers took Harris into custody without further incident.
Harris was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful restraint of 11 National Guard Soldiers, unlawful carrying of a weapon, impersonating a Public Servant, and interference with Texas Military Forces. The Idalou Police Department is currently investigating this incident. The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the investigation.
None of the Guardsmen were injured and none of them were armed.
“Mr. Harris appeared to be mentally disturbed. This was a very dangerous situation since the suspect was standing in the midst of the unarmed Guardsman with a loaded weapon when the Idalou Officers arrived on scene. We are grateful that the officers were able to take him into custody without any of the Guardsmen, the officers or the suspect getting hurt,” said Eric Williams, Idalou Police Chief.
Bodies In The Streets Of Boulder
As described in the title. And audio of shots being fired inside the King Soopers.From Ballon Juice.
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Springin'!
I didn't arse myself to listen to this because as I schedule this wks. before the equinox I couldn't effing care any less about anything. Tough shit if you (or I) don't like it.
Friday, March 19, 2021
"DILAPIDATED NORTH AMERICAN HOUSE"
Effin' Krauts mocking us. Note that the police are about to shoot anything moving inside.
Their website hasn't been copyrighted since 2009, so we are stuck w/
from a functional (albeit also Kraut-named) site.Product Information
No additional information is available at this time.
Seriously, what's w/ these people?
Product information "Sound module Bad Manners (burping and farting)"Experience the model railway with all your senses: The stationary modules add the specific sounds to the animated world. Set complete with module and integrated loudspeaker and connection for external loudspeaker. The volume is of course adjustable. Operating voltage 14 - 24 V DC = or 10 - 16 V AC ~. Suitable for: Restrooms items 1500 and 1545, nature`s call item 1547 or seating accomodation beer-garden with men item 1525. These sounds are played alternatively.
€41.95Prices incl. VAT plus shipping costs
$58.67
Today In The Professions, O.C. Edition
Details.Doctor Gets Eight to Life Sentence for Attack on Lawyer in Newport Beach
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Damn Thing Just Keeps Growing
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Montana Morbidity Report
Apparently Montana is populated w/ panda people; pindicks who've forgotten how to fuck. Could be a nice place to live when all the pin-dicked hicks are worm food.Montana recorded more deaths than births in 2020
The state recorded 12,018 deaths to 10,791 live births
The Weed Of Crime Bears Bitter Fruit
[L.A. Times]Catalytic converter thefts continue to climb in Southern California, with one leading to the suspected thief’s death.An employee at an Anaheim industrial building arrived to work Wednesday about 6:20 a.m. and discovered a man’s legs sticking out from underneath a company car, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Shane Carringer.
Based on the tools with him and his position under the car, first responders concluded he had been trying to detach the catalytic converter from the Toyota Prius, Carringer said.
“It appears he was attempting to steal a catalytic converter off the vehicle when the jack he used failed, and the jack failure caused the car to fall on top of him,” Carringer said.
461 (Or 493) C.E.: St. Paddy Gets His, Bush Bullies Hussein, F.D.R. Incest
Up the drunken bog monkeys!
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
30 Years Ago Today: Local Murder Too
[Local Totebagger Radio]Remembering Latasha Harlins, who was shot and killed 30 years ago by a store owner in South LA
Former LAPD Commander Michael Bostic talked about it then: “She had the money in her hand. You could see the money on the videotape. And the suspect grabbed the backpack, and there became a physical altercation over the backpack. And as our victim turned to walk away from the scene, the suspect raised a weapon and shot the victim in the back of the head.”Latasha Harlins would have turned 45 this year on January 1. On that day, a mural featuring her portrait was unveiled. It’s on the front of the Sutton Recreation Center on Hoover Street where she used to hang out.
Monday, March 15, 2021
Florida Anaheim Man Is Naked Pyro
Comedy/Absurdity Relief:
A 50-year-old man twice convicted of exposing himself is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on charges of setting fire to a potato chip rack at a Subway restaurant in Anaheim while nude.Jason William Ackroyd was charged with single counts each of arson of property, attempted arson of property of another and indecent exposure with a prior conviction of the crime, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, according to court records.
