Category Archives: Random crap

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Panic attacks, #GenocideGems & Diet Coke

I drink too much Diet Coke. I have had friends tell me that it is bad for me to drink it at all but the chances of me giving it up hover around “never gonna happen” and “when monkeys fly out of my butt.” I am cutting down because I think it is causing panic attacks.

Of course, they also could be caused by other stresses. Like the rest of my life.

Stop selling #GenocideGems

In less than two weeks I have a protest scheduled in New York City. (New York City! Where Pace salsa is made!) Working with No Business with Genocide, the International Campaign for the Rohingya and the Campaign for a New Myanmar, I hope to meet up with activists in front of the US Mission to the UN and march to Harry Winston’s HQ and flagship store where I will present them with the petitions we have collected telling them to stop selling #GenocideGems that fund the brutal Myanmar military. The Associated Press contacted me and they want to come and get some good video visuals to include in a piece they are doing on oil and gas sanctions on Burma. So now I have to make sure there are some decent visuals for them to get. Now, truth be told, a group of people with the signs I am having made up with the UN as a backdrop would be a pretty sweet visual but I need there to be those people to hold the signs.

No, I am not nervous at all. That’s why when after a night where I got a whole 41 minutes of sleep, I took a nap and woke up to Ari Melber on TV and thought Fuck, Ari Melber is on TV. We are all going to die. Never mind that I have nothing against Melber, I actually like him, but that made my heart rate climb to some speed approaching that of light and I thought I was going to die. Eventually, I changed the channel and did some breathing exercises and no one died (at least not at Chateau Squirrel).

I am still working to #FreePaulRusesabagina

That’s not my only event. On January 11, 2022, I am hosting (along with Two Joke Minimum and the New York Comedy Club, No Business with Genocide and the Paul Rusesabagina Hotel Rwanda Foundation) another comedy fundraiser for Paul. I desperately want this to go well. My stress level here is high because I just feel like I need to do more for him and his family and don’t think I am doing enough. Not nearly enough.

To make matters on that front more stressful, I fell asleep watching the King of Queens and woke up to Hotel Rwanda. At first, I thought I was having some kind of auditory hallucination as I think about Rwanda a lot. I thought is this so much in my head that the movie just plays randomly in my brain? Then I turned over and it was on the TV and I was relieved that I had preserved at least a tiny amount of sanity.

No more #GenocideGems!

Here are some links to my other writing:

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What’s new, pussycat?

this pussycat is not impressed

Pussycats are the best, right?

I am going to start taking some of my more personal posts over to Medium. Wil Wheaton inspired me to do that. I just read this piece. He talks about his childhood and some of the gaslighting he was subjected to. When I read this, I thought Wow! I can totally relate to that.

So, I am going to put some new stuff up today and tomorrow. I may even post images of my two pussycats.

But, I have some news for this place. I have A LOT of comedy coming up. If you want to see me, you can check out the calendar but here are some of the places I will be:

  • October 17, 8:00 PM: Contest at Paradise Studios. 20 Broadway, Massapeaqua
  • October 20, 8:00 PM: Broadway Comedy Club, 318 W. 53rd, NYC
  • October 22, 8:00 PM: Suffolk’s Best Comic FINALS, Clyde’s (was Barton’s Place), 25A Mt. Sinai
  • November 6, 8:00 PM: St. Marks Comedy Club, 12 St. Marks Place, NYC
  • November 13, 8:00 PM: Governor’s ‘Lil Room, 90 Division Ave, Levittown

I am pretty sure I will have more to add soon. Please let me know if you have any questions.

All the cool pussycats are doing it…

New social media! There may even be a video (or more) of adorable pussycats!

I am on TikTok now!

I am also adding videos to my YouTube channel. Have you subscribed yet? Please do!

Non-pussycat news to share

Ok, I have to admit that I have recently allowed myself to be pulled into a black hole on Twitter. I wrote about this. It started when someone I know told me their parents were not vaccinated but would use #ivermectin if they got Covid. Not knowing anything about it, I was all, “Ok.”

The next day, I heard it mentioned on TV and asked, “Is ivermectin the drug you were talking about?” It was and I still didn’t have an opinion but they sent me a link to a Joe Rogan podcast and I thought, Right, I am going to take medical advice from the guy who makes people eat sheep uteruses. Not gonna happen.

