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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Florida Fuckery

Florida Fuckery

Personal News: Valley of the Shadow

by Betty Cracker|  May 20, 202410:14 am| 638 Comments

This post is in: Florida Fuckery, Fuck Cancer, Healthcare, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It), Talk About Whatever You Want

NOTE: Gonna leave this post pinned at the top for a bit so different “shifts” see it and no repetition is necessary. In the interim, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I am and will continue reading every comment with laughter and tears and appreciation. I’ll have more to say about that later. But new content will be under this post as it’s published, and you should scroll down and read it and discuss the events of the day. After all, that’s why we’re here. :-)

I’ve been meaning to post a health update but approached the task with trepidation because I wasn’t sure how to start — it’s a lot. Since I tend toward annoying flippancy in fraught situations, let’s go with a good news/bad news format.

The good news is I’m likely to live long enough to vote AGAINST Trump (and whichever horrifying toady he horks up as running mate) and to vote FOR Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, reproductive freedom for Florida women and recreational pot for adults.

The bad news is maybe not because I’ve recently been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. The median survival time for people with my diagnosis is less than two years.

Bummer!

show full post on front page

As I’ve vaguely alluded to here over the past several months, I’ve been dealing with vexing health issues since approximately the holidays. I wasn’t trying to be mysterious about it. At first my condition seemed much less dire, though I felt awful due to severe anemia.

I felt better once that was treated, but it took a long time to get a definitive idea of what’s wrong for several reasons that are too tiresome to recount here just now.

I hope y’all will understand that I don’t have any plans to provide much further detail on this. My illness necessarily consumes so much of my life already. I’d love to have one digital oasis, populated by friends (and frenemies), where it doesn’t dominate the conversation. This could be that place!

I’m surprised at how calm I feel about the whole thing. Maybe that’s because I’ve thought about death a lot, ever since I was a depressive, hypochondriac child.

I am also NOT a spiritual person, and it turns out there ARE atheists in foxholes. But I think mostly I’m at peace with the situation because I’ve had such a good run.

I’ve shared my life for nearly 30 years with one of the smartest, kindest, funniest men on the planet — who also plays piano like an angel! Together, we raised a thoughtful, brave and intelligent child who has a professional-grade bullshit detector and an enormous heart.

Then, when the nest was empty, we found our swampy fixer-upper on a river in a wilderness so that after work, we could fish (well, he fishes while I read), ride around in our beat-up boat with cocktails at sunset and watch birds, otters, alligators, deer, wild hogs and even an occasional rogue rhesus macaque. And dream of doing all that full time someday.

That’s all pretty good! And if it ends for me earlier than expected, I don’t believe that goodness is diminished.

I am not afraid of death, but I do dread suffering. My focus going forward is to survive while staying as comfortable as possible and minimizing the effect of my illness on my family.

So, that’s all I’ve got to say about that for now, aside from this: I haven’t given up. I’m getting treatment, which has been rather hellish so far. This summer is going to suck for me!

I hope the treatment is effective. I aspire to be among those with my diagnosis who get to stick around this crowded, increasingly hot, terrible and beautiful blue-green rock on a longer-term basis.

But I’m also a realist, so I’m sharing the news with y’all as I prefer to receive such information myself: straight up.

I’ll continue to pop into comments and put up posts as I’m able. Maybe even a lot or perhaps rarely; I don’t know yet. Living in the moment is all I have left. (In truth, it’s all any of us have. Ever.)

But I’ve been writing here for more than a dozen years now, so the blog — meaning you squabbling, irascible, magnificent bastids — are a part of my life and among my chosen tribe.

I almost added “for better or worse” to the end of that sentence. Speaking for myself, it’s definitely been for the better.

Peace & love,

BC

PS: Fuck cancer!

Personal News: Valley of the ShadowPost + Comments (638)

Please Clap: The Sequel (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  April 19, 202312:56 pm| 241 Comments

This post is in: 2024 Primaries, Florida Fuckery, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

Before Trump elevated DeSantis to governor of Florida (that’s one of the rare Trump brags that’s actually true), Pudd’n Boots was a U.S. House backbencher. He returned to D.C. yesterday to meet with elected Republicans. It didn’t go so well (NYT gift link):

DeSantis Meets With Republicans on Capitol Hill, to a Lukewarm Response

Ron DeSantis has not managed much momentum from his party in Congress, where he served before becoming Florida’s governor.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Tuesday made a rare return trip to Washington, where he served in the House before his run for governor, to mingle with about a dozen Republican lawmakers.

But his journey to Capitol Hill failed to spark much momentum in his expected presidential bid among Republicans in Congress, an important group for White House aspirants…

Representative Lance Gooden of Texas, meanwhile, sent out a statement endorsing Donald J. Trump — during Mr. DeSantis’s event.

“Due diligence was my motivating factor,” Mr. Gooden said in an interview after meeting with Mr. DeSantis at the gathering. “I love Donald Trump. But I didn’t want to just jump out and endorse him out of loyalty. I made a commitment to myself that I would meet and visit with every serious contender before I made a decision. I chose today and wanted to jump back on the Trump Train.”

Man, that’s cold! As noted earlier, DeSantis donors are panicking, and Florida Republicans continue to tap out on RD 2024, despite the DeSantis campaign begging them to at least remain neutral.

The NYT says DeSantis offered extensive facetime to any House Repub who wanted it. But only about a dozen people showed up in total, presumably including the dude who texted an endorsement for Trump while DeSantis was right there in the room.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick, even in the Gormless Odious Prick party.

Undeterred, DeSantis will speak at a D.C. Heritage Foundation conference later this week, hit up an event in Texas and then undertake a whirlwind global tour with stops in Japan, Korea, Israel and the UK. I wonder if anyone in Florida will notice.

Open thread!

Please Clap: The Sequel (Open Thread)Post + Comments (241)

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