Ackroyd was accused of entering the fast food restaurant at 110 W. Lincoln Ave. about 6:30 p.m., March 8, without any clothes on and used a lighter to ignite a potato chip rack, according to Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Shane Carringer.
Ackroyd was also accused of setting fire to a portable credit card machine and cable at the restaurant, according to the criminal complaint.
Ackroyd was convicted of exposing himself June 17, 1993, in Orange County and again on Feb. 7, 2008, in Orange County, according to the criminal complaint.
Go Eff Yourself, Nebraska
Meat is murder, mofos!
Truly, the states are the laboratories of idiocy.
So, Gov. Ricketts of Neb., do you think the Xians & their Friday Fast, "a Christian practice of abstaining from animal meat, other than fish, as well as alcohol, on Fridays, or holding a fast on Fridays, found most frequently in the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist traditions", are a direct attack on your way of life there in Nebraska, per the AP above?Grant Schulte / Associated Press:Taegan Goddard / Political Wire: Nebraska Declares Pro-Meat Day to Counter Colorado
Waiting for a statement condemning Jesus's people & The Pope, Ricketts. Oh, not the kind of culture war you're willing to fight, you two-faced sack of beef offal?Ricketts said meat is a nutritious, protein-rich food source and noted that beef production is Nebraska’s largest industry.“That is a direct attack on our way of life here in Nebraska,” Ricketts, a Republican, said at a news conference in an Omaha meat shop.
Kill Your Bosses!!
Every last one of 'em, past & present. What the hell, kill someone else's boss while you're at it.
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Saturday, March 13, 2021
From The Fake News: Lies, Damned Lies, & Jordan Peterson Polls
"Breaks the narrative", he types. The events of 6 January, 2021 at the Capitol are all the "receipts" any rational humanoid needs. Well, that & The Civil War.Paul Sacca / TheBlaze:
Jordan Peterson shares poll showing white liberals* embrace using violence to pursue political goals more than conservatives — This breaks the narrative the corporate media is telling you.Mike Miller / RedState: Dems Claim ‘Far-Right’ Most Embraces Violence, Jordan Peterson Begs to Differ and Brings Receipts to Prove It
This pre-fab Mike Curb number has been worming my ears since 19-effing-68†; it's got it all: Corn, stupidity, clichés, exploitation & a half-good riff. And apparently still scares right-wing snowflakes 53 yrs. post-release. (Ron Johnson.)
*Shorter for "white liberal": "N(CLANG)-lover".
*Shorter for "white liberal": "N(CLANG)-lover".
†This reporter isn't the only one w/ worms; heard a couplet, if not an entire verse of it on a telly advert a day or so ago. Can't believe anyone even near my age would be working at ad agency, congrats to all involved for making a piece of fluff relatively eternal.
Bonus Track: No silly lyrics.
Friday The Thirteenth A Day Late
Cheap humor at the expense of a young person. Unless he knows better, in which case shame on him.
Friday, March 12, 2021
Medical Up-Date
Muscular soreness at the injection site, first noticed maybe nine hrs. post injection. Nothing on the skin, but sore when using the muscle. This allegedly indicates the juice is "taking". Long as I can still use the arm when I wake up.
And here is a cloud from Korea Town.
Thursday, March 11, 2021
One Yr. In
I'm (maybe, in 28 days) good. Promised the Pfizer, got the J&J version, apparently manufactured by Janssen, so no second poke required.
Scheduled for 1650, I was inoculated & seated in the observation area by 1651, sat for 15 mins. w/o reaction & split for the IN-N-OUT BURGER on Gayley, where I had a double-double, no lettuce. Did not see anyone having any reactions in the obsv. area. Still none for me, did find the tiny red spot where I was jabbed.
Now where's all that gawdamn money, Joe Biden?
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
New Edifice
On what was the Wilshire Blvd. Temple's parking lot; based on the landscaping on the roof, I'll guess urban educational facility. Or a prison/jail, if that's an exercise yard.
Jerkwad Asshole Preacher Seeks "Professional Counseling"
Previously.
[Now.]MALDEN, Mo. (AP) — A southeastern Missouri preacher went on leave from his church and is seeking professional counseling after giving a sermon that chastised married women who “let themselves go” and held up former first lady Melania Trump as the pinnacle of feminine beauty.A video widely circulated on social media shows Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark’s sermon before the 1st General Baptist Church in Malden in the state’s bootheel. The sermon was roundly panned as sexist and counter to Christian teachings.
In the video, Clark berated wives who gained weight after marriage and admonished that they should look good for their husbands, adding, “it’s important that he thinks you’re hot!
“I’m not saying every woman can be the epic — the epic – trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump,” Clark said, as a photo of the former first lady appeared behind him on a screen. “Most women can’t be trophy wives, but you know ... maybe you’re a participation trophy.”
The church’s website said Clark began his leave on March 2 and is seeking professional counseling.
A statement from the General Baptist Council of Associations, with which Clark’s church is affiliated, also condemned Clark’s sermon.
“General Baptists believe that every woman was created in the image of God, and they should be valued for that reason,” the statement said.
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Things Work Tolerably, For Once
Expected a long wait, although I suspected there was underpromising occurring, esp. w/ the circle around the 17th 'though the text said 18.
I was right. The object of my desire was no farther than Fontana, birthplace of the Hells Angels.
Resulting in a 48-hr. & 36 min. turnaround. Congratulations to all concerned.
Monday, March 8, 2021
Miniature Meeya Meefla
So detailed one can almost feel the humidity, smell the mildew & see the "palmetto bugs". Best modeling of trash & general detritus I've seen, too. Quite the industrial wasteland. Note that there are no tiny scale humanoids. Inspiring.
Sunday, March 7, 2021
Wknd. Up-Date
Visited the croaker Fri., bitched about lack of vax; he said they'd been trying to contact me to set up a vaccination. Whatever. The ringer's off, & if I don't see your call announced on the telebision, you (& I) are S.O.L.
Anyhoo, the doc put the staff on it & this reporter is scheduled to be poked w/ "PT COVID-19 VACCINE DOSE 1" later in the wk., at Ronald Reagan (Hock! Ptui!!) U.C.L.A. Medical Center. (Beats County-U.S.C., & I say that as a Southern Cal semi-alum.) Only an hr. on the bus, & they accept people w/o wheels. Not that air-polluters won't be catered to.
If I contract the fucking plague on the bus to Westwood will the vaccine do any good?
The doctor also noted that the gummint or whoever's handing out the vaccines "doesn't trust doctor's offices w/ the vaccine". Interesting.
Less interesting to others but I'll note it for the record: Dropped 11 lbs. (almost five keys) in the last two-&-a-half months, just from cutting back on baked goods, cheese, bread, iced coffees, soft drinks & other horse pucky. If my ass ever stops hurting & I start exercising ...
Zzzzzzzz ...
Sorry. Had to lie down for a while after thinking about exercise.
Other good news: Blood pressure down 10 mmHg. systolic & 4 mmHg. diastolic, O2 saturation 97%. Tympanic temperature 97.4°F (36.33333°C): Heart remains black & lips are still cold, to coin a phrase.
Cracker Asshole Of The Day
Is your wife a ho? If not, maybe she should try harder.
Pastor Stewart Allen-Clark tells congregation that women need to work harder to look good for men. “I’m not saying every woman can be the epic trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump. Most women can’t be trophy wives, but you know ... maybe you’re a participation trophy.” pic.twitter.com/5GfyqIeQZw
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 6, 2021
Oh Shut Up, Duce-Hat
Stupidest/Phoniest Question Of The Day:
You might try some of the self-censorship the Seuss estate/publishers used. (Note the word "self", you dipshit moron.) Don't tell us you've never typed a column you later wanted to bury, you sack of Gawd-deluded reactionary idiocy.Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Do Liberals Care if Books Disappear? — The Dr. Seuss cancellation illustrates all the problems that they used to have with censorship. — From the idealistic liberalism of my high school English teachers, I learned that to try to get rid of offensive literature is the great sin of easily triggered rubes.