The narrative this person pushes is that ivermectin is safe (it is) and effective at treating Covid (it isn’t). The reason the FDA, CDC, NIH, and WHO aren’t on board is that big pharma can’t make money off of it and are pressuring those organizations to suppress anything that counters their current stance. While I think there needs to be more transparency — especially at the FDA as they regulate pharma and receive at least 45% of their funding from the industry — in all of these organizations and I also think big pharma is evil — I don’t know if that means they are suppressing data that a cheap drug can be used here. Moreover, I know some doctors are raking in the $$$ by charging patients for consultations for the drug and not billing insurance.

Pussycats don’t tweet about ivermectin

So, I have been critical on Twitter. I have also seen a lot of misinformation. Because I need to get this out of my system before I puke, this is what I have seen and what my responses are:

  1. The Indian province of Uttar Pradesh has eradicated Covid with ivermectin. No. Just NO. If this was true, the Indian government would not have removed it fron their Covid protocol.
  2. Hundreds of members of Congress and theis staff and families have taken ivermectin. (This also has been reported as all of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House.) This was something Dr. Pierre Kory wrote about but he cited no sources. Given how rabid the GOP is, I can assure you, if they took this, they would be shouting it from the rooftops. President Biden has received all three vaccine shots on camera. None of the people I know in government have taken ivermectin.
  3. InfoWars, Breitbart, Project Veritas, and Judicial Watch are credible news sources. NO THEY ARE NOT!!! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. I have worked for organizations targeted by Breitbart/Project Veritas. InfoWars founder just lost a suit from the parents of the Sandy Hook victime. Alex Jones had been waging a campaign that the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut was a “false flag” and he has been harassing them for years. Is this the person you want to trust for health information (I know Joe Rogan likes him but Rogan told the BBC, “”I’m not a doctor. I’m not a respected source of information, even for me.”). When Andrew Breitbart started his website, he wanted it to be a “Huffington Post for the right.” Now, I see a lot of pro-ivermectin peeps complain about propaganda and them spew their own. Why is right-wing propaganda trustworthy when what you think is official propaganda?
  4. #FollowTheMoney. The people who think this is a wonder drug often use this hashtag. See, big pharma won’t make money from ivermectin but they rake it in from vaccines! #followthemoney. I wish they would #followthemoney. Then they might see how doctors, in the U.S. anyway are making a small fortune off this medication.
  5. This video is from a protest in France against vaccine mandates. I saw a tweet about a video that was supposed to be from October 2021 but was really from 2018. I have no doubt that the French would be willing to protest mandates, they protest just about anything. You can see my response here. What I don’t get is these complain about misinformation from people who don’t trust ivermectin for covid but then post their own. How does this made them MORE credible?
  6. Regulatory agencies like the FDA and the CDC are funded by big pharma and are biased as a result. First, the CDC is “NOT a regulatory agency.” The lion’s share of its funding from the federal government and the gifts they receive are pubished. This is the report from 2020. It is true that the FDA gets too much funding from outside sources but there is a difference between corralation and causation. This is one area where the #IVMworks peeps have a point but it isn’t as simple as they like to think.

This pussycat won’t take ivermectin but it isn’t all horse paste

One thing, I am guilty of this because I make jokes about it in my act, that people who are skeptical of the antiparasitic medication get wrong is that it is NOT only for animals. In 2015, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was split. One half went to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.” This was for their formulation of ivermectin for humans. It is TRUE that this is a safe medication that has been used to treat millions (if not billions) of people worldwide. I have never said it isn’t safe, I am not convinced it works against covid.

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Little Alyson, angry no more?

Where's Mr. Smith when you need him?

There’s a song I used to listen to a lot and that I related to differently than I relate to it today. It’s Billy Joel’s, Angry Young Man. In those days, I related to this part:

There’s a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working-class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
He’s always at home with his back to the wall
And he’s proud of his scars and the battles he’s lost
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man

After decades of working in politics, a lot of my views have changed. I remain the same (or close to it) ideologically as I was back then but I have softened in a lot of ways. I have never had a political litmus test for friends but I have learned (the hard way) that some of my friends do.

Today, these lyrics resonate more:

I believe I’ve passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right

I still work and fight for the causes I care about (genocide prevention, voting rights, healthcare reform, gun control, …) but I also see the value of having friends who both share my views and hearing from people who disagree with me. I don’t want to live in an echo chamber.

You don’t have to be angry to make a difference. Even if it is a small difference.

To recap my career, I have spent most of it working on campaigns, for the government, nonprofits, or the United Nations. When I could make a difference, I took the opportunity. A great example is my proudest moment.

