Six Flags Over Georgia Accident - Plus - "Class Action Park" and Other Amusement Parks in the 80s and 90s.

 

So as mentioned in my first post yesterday, I was already going to right a post about a documentary I watched over this rainy weekend on HBO Max called "Class Action Park" - the most dangerous amusement park in U.S. history.

I mean, I'm survived we 80s and 90s kids survived any of these amusement parks and water parks, because there were virtually no safety regulations followed or checked!

However, despite improved safety conditions and checked, accidents can still happen.

Because on Monday, a man was ejected from the train of the Goliath roller coaster and was killed. Six Flags has closed  9  similar rides throughout the US as a precaution.

So I grew up about 20 minutes from Kings Island in Cincinnati and I had a season pass. As a child, I was terrified of roller coasters and didn't ride them, but loved them as a young adult and adult.

I remember there were virtually no safety features anywhere, and if there were, the 16-year-olds  - many of whom were my friends and classmates - were running the rides and never checked to see if they were latched properly back then. They were too busy hanging out, flirting, and having a great time! 😂

Ah, 80s kids, the "latchkey" generation with little supervision - assuming everything and everyone was safe, though it so was NOT!

The biggest problem, however, is that at that time, they sold unlimited beer and liquor at Kings Island - which of course resulted in a plethora of accidents over time, such that they stopped selling it for a time, but they do again now, and I'm just waiting for another accident to happen.

I remember an incident in 1982 on Grad Night, a drunken kid tried to ride atop the elevator on the Eiffel Tower and was killed.  Later, another woman passed out drunk on a ride and was so lax, she slipped right through the bars. And in 1989, someone drunk fell in the water pond and was electrocuted, as was the security guard who tried to save him, due to an open electrical wire in the pond. Then, of course, The Bat was shut down due to multiple injuries, just being a rough ride.

Even by the time my daughter was born, though things had vastly improved, there were still issues at times - just not as many.

In fact, true story - on July 9, 2006, my exhusband, myself, and his son and my daughter all went to Kings Island. At that time Paramount Studios had bought it and renamed many of the rides after movies and it was generally considered safer.

My ex wanted to ride "Son of Beast" that day.

Although I loved the original The Beast, there was something about the angles on that particular coaster I didn't like, so despite loving roller coasters, I never rode it.

My ex and his son were heading out after lunch and ride it.

Of course, I wasn't going to ride it, and my daughter was wary of it already, too, so we were going to do something else.

However, I got a chill and said "Please don't ride that today, okay? I'm telling you, something bad is going to happen. Promise me you and K won't ride it. I don't think he's tall enough anyway yet."

At first, he laughed, but at the time, he also knew that when I got that sense that strong, to listen to it.

So they didn't -- but sure enough, about the time they would've gotten on it, Son of Beast had an accident injuring 27 people!

We suddenly heard sirens and saw ambulances driving through the park, and when we asked people what happened, they said they shut the ride down, multiple injuries.

My ex-husband turned to me, white as a sheet - "OMG, it WAS that sense you get sometimes!"

A cracked wooden support beam and fractured vertical members in the Rose Bowl (the large elevated helix) caused a 5-inch sag in the track structure. As a result, the train slammed into this damaged section at high speed and riders experienced a severe "pothole effect," comparable to hitting a brick wall.

The ride never reopened. 

(I don't get "senses" like that as much as I used to, not in years, with the exception of my own car accident a month ago. However, I had no idea it was going to be a car crash - just that "something bad is about to happen, but it's going to be okay." First one I've had in literally years.)

Back to the safety of the rides in the 80s and 90s (or the lack thereof), Mark and I just watched a documentary called "Class Action Park" on HBO Max this past weekend.

It's about the most infamous amusement and water park of all time, "Action Park" in northern New Vernon, New Jersey.

So of course I can't share the full documentary here, but here are the highlights - narrated by former teen employees, some of whom are now comedians - so it's both hilarious and disturbing!

I mean, you're laughing because it's so anything goes and crazy unsafe rides - to the degree that if you didn't come back to school in the Fall with a battle scar from Action Park, then you weren't "tough" enough. 😂

Now - some of these rides shown in the video don't seem that bad because we have safer versions today (we hope), so in that way, many of these things were ahead of their time, only no one cared or even checked for safety.

Others should've never existed in the first place for humans or any living creature! 😂

This video doesn't even cover it, you have to see the full documentary to get it - drunken people setting stuff on fire or  trying to jump their boats over other boats, but landing instead on people's heads, chasing employees down in the race cars - we're talking full-on anarchy chaos! 

While watching it, I said to Mark "Yeah, so ...  you and your brother, S, would've been all about this park, growing up, had it been near Detroit, wouldn't you?"  😂

Like I said, you really have to see the full documentary to get a full picture of how dangerous it actually was - there were at least 7 known fatalities from this park in and a plethora of other injuries, some of them permanently disabling!

So why - and how did this go on so long without anyone shutting it down?

That's a good question - here's what went wrong.

For starters, the park's creator, Gene Mulvihill, took funding for the park from disgraced Wall Street trader, Bob Brennan, who was banned from Wall Street for selling penny junk stocks and bonds.

(I mean, how sociopathic do you have to be to get kicked off Wall Street in the 1980s, I ask you? 😂)

Both men were nearly of an anarchist mindset, believing in no rules and total freedom, no government intervention.

1).  Instead of hiring actual engineers to design and build the rides, they took any Joe Schmoe off the street to design and build the rides. 

2) No one would insure him, so Gene created his own fake insurance company in the Cayman Islands  which didn't exist.

3) They only had to report to the state "serious" injuries, but left the word "serious" up to park interpretation.

4) The park performed no safety inspections at all. They did have state safety inspections, Gene often gave lavish gifts to the community, particularly lawmakers, so nothing was ever cited or done. The park also brought in tons of tourist income to the tiny rural city of New Vernon, New Jersey, so many looked the other way.

5)  All attraction employees were under the age of 18 and often went off leaving rides - especially at the waterpark - unsupervised or did nothing to help struggling kids.

6). With lawsuits, Gene never settled and would drag out cases until they went to court, so none of them were ever settled - and in fact, one of the fatalities was blamed on a rock in the park the kid's head hit, rather than the ride itself he was thrown from! (This despite the state safety inspection previously ordering them to remove the rocks.) Thus, Gene - and his fake insurance company -  never paid a dime to the families of the dead or permanently disabled.

7). They sold alcohol without ever checking IDs or putting a limit on clearly inebriated patrons.

8) Gene never paid state or federal taxes, which went on for years, until finally he went to prison for 10 years for tax evasion, insurance fraud, and money laundering - but never for the fatalities or injuries that occured at his park.

Ah, white-collar crime that "harm's no one" (but actually harms the most amount of people) - Trump's favorite!

Speaking of Trump, he very nearly invested in Action Park himself, but pulled out at the last minute after a fatality had just occurred.

Once again - how sociopathic and fraudulent do you have to be, such that Trump won't even invest in it? 😂

And I thought Kings Island was bad!

Good Lord, how in the heck did we survive this stuff in the 80s?  😂

See, this is why we need a good balance between government oversight (for health and safety, consumer protection, and justice that preferably money can't buy you out of) VS. capitalism - when either side goes unchecked for too long and wields too much power, we have major issues!

For the rest, watch the documentary!

In The Meantime, THIS Happened in Lex

 (Edited.)

So Malone's is known to be the best restaurant in town (arguably, but generally known as such).

RFK Jr. apparently recently ate there and now they have this plaque up ...

As the commenter who posted this on Reddit said "Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Malone's."

Yeah, um ... now I'm afraid to even go in there, I might catch measles or COVID? 😂

"Yes, lemme have the "RFK Jr. Worm-Ate-My-Brain Special," with a side of measles and COVID!  Heck, let's throw all caution to the wind and add on the "Comeback Combo Platter" - chocked full of TB, polio and smallpox, for extra kick." 😂

Health and Legal Update

Just a quick update on my health status after car accident, and then I'll move on to another post about the mostly unfortunately hilarious documentary we watched this weekend, while laid up AND due to Hurricane Isaias rain, "Class Action Park." 😂

So as mentioned previously, the CT scan of the chest, abdomen and pelvis with contrast revealed a small aortic thrombus (blood clot in the aorta), which we thought was an incidental finding; thus, my PCP referred me to a local vascular surgery group.

A few days later, after seeing my neurosurgeon, they questioned whether or not the thrombus was caused by my accident, because it directly correlated to the L1 vertebral fracture at all angles.

When I went to see the vascular surgeon - this guy being the newest at that practice and surprisingly easy to see quickly - he said that he believed it was an incidental finding caused by plaque burden and needed no treatment.

He is also the physician I mentioned previously that although very nice, had a lot of alternative medicine ideas not scientifically proven, including telling me that I could reduce my existing plaque burden back to 0% by eating a vegan diet (not scientifically proven) - but more importantly, prescribed no treatment at all for an aortic mural thrombus, which is atypical.

My neurosurgeon at Baptist Health disagrees - on both points - that the thrombus is purely incidental (and not least affected by the crash), as well as more importantly, that an aortic mural thrombus received no treatment at all regardless.

I mean, it very well may be no treatment for an aortic mural thrombus because of its size, but most literature says anticoagulants at a minimum?

And considering this guy also said I could get rid of already-existing plaque entirely with a vegan diet, his treatment - or the lack thereof - becomes suspect, at the very least. 😂

Thus, Neurosurgery referred me to a cardiothoracic surgeon and vascular surgeon at Baptist Health, who specializes in aortic diseases and disorders, and I am getting an MRI, both to tell us the approximate age of the injuries, any trauma to vessel wall tissue, as well as more about the plaque burden in the aorta (although the best way is, of course, an angiogram).

As far as legal matters, my case has been moved from pre-prelitigation to prelitigation/litigation status. This means we may  need to file a lawsuit depending on their other driver's insurance settlement offer. 

Although we could go after mechanical failure for the airbag not deploying properly, that could take up to a decade to resolve. 

Thus, my attorney, Carl, will include in his rebuttal settlement request both the severity of the injuries - and they are in the "severe" category even without the aortic thrombus (but not catastrophic) - as well as financial/income loss (which will include not only lost wages, but tripling our financial issues with the new car we had just bought being totalled, car rental, etc.)

Otherwise, I'm healing up fairly quickly, but I have good days and bad days.

If I ride in a car or walk on uneven ground or clean my house - particularly with lots of bending and stooping - I will invariably pay for it the next day!

It's so frustrating. I keep forgetting I'm not 25 years old anymore!

Though, as mentioned, I'm really good with pain, when it starts to go on forever, I become impatient!

It's like labor - I was really great for like the first 15 hours, but the last hour I was like "Okay, I'm done, let's get 'er done. " 😂

Of course, when you're in labor, this feeling is helped along by the "transition" phase just before birth, when your hormones drop and go the wildest. This is when you see women cry or yell at people, etc., partly from exhaustion and partly from "transition" hormone drop. (I didn't yell at anyone or anything during labor, btw. )

In fact, just thinking about that a bit more, here's how my labor went - stopping the story just before she was born because I get all sappy and emotional about that part, saving that time just for me 

So my water broke first, and it wasn't just a gush, it was a trickle with no pain yet. I called my OB.

Dr. V: "Go get checked out - you probably have a pinhole leak which means you're ready. 

Me: "Are you sure? I'll feel so stupid if I'm not."

Doc V: "Well, you wouldn't be the first woman to be in false labor, Braxton-Hicks contractions are build-up and difficult to differentiate anyway, but a trickle isn't typical. What do you think/feel? Do you feel like you're about to go into labor and it's your water breaking?"

Me: "I kinda do."

Doc V: "In my 30 years of practice, one thing I've learned is, listen to women about their own bodies. Women's instincts usually know before there are clinical signs and we do. Trust yourself and your body."

 

Go Dr. V - and that was 32 years ago!

Wish more docs were like him now - and yep, btw - I sure was going into labor!

So I called Z and my little sister.

Z drove to get me (and my little sister) in his gray Saab.

He and my little sister were nervous as cats.  😂

I was surprisingly calm for an otherwise anxiety-ridden girl. I mean, I did have 9 months to deal with it.

I remember stopping everyone before we got in the car and saying "Wait, stop - look at the sky, the sunset. I want to remember everything - even what the sky looked like."

Then we go and they would only let Z in with me. 

I had no pain for the first hour or so, then my water finally fully broke like a dam busting.

I refused anything for pain, preferring distraction method and no drugs affecting the baby (although if you do need this women, do it, because pain level can affect your blood pressure and thus baby, too, no shame.)

I wanted to walk around to help distract from pain, like wander down the hall to look at the new babies in the delivery window, or go talk to family and friends outside the room, but they wouldn't let me due to risk of infection with water-breakage first, which was the belief at that time (not sure if it still is)? 

(I was thinking, "Okay, some women literally plop out a baby like near a tree, while working in a field, then go back to planting fields, but y'all won't let me do anything but sit in this bed and have nothing to focus on BUT pain or eat anything but ice chips, like I'm an invalid?" - but I never said so, I just did what they told me too lol.)

There was nothing on TV late but women's volleyball, which is only entertaining to a degree, and Z was fast asleep in the chair next to me.

Doo do doo.

So I started thinking of happy places we'd go after she was born, and I went to sleep for a little while, then the contractions got closer together and became more intense.

At one point, I specifically felt/heard what felt like a ratcheting up of my cervix, with like an audible "crack, crack, CRACK" and the pain intensified rapidly.

I called the nurse to ask if everything was okay.

She said "Well, I just checked you an hour ago and you were only at 3 cm."

I said, "Can you please just check? I heard like a cracking sound and it feels like something's ratcheting up lol."

So at that time, nurses had to literally put their fingers in there to judge cervical opening distance, so no one was particularly eager to do that, but I sensed something had changed. 

So she checked and sure enough, my cervix had opened from 3 to 6 cm, just like that.

It's highly unusual, but it happens - it happened with my mom, too, with us.

In fact, it famously happened with me - my head was actually crowning by the time they figured it out lol.

They asked me if I wanted anything for pain now, I said Tylenol.

More women's volleyball.

More Z snoring in the corner chair.

More of me thinking of happy things and happy places I'd take her to once she was here, until I drifted off to sleep again.

So up until the last hour, in between contractions, I'd pass out asleep between intense contractions from pure exhaustion, but when one came on, I'd grip both handles on the side of the bed and go "Okay, here we go. Let's go!" 😂

I can't explain it, but Xena, warrior princess - or my inner "Ripley" came out during labor, or really anything emergent that I have to face without choice.  😂 

Most of the time, I'm afraid of my own shadow, but when that mode gets tripped, it's on!

EXCEPT - during transition.

I just started randomly crying out of nowhere and going "I can't do it, I'm done. You're just gonna have to take her out of me because I can't do it (sniff, sniff)" 😂

I can't explain it, I wasn't sad or anything - it just felt good to cry, like a release.

I had 2 nurses, one white and one black. 

They both laughed and said "Um, girl, you don't have any choice! You've just reached transition, full 10 cm dilation, so your hormones are going wild, that's why you're emotional now, it's okay and normal."

White Nurse: "Okay, try lying on your side."

 

Eff THAT - it made everything worse, especially the back pain. 

She said it was a theory she just read about, but "clearly didn't work "for me. 

(Probably because since that time, it's used primarily only at the beginning of/early labor -  and for later labor, ONLY for people who've had an epidural already to help pushing when numb  - AND there's supposed to be a "peanut" pillow between your knees to take pressure off the back!)

Thus, trying this "new" side position near the end of labor with no epidural or a peanut pillow between my knees hurt my lower back so badly that I was thinking in my head "Eff your theory. Eff the sadistic, misogynistic, Dr. Mengele who came up with it  - it's counterintuitive and goes against your center of gravity! And eff ME for being a willing guinea-pig participant in this effed-up experiment!" - but I didn't say ANY of that  😂

I was pretty shy/polite back then. I'm still polite, but the shyness has subsided over time.

Black Nurse: "You do whatever you gotta do to get through this, no judgment. Just don't hit anybody 😂. In my experience, women usually either turn it inwards on themselves and cry or they get all mad and lash outwards and blame other people at transition, depending on their nature.  You turn inward. And you're still so polite lol." 

"The sudden crying and being scared you're not strong enough just means you're in transition. Totally normal, it's release of hormones/hormone drop. It means it's about time to push. Give it about 45 more minutes, Baby, and this will all be over, I promise."

Me: "Okay, well, can I have an epidural now, please?"

White Nurse: "Ha! Way too late for that! Come on, you've done this without anything for pain, you can do this!  Most women have had 2 epidurals and are on heavy pain meds,  by now, doing Lamaze like crazy! The worst you're doing is crying now, from exhaustion and hormone drop, you can do this! 

Black Nurse: "Girl, you've been like Xena, Warrior Princess until now, this means you're so close! You can do this, Baby. 😂  Okay, now - like I said, it's time to push. Push now! PUSH!"

Then they turned to my daughter's father, half-asleep in the chair.

 

White Nurse: "Come on, Dad, get up there and encourage her, we're in the home stretch."

Z: (In a whiny, little-boy-who-just-woke-up voice): "I'm tired! I got no sleep last night."

(Keep in mind, we were 25 years old.)

White nurse puts her hands on her hips and just glares at him with a thin-lipped face.

Black Nurse: "Boy, I know you better get up out that chair and help her, you think YOU'RE tired and got no sleep? Get up 'out that chair, what's wrong with you?"

 😂 😂 😂

Hehehe - never heard anyone else talk to Z like that, even his mother (who perhaps should have sometimes).

 You could tell he didn't like it, but he did it, at least.

Go nurses at what was then Humana Hospital! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

Then he gets over the bed, takes one look at me with an oxygen mask on (her heart rate was a little too fast) and says "Wow, this is real."

Black nurse puts her arm around him/pats him on the back and says "Yeah, Baby, this is real now. And it's about to get REAL real in less than an hour when that baby gets here! You're gonna be okay. But come on, now, she needs you. THEY need you. Hold her hand, rub her back, talk to her real soft, whatever she needs."

Z grabs my hand, and not being very good at encouragement, begins to say things to me you'd say to basketball players during a game, like "Come on, Chrystal, get back in there! 😂

It was kind of cute, actually - he had no clue, but he did try at that point lol. 

Poor men don't know what to do to help in general, because this is something they can't fix or control, they feel powerless already - add to that Z wasn't one for encouragement or affection anyway lol. 

So for me, it was actually 2 hours of pushing because she was breech and the cord was around her neck - thus her rapid heart rate and the broken blood vessels in my face in pictures later  - but Dr. Voss was a pro, he got it done with no after-effects, she was perfectly healthy - and the rest is history!

Again, that part - the best day of my life, the arrival of Baby M - is a memory reserved just for me. I get all sappy when I tell it anyway 😂

Premiere Week - But Where Are My "Ghosts?" Oh, That's Right - Trump Takeover at CBS/Paramount

  

Though network TV has taken a backseat to streaming platforms, there are a few network shows I watch. Not many, but a few - Ghosts, Scrubs (reboot), Abbott Elementary, and Best Medicine, 

My absolute favorite of these - and the #1 comedy series in the U.S. for the past 5 years - has been "Ghosts" on CBS. 

The concept series began in the UK, and we adapted an American version in 2021.

Now, France, Germany, and Australia have their own versions.

Oh, but wait, what's this?

Despite being the #1 comedy in America, CBS moved "Ghosts" to January to become a midseason replacement for anything canceled, with the exception of a Halloween special on October 29th.

Why, you ask?

The official reason given is "more family friendly television on primetime."

Translation: A main "ghost" character came out as gay, and since Trump's government has essentially taken over CBS/Paramount - complete with a takeover of 60 Minutes, forcing the cancelation of Stephen Colbert's late night talk show despite its ratings -  and recently, coming after Chuck Lorre's (who does nearly all of CBS sitcoms) -  any show that even lightly mentions being gay must go.

So ... can't you just move it to later in the evening?

Because it's not like that character, or any character, is having sex on screen.

And let me get this straight ...

So you're okay with nearly all of your current shows containing shoot-em-up, graphic violence - particularly anything by Taylor Sheridan ...

...  but because a ghost came out as gay on Ghosts without ever showing any sex scenes for any character -  you axe it for the fall, though the #1 comedy in the U.S.???

This moral paradox reminds me of a story of when my daughter was little and we were at my grandparents.

She was about 2, playing in the room with me while I watched "Friends."

All of the sudden, my grandma shouted out:

Granny: "I heard at church one of the characters is gay. M, come in here with me!"

 

Me: "First of all, no - it's a main character's ex-wife and she's barely ever on there and nothing sexual when she is. Second of all, she's not watching TV, she's playing -  and you can't 'catch' gayness from watching TV anyway!!!" 😂

 

Granny:  "You don't know that. M, come in here with me and watch DIAGNOSIS MURDER." 

 

So I'm thinking ...

WHAT. THE. ACTUAL ???  😂

So you're okay with my 2-year-old watching DIAGNOSIS MURDER, but because some rare side character on a show is gay, never showing any PDA or sex - she can't even be in the same room? 😂

I'm confused - what are you saying? 

Since you believe you can "catch" things from watching TV, then you'd rather her grow up to be a serial killer than gay? 😂

My grandfather just started chuckling and said "Oh, Lord, Dolores, just let her play where she wants to, she's not watching TV or understanding what's going on anyway."

My grandfather was actually very progressive and rivaled my other grandfather for being the 2 most intelligent men I've ever known, despite his being a poor farmer who only graduated from 8th grade.

His attitude came about because his orderly/nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital was the locally famous drag queen/trans, Sweet Evenin' Breeze, whom he said held his hand and sang hymns to him all night at Good Sam, when he was in the worst pain of his life with appendicitis in the 1940s.

Mural commemorating James Herndon/Sweet Evenin' Breeze in downtown Lexington. 

EVERYBODY loved "Sweets" in Lexington - and I DO mean everybody, conservatives and liberals alike.

Sweets was one of the few socially acceptable drag queen/trans "Mamas" before RuPaul.

So the story goes, local Lexington legend James Herndon/Sweet Evenin' Breeze was abandoned at Good Samaritan Hospital by her uncle as a baby, and the staff raised her, until she grew up and became an orderly/ nurse, as well as an unofficial UK basketball cheerleader.

Not sure how much of the first part of the legend is true, but I can verify for a fact that she was an orderly/nurse for many years at GS - she took care of both of my grandparents at one time or another.

Her kindness and sense of humor were legendary - and she won everybody over and was a staple of Good Samaritan hospital. She also helped plan weddings and was a stylist for many women. 

And she loved Jesus, despite many of Jesus' people not accepting her lifestyle (and yet still couldn't help themselves when it came to loving her, as a person).

Thus, my Pap would say things like "Dolores, them people can't help it, I'm telling you! Who in their right mind would choose to be hated and feared like that? And you know yourself, Sweets was in his right mind. In fact, weren't no better soul in this world than Sweets was."

Sigh, if only everybody looked at things like my Pap did, despite being born in 1908.

But whatever, CBS/Paramount - it's your funeral.

Because that was literally the only show left I watched on CBS/Paramount.

There's only so many cop and first responder shows a person can watch.

And LGBTQ has always been with us - and the 1953 Kinsey sexuality report proved it -  reporting that 10% of  men are exclusively gay, with many others identifying as somewhere in between - and 6% of women are exclusively gay, also with many others somewhere in between.

Nobody's pushing or promoting others to become gay -  they're just eager for your acceptance of them as your friends, neighbors, and countrymen and women, rather than having to hide it anymore.

AND there has been recent clinical evidence to suggest that being LGBTQ may be related to factors at play regarding hormonal gene expression.

But Stephen Colbert, 60 Minutes, and Ghosts aren't the only thing on the chopping block this week.

The White House has just come after Chuck Lorre, the comedic genius behind almost all of CBS's comedy hits in the last 15 years  including The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, Two And a Half Men, Bob Hearts Abishola.

Apparently, Chuck Lorre took a swipe at Trump during an acceptance speech during a Project Angel Food fundraiser in Los Angeles after winning the Founders Award, which was only filmed by certain press outlets and aired exclusively on them.

He said - and I admit this was rather crude -  but again, was not mass publicly televised:

"Sure, I’d love to stand here and talk about my deep yearning for a more compassionate government, one that prioritizes the health and welfare of its citizens. But the burden of my profession demands that I take this opportunity to say a few words about that bloated orange piece of shit in the White House.”

"I’d love to express my gratitude to all the people who’ve devoted their lives to making Project Angel Food an oasis for those in need. That would be my preference"

"But because I’m a comedy writer, I have no choice but to explain how I wake up every morning, turn on CNN to see if the President of the United States had a heart attack while straining to take a dump." 

"I’d love to encourage you to pull out your wallets and contribute to this amazing organization, but my need to cause laughter forces me to question how a country can embrace a smart, educated, warm, funny first lady like Michelle Obama and somehow be OK with a surgically enhanced, cold-hearted Yugoslavian escort who clearly hates her husband," 

“I’d like to beg the [Democratic National Committee] to run from the suicidal insanity of the far-left woke culture in the coming election, [and] urge them to seek the common-sense middle ground that emanates from the hardworking, blue-collar heart and soul of America. You bet I would." 

"But once again, it’s not funny. So, I’ll just point out those hard workers will likely die of measles because Bobby Kennedy told them not to get vaccinated.”

Though not on publicly televised on any network, just news reels, because Trump's government has essentially taken over/is monitoring CBS/Paramount closely, The White House apparently heard about it and issued a publicly televised statement via White House Trump rep, David Ingle, stating the following via Fox digital:

"Chuck Lorre should immediately seek psychiatric help to treat his severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain."

So ... if a joke or clapback is funny, I laugh, regardless of politics.

This just ... isn't. 

Also, there at least has to be some element of truth in jokes or clapbacks for them to be funny - and I'm pretty sure Chuck Lorre being the most successful TV sitcom creator since the mid- 2000s is evidence enough of NOT having a "peanut-size brain."

(Not to mention, Trump Derangement Syndrome is not a real disorder - AND - if you can find even one single psychiatrist that approves of Trump's behavior that isn't also a total narcissist sociopath himself, I'll eat my computer monitor.)

In fact, none of the "jokes" that come out of Trump or the White House are very funny, witty, or even remotely clever - they seem to have the vocabulary 3rd grader.

However, Chuck Lorre's shows are mostly CBS (and recently Netflix) - so I guess Trump's now gunning for him, too?

Dang, Trump et al - if you all can't clap back with better jokes than that, like grown adults with grown adult brains, consider hiring someone to write your insult jokes?

Oh wait, that's right - you've either gotten them all canceled or are trying to -  so good luck with that - because unfortunately, most modern conservatives just aren't funny enough.

Regardless, at the end of the Season 3 premiere of Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, Lorre now took his comments publicly (whereas before they had been at a private venue, but Trump et al just made it all public) and broadcast this quote:

Hahaha - especially the end!

"I do appreciate this very public concern for my mental health. It's comforting to know that my government is looking out for me."

😂😂😂

This is why Trump hates comedians most - because the most effective we've been with countering the Cult of Trump has been by using humor - and long may it continue!

Happy Almost Halloween, From Kentucky!

 

Spotted on the road yesterday in Nicholasville 😂😂😂 ...

I think it's supposed to be a sort of ghostly tow truck?

Thus, careful where you park in Nicholasville - mwahahahahaha! 

PS - Speaking of Speculation VS. Proof: Comparing My Own "Blunt Force Trauma Injury to the Abdomen" to Ivana Trump's

 

Though I am fairly immune to jumping to conclusions without proof, that doesn't mean I don't have my own speculations about things - I just need more evidence before I believe them or don't believe them, and definitely before I pronounce it fact. 

Thus, if there is  no proof, then my questions just sit in a gray area in the meantime.

For example, ever since my main diagnosis after the crash was "blunt-force trauma injury to the abdomen," I keep thinking about the last time I heard that particular phrase.

(But keep in mind, I have little to do, while healing from my injuries 😂)

So the last time I heard that phrase of "blunt force trauma to the abdomen" was - when Ivana Trump supposedly died from falling down the stairs. 

I already thought it was odd at the time, but now I really do, since I had my own diagnosis after a car crash.

So let's compare Ivana's blunt force injury to the abdomen and mine, shall we? 

My blunt-force traumatic injury to the abdomen was obtained by going 45 miles per hour and crashing into someone turning left at a flashing yellow arrow, from an approximate distance of 10 yards apart.

Specifically, my injuries were caused by my seatbelt, and they weren't severe enough to cause internal bleeding and death. Specific contributions to this injury were: 

1).  Rapid deceleration.

2)  The front end of our car being totally smashed in towards us (the car is totalled).

3) My airbag not deploying properly, leaving the seatbelt to do all the work.  

 

In contrast, Ivana Trump dies from internal bleeding from the exact same type of injury as mine - from a simple tumble down stairs???

So my question is - how is it even possible to obtain the force, momentum, and velocity required to obtain the same exact injury as mine obtained in a car crash - blunt force traumatic injury to the abdomen - from a simple fall down stairs? 

What hit her abdomen so hard, on the way down, it could cause enough blunt-force trauma directly to the abdomen to kill her - the steps themselves? 

Alrighty, if you say so.

Help me make that make sense?

Because mine literally felt like somebody hit me as hard as they could with a baseball bat, I couldn't breathe for a few minutes!

And typically, falls down stairs resulting in death are caused by head and/or neck injuries - NOT - "blunt force trauma to the abdomen."

Because unless someone can think of something I haven't thought of, the only way this injury makes sense to me is if ... 

1.) The "fall" was from directly from a greater height to a lower height, i.e. from a higher floor directly to a lower floor, without involving stairs (over the bannister?) -  but facing forward, her abdomen landing directly on an object.  

(Of course, if she was facing forward, that would imply she either voluntarily jumped or was pushed to the next floor, rather than "fell," wouldn't it?)

- OR -

2) Somebody hit her as hard as they could at speed with a blunt object in the abdomen, such as a baseball bat (which is what the injury felt like to me) -  and THEN she fell down the stairs.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it just leaves me with questions and doesn't seem to make sense, especially after my own diagnosis of this.

See what I mean and why I question that?

Like I said, I could be wrong and I'd need more evidence - but of course, we'd likely never get any either way.

Thus, it stays in questioning mode, I'm not convinced either way - and yet the explanation we've been given doesn't make any sense, either, does it? 

Increase in Choosing Belief VS. Fact in the Medical Community (Especially Kentucky)

A little bit frustrated today with the local healthcare situation.


I feel really bad saying what I'm about to say, because this person was SUCH a nice guy, super intelligent, and spent a lot of time with us - but what also may be true is that he may be just a little bit kookaburra? 😂

I mean, we had a really good conversation about lots of things, many of which I agreed with, but others I was like "Hmm," in my head, so I just said "Oh, interesting" - not knowing what else to say about them lol


And don't get me wrong, there are some great doctors here - but good luck getting in with them.

Having said that, I do trust my PCP, my GYN (though she just moved to Western KY), and my neurosurgeons, as well as Mark's neurologist and his cardiologist.

But otherwise and typically, as I said good luck getting in with them.




Anyway, to my point ...

I was told today by an MD - someone who should know better - that you can reduce plaque buildup in your arteries by switching to a vegetarian - and especially vegan - diet.

This MD literally said that I could reduce my plaque burden back to zero, if I just became a vegetarian, especially if I could become a vegan.

Um - no. Not only has that not been tested and scientifically proven as fact rather than theory, but it may not even be possible once plaque build-up already exists.


I didn't argue this point, just listened - but from what I know from both school and medical transcription largely in cardiology, once you have plaque, you have it for life - you can't eradicate it without procedural, mechanical, physical intervention - all you can do is stabilize it and prevent it from getting worse?


I already knew this was off, but when I got home, I researched the very physician's studies that he quoted, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr.

For starters, the studies that Esselstyn did weren't out to prove vegetarian diets "cured" or "reversed" plaque buildup in arteries - the goal was to lower LDL cholesterol and thus prevent further plaque burden and cardiac events.

That much we already know and has been proven over and over.


In fact, the only mention I could find of actually reversing plaque build-up was an editorial paper written by Dr. Esselstyn that said he "believed" it could reverse plaque burden, based on a small prior study where some of the participants did show somewhat of a reversal in plaque burden, but it's not understood why just in those patients and needs further study.


In all the studies I read on his work, nowhere, at any time, did Dr. Esselstyn ever once say that ANYONE ever reduced their plaque burden back to 0%!

Though a plant-based diet can help lower your cholesterol and thereby prevent further plaque build-up and may even stabilize it, once plaque is there, at present, it can NOT be "reversed" or eradicated without physical removal (or being bypassed around) - period.


If you could, there'd be no need for interventional cardiology or cardiothoracic surgery for blockages at all and our docs would simply tell us to eat a vegan diet - but they don't. 

He also went down a rabbit hole about flock cameras and government monitoring and not trusting pharmaceutical companies in favor of natural medicine.


Um ... it's not that I DO necessarily trust these things ... I mean, flock cameras do seem to be fraught with issues, the most important of which is misidentification. Then again, they've also solved many crimes. 

As for natural versus pharmaceutical, methinks a combination of natural products and pharmaceuticals yield the best results, it's not "either/or."

Thus, I don't think it's so "either/or" or we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, just do better and monitor the monitors?

Also, when people are THAT paranoid about government monitoring, I start to wonder about them, like, "What in the heck are you doing, that you probably shouldn't be, to the degree that you think the government would target you as a nobody, with little to no power?" 😂

I mean, the vindictive. vengeful, paranoid, falsely-accusing degree to which Trump goes after his political opponents DOES worry me.

(As does his overreach like using taxpayer money to fund his political commercials, getting late-night comedians fired over free speech, and ignoring the constitution completely.)

Also, ICE's overreach and brutality is starting to scare us all!

And usually, it's the same people who trust Trump blindly without question, never realizing the smeller may be the feller.

Except Trumpers seem to justify creepy government overreach when it comes to Trump, for reasons I don't understand, - because if Obama or Biden even did any of that, they'd be in the streets with AR-15s!

I dunno, it's like I don't trust government OR corporations -  but I also don't automatically distrust them until they give me a reason not to (and some have) - especially at a local level?

And ya know, prove it to me, convince me with proof, cite your  credible sources?

Proof should still be required to support belief - always.

Don't just speculate based on little more than your own fear and something you may have misunderstood and call it fact.

Also don't cherry-pick through sources that support what you already want to believe.

Carefully consider both sides of an argument first? 

And if you still can't prove anything either way, then call it what is - your opinion and/or belief.

And context is important, even if it appears to be video proof.

Ask yourself "If not AI, what context was this said/done in and is this the full, unedited version? Are there any other possible explanations for this?" 



Back to doctors, I've also recently heard 3 doctors say they "believe" that smoking is a simply a bad habit, easily quit.

I even had one doc say "You're so logical, being logical is very important to you, so it's just so illogical that you smoke, I don't get it."

No one has ever said that smoking is a logical act.

But that way of thinking about smoking is outdated by about 30 years.

Because we've proven since that quitting smoking is NOT just a will power thing or a "bad habit" like forgetting to make your bed or eating a midnight snack when you should be dieting.

For many people, smoking is actually a true addiction, a substance use disorder - meaning nicotine is both psychologically AND physically addictive, causing intensified cravings and withdrawal symptoms, the longer you go without nicotine.

In fact, nicotine addiction is rivaled only by heroin, because it quickly and directly boosts dopamine short-term AND because more nicotine receptors are created the longer you smoke; thus, the cravings and withdrawal intensify the longer you go without (especially by the third day), until it finally drops off after about 6 weeks.

Therefore, you have to have a plan and a good replacement, both psychologically and physically for nicotine, i.e. nicotine patches AND replacement coping strategies in place for dealing with stress that you've practiced already.

So it's not it's not as simple as "Oh, it's illogical for me to smoke; thus, I'll just put them down" - because your brain has literally developed more nicotine receptors and creates cravings that intensify the longer you go without it. 

I never argue with any of these people, I just listen - but it's become clear to me that much like the political majority in the South -  especially in Kentucky, even with doctors -  belief "trumps" fact.

I did try to tell one of the clinicians the multitude of scientific studies on how smoking is physically addictive, too, very politely and she said "Yeah, yeah, yeah, studies, whatever - I believe it's just a bad habit you can easily stop."

I didn't argue, but I WAS thinking ... 

You are welcome to "believe" that all you like - but that's not what science says.

There are plenty of studies proving smoking is not JUST a matter of will power, behavior modification, and "bad habit" - it's also a true physical addiction so severe it is only rivaled by heroin.

I mean, I can want to believe that nothing but rainbows fly out of my pug's butt - and only the pug breed is capable of this  - doesn't make it truth or fact! 😂








We still need to put theories to the test through scientific method, right? 

(And I mean, if I really believed rainbows flew out of my pug's butt anyway, then I would expect someone to have my eyes and brain checked! lol)

My point is, when even doctors trained in scientific method are choosing to specifically ignore science in favor of their own beliefs, without ever testing those beliefs and theories, just as  we've seen a shift in doing so with our politics?

Houston, we've developed a huge societal problem. 

A problem that regresses, devolves, and stagnates us, rather than evolves, adapts, and progresses us towards scientific breakthroughs and better understanding.