And fuck The NYT for giving him column inches. Gee-zus!!
Sunday Bloody Selma, Hitler Occupies Rhineland, Kubrick Dies
Bonus Selma footage included.Fucking Nazis.
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Make Up Your Mind!
Nothing wrong w/ the local weather. No wonder there are no vaccines.
Lying incompetents. Eight days from there to here?
Friday, March 5, 2021
Scummy Senator Sinema
How many faces do you have, anyway? (Hope that's not "sexist".) Be honest & run as a Republican next time.
— M. Bouffant (@MBouffant) March 6, 2021
America Eats Its Young & Its Old
Threat & Promise: I'm taking as many of you pigs w/ me as I can. How can you stupid fucks forget what it was like to be young, while ignoring how you'll be treated when you're old & wretched? Middle-aged assholes are the root of all our problems.
You've nothing to live for, you won't be living much longer, vaccine or no, & you've been treated like shit by this pig society since you were born; I don't understand why you haven't armed yourselves & started shooting. (You said you were angry. Act on it, chickenshits!) Or gotten hold of a car & shown these useless little punks something. VRROOOM!!! VRROOOOM!!!'I thought it would be a priority when you're 88 years old and that someone would inform me.'
Jean Andrade, an 88-year-old who lives alone, has been waiting for her COVID-19 vaccine since she became eligible under state guidelines nearly a month ago. She assumed her caseworker would contact her about getting one, especially after she spent nearly two days stuck in an electric recliner during a recent power outage.
It was only after she saw a TV news report about competition for the limited supply of shots in Portland, Oregon, that she realized no one was scheduling her dose. A grocery delivery service for homebound older people eventually provided a flyer with vaccine information, and Andrade asked a helper who comes by for four hours a week to try to snag her an appointment.
"I thought it would be a priority when you're 88 years old and that someone would inform me," said Andrade, who has lived in the same house for 40 years and has no family members able to assist her. "You ask anybody else who's 88, 89, and don't have anybody to help them, ask them what to do. Well, I've still got my brain, thank God. But I am very angry."
Older adults have top priority in COVID-19 immunization drives the world over right now, and hundreds of thousands of them are spending hours online, enlisting their children's help and traveling hours to far-flung pharmacies in a desperate bid to secure a COVID-19 vaccine. But an untold number like Andrade are getting left behind, unseen, because they are too overwhelmed, too frail or too poor to fend for themselves.
The urgency of reaching this vulnerable population before the nation's focus turns elsewhere is growing as more Americans in other age and priority groups become eligible for vaccines. With the clock ticking and many states extending shots to people as young as 55, nonprofits, churches and advocacy groups are scrambling to find isolated elders and get them inoculated before they have to compete with an even bigger pool — and are potentially forgotten about as vaccination campaigns move on.
An extreme imbalance between vaccine supply and demand in almost every part of the United States makes securing a shot a gamble. In Oregon, Andrade is vying with as many as 750,000 residents age 65 and older, and demand is so high that appointments for the weekly allotment of doses in Portland are snapped up in less than an hour. On Monday, the city's inundated vaccine information call line shut down by 9 a.m., and online booking sites have crashed.
Amid such frenzy, the vaccine rollout here and elsewhere has strongly favored healthier seniors with resources "who are able to jump in their car at a moment's notice and drive two hours" while more vulnerable older adults are overlooked, said James Stowe, the director of aging and adult services for an association of city and county governments in the bistate Kansas City area.
"Why weren't they the thrust of our efforts, the very core of what we wanted to do? Why didn't it include this group from the very outset?" he said of the most vulnerable seniors.
Some of the older adults who have not received vaccines yet are so disconnected they don't even know they are eligible. Others realize they qualify, but without internet service and often email accounts, they don't know how to make an appointment and can't get to one anyway — so they haven't tried.
Still others have debilitating health issues that make leaving home an insurmountable task, or they are so terrified of exposure to COVID-19 that they'd rather go unvaccinated than risk venturing out in public to get a shot.
In Kansas City, Missouri, 75-year-old Pat Brown knows she needs the vaccine because her asthma and diabetes put her at higher risk of serious COVID-19 complications. But Brown hasn't attempted to schedule an appointment and didn't even know if they were being offered in her area yet; she says she is too overwhelmed.
"I don't have no car, and it's hard for me to get around places. I just don't like to go to clinics and have to wait because you have to wait so long," Brown said, adding that she is in constant pain because of spinal arthritis. "I couldn't do it. My back would give out...and I don't have the money to take a cab."
The pandemic has also closed senior centers, libraries and churches — all places where older Americans might remain visible in their communities and get information about the vaccine. And some public health departments at first relied on mass emails and text messages to alert residents they were eligible, thereby missing huge chunks of the senior population.
"Do you think everyone has internet access? Do you really think everyone has email?" Denise LaBuda, spokeswoman for the Council on Aging of Central Oregon, said. "We just don't know where they all are. They have to raise their hand — and how do they raise their hand?"
To counter access disparities, the Biden administration said Wednesday that it will partner with health insurance companies to help vulnerable older people get vaccinated for COVID-19. The goal is to get 2 million of the most at-risk seniors vaccinated soon, White House coronavirus special adviser Andy Slavitt said.
Slavitt says insurers will use their networks to contact Medicare recipients with information about COVID-19 vaccines, answer questions, find and schedule appointments for first and second doses and coordinate transportation. The focus will be on reaching people in medically underserved areas.
Non-profits, churches and advocates for older people have already spent weeks figuring out how to reach disadvantaged Americans over age 65 through a patchwork and grassroots effort that varies widely by location.
Some are partnering with charities like Meals on Wheels to distribute vaccine information or grocery-delivery programs like the one which alerted Andrade. Others are mining library card rosters, senior center membership lists and voter registration databases to find disconnected older people.
Reaching out through organizations and faith groups that marginalized older Americans already trust is key, said Margaret Scharle, who developed a vaccine outreach toolkit for her Roman Catholic parish in Oregon. The "low-tech" approach, which other charities started using, relies on door-knocking, paper brochures and scripted phone calls to communicate with residents over 65.
"Once you've been blocked so many times in trying to make an appointment, you might give up. So we are working as hard as we can to penetrate the most marginalized communities, to activate networks that are already existing," said Scharle, who after the initial contact offers assistance with scheduling appointments and transportation.
In Georgetown, South Carolina, a rural community where many of the 10,000 residents are the descendants of slaves, the local NAACP chapter is using its rolls from a November get-out-the-vote drive to get the oldest citizens out for the vaccine. Chapter president Marvin Neal said they are trying to reach 2,700 people to let them know they are eligible for a shot and to offer help booking appointments.
Many of those individuals don't have internet service or transportation, or suffer from medical issues like dementia, he said.
"Some are not even aware that the vaccine is even in their community, that's the challenge," Neal said. "It's like they're just throwing up their hands in the air and hoping somebody steps in. Because all the ones I have talked to want the vaccine. I haven't had one yet that didn't say, 'Sign me up.'"
Outreach workers are also identifying holes in the system that prevent the most vulnerable seniors from accessing shots. For example, a dial-a-ride service in a rural part of Oregon doesn't take passengers beyond their town limits, meaning they can't get to their county's mass vaccination site. In the same region, only the largest city has a public bus system.
Such obstacles underscore what outreach workers say is a huge demand for mobile vaccine clinics. Some local governments and non-profit organizations are partnering with paramedics and volunteer groups that specialize in disaster response to inoculate the hardest-to-reach seniors.
In South Carolina, pharmacist Raymond Paschal purchased a van and a $3,000 refrigerator to start a mobile clinic for underserved areas, but his independent pharmacy in Georgetown can't get ahold of any vaccine.
"There's a lot of people falling through the cracks," Paschal said. "These older people who have still not received their vaccine, they're going to have all this younger generation they have to compete with. So we've got to get to these older people first."
[Allegedly from the AP.]
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