Elise Sereni Patkotak

So we have Mike Pence in charge of America’s corona virus response. How adorable. A man with no scientific background who believes you can pray the gay away is going to save us from a pandemic. Why doesn’t this make me feel safer?

I do have some questions for our new Chief Medical Person – questions that have nothing to do with the obvious one of how someone with no scientific knowledge gets to censor the results of real scientists in giving the official government response.

My first question is how will we separate the men and women so they Continue reading →

If you don’t like Joe Biden because he isn’t Bernie Sanders then you have my sympathy. Up to a point. And that point is where you stay home and, out of spite, don’t vote for the Democratic candidate – whoever it might be. And let’s be real, it’s becoming more and more apparent that Biden is going to get it.

Do I like Biden? He doesn’t do it for me on any level. But that no longer matters. What matters is that unless the Dems get their shit together over the candidate that wins the nomination, we will be looking Continue reading →

My Snowy may be a small dog in size but his heart is as big as all outdoors. And I found out just how noble and courageous a dog he is yesterday.

I guess I need to start by stating that I have never been a nap person. In my youth, if I went to bed I wanted it to be for a good night’s sleep. Naps just left me groggy during the day and unable to sleep at night.

This has all changed with the advent of advanced middle age. I suddenly find myself napping at the most inopportune Continue reading →

I just want two things to happen before I die. I want the Democrats to get their act together and actually win the presidency. And I want Donald Trump and his immediate family to go to jail.

I probably have a better chance at the latter than the former. The Dems are never organized. It seems as though the Rs whip their followers into shape through fear and intimidation and their followers believe every word they hear and immediately form a solid wall.

The Ds don’t do fear and intimidation quite as well. In fact, they don’t know how to Continue reading →

I read all the info on this COVID19 and felt pretty safe if I took some basic measures. Being the person who is considered vulnerable due to multiple other health issues, I wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing.

I checked out face masks and found they were as useful as leeching when it came to this virus. I quickly figured out that for the next little while I should probably stay close to home and away from crowds. I washed my hands as often as I could. I did everything I am supposed to do to Continue reading →

Being sick when you are a kid comes with all kinds of perks. For one, if it’s during the school year, you get to miss school and watch tv all day instead. Your mother brings you comforting food and says comforting things. You are not responsible for any chores. Your siblings are jealous.

But this all goes away if you are an adult who is sick. You call in sick to work if you can but you worry the whole time about the work not getting done. Or worse, about your rival picking up all your projects and doing them Continue reading →

I wish I could believe on some level that Bernie Sanders can win the presidency and defeat Donald Trump. But I don’t. I will vote for him because, as I have stated so recently and often, I would vote for my pet rock before I’d vote for Trump. And I will vote, no matter who is running against him.

But here’s the thing. Bernie’s enthusiastic supporters are not a cross section of the voters he needs to win the election. Mind you, neither are Trump’s but he also has the entire Republican party marching in goose step with him for Continue reading →

I have a pair of faded jeans. They are basically two washes away from not existing. I always look in the washer and think I’m just going to see some blue fuzz where the pants used to be

But they are my “home” pants. They are so worn that the elastic waist barely holds them up. Every ten steps or so, I have to pull them up again. They match perfectly with the rotating line of Kivgiq sweatshirts I wear with them. The sweatshirts are all from the 1990s. They are as worn as the pants. Ergo – they match. Continue reading →

We went to war twenty years ago in Afghanistan because the Taliban were a terrorist organization that did not have legitimacy to rule and harbored Al Qaeda. Now, twenty years later, we are negotiating with them to allow them to rule again. Because, as we all know, once we’re out of there, they will do whatever the hell they want.

So given that the Taliban is still pretty terroristic, and given that we are about to hand them a destroyed country while wishing them the best of luck, what exactly have we accomplished there?

Well, we have created a generation Continue reading →

Rush Limbaugh has advanced lung cancer. Many of you who have just read that for the first time are probably now trying desperately to repress the first thoughts that spring into your mind because you feel bad that you have them. Well, buck up. You are not alone.

I can’t shake the feeling that if I put into writing my first thoughts upon hearing this news I’ll go directly to a hell I’m guessing he’ll also occupy.

I don’t express those thoughts – ok, ok, let’s just say that ran along the lines of hoping he suffers and dies slowly… Continue reading →