In 2007, I worked for Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was up for reauthorization. I opposed that. The Legislative Director in the office thought our boss should vote for it because it would look bad politically. As he was a former Admiral in the Navy, I thought he could do the right thing and not have an issue. I texted him the Benjamin Franklin quote (or a version of it), “Those who would give up liberty for security deserve neither.” When he said it on the House floor, I felt like I made a difference. He voted no but it still passed. When I left work that day, after 18 hours, I felt I had fought the good fight.

Example two: When I was an intern in the White House in 1993, I was in the correspondence department and they were sending out letters from Hillary Rodham Clinton from “Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton.” I was horrified. I was actually assigned to the Media Affairs Office but was down there because there were more computers.

The person who got me into the Media Affairs Office told me to “keep quiet.” I didn’t listen. I asked if the First Lady’s Office had been notified and it hadn’t been. That’s just the way they always did things. I cannot say for sure that this is why this policy changed but I never saw that again. This may not seem like a life changing difference I may have made but I think it means the way women are thought of at the White House is a little different because of me.

These aren’t monumental changes that I caused. Nor will they win me any prizes or awards. They are just examples of when I stood up when I was told to sit down.

I am proud of the work I did as an advance person. The letters and cards I got after events I helped put on thanking me for my hard work make me think that maybe people stayed active in politics after I left. The people with whom I remain friends after I left the housing nonprofit make me think that I made their lives a little better.

Today, I support President Joe Biden and am grateful he beat Trump. As a progressive, my patience is not endless but he did say he needed a year to fulfil his promises. I will give him that. I am heartened by the Squad members who are fighting the centrists to get that $3.5 trillion bill passed. If they back down or Biden does not come through with most of his promises by January 20, 2022, I will have a different view. Nothing happens in Washington quickly.

Recently, a friend whom I have known decades has stopped talking to me over politics. This person and I are actually on the same side of a lot off issues but they think I am a shill for the establishment. That makes me sad because I hope I am not that. It also makes me sad because we had reconnected a few years ago and have very similar senses of humor. I can also relate to the anger this person feels at the government right now. I was in that boat back in the 90s. That’s when I wrote this. It’s all about how disappointed I was in the Clinton Administration and Congress for doing nothing in Bosnia and health care reform failed (and we had a bigger majority on both sides of Capitol Hill). Back then I was desperately hoping the Democrats would “grow a pair.”

I am still waiting for that to happen but I refuse to let the “perfect be the enemy of the good.”

The title of this post is a play on the title of a movie about Gloria Vandebilt’s childhood. It was called, “Little Gloria, happy at last.”

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Abortion is never a simple decision

abortion is never a simple decision

Politically, I think the anti-abortion law in Texas will be good for abortion rights. You can read my thoughts here. If you think this opinion is new for me, you can check out this piece from 2013. Or you can read this.

I didn’t write this post. I copied and pasted it from a friend’s Facebook page. I think the message is too important to not share with everyone, everywhere.

Trisha Ingle

No one is “pro-“ abortion. Copied this from my friend Jacquelyn’s page: I’ve literally been waking up in the middle of the night with stress dreams about what’s happening to Roe v Wade in this country and the women in Texas and in Mississippi who had their access so viciously limited…this speaks to a lot of my concerns.

Abortion, and the reasons for it, are not simple, nor are they black and white. I’m not pro-aborting fetuses.

I’m pro-Becky who found out at her 20-week anatomy scan that the infant she had been so excited to bring into this world had developed without life-sustaining organs.

I’m pro-Susan who was sexually assaulted on her way home from work, only to come to the horrific realization that her assailant planted his seed in her when she got a positive pregnancy test result a month later.

I’m pro-Theresa who hemorrhaged due to a placental abruption, causing her parents, spouse, and children to have to make the impossible decision on whether to save her or her unborn child.

I’m pro-little Cathy who had her innocence ripped away from her by someone she should have been able to trust and her 11-year-old body isn’t mature enough to bear the consequence of that betrayal.

I’m pro-Melissa who’s working two jobs just to make ends meet and has to choose between bringing another child into poverty or feeding the children she already has because her spouse walked out on her.

I’m pro-Brittany who realizes that she is in no way financially, emotionally, or physically able to raise a child.

I’m pro-Emily who went through IVF, ending up with SIX viable implanted eggs requiring a selective reduction in order to ensure the safety of her and a SAFE amount of fetuses.

I’m pro-Jessica who is FINALLY getting the strength to get away from her physically abusive spouse only to find out that she is carrying the monster’s child.

I’m pro-Vanessa who went into her confirmation appointment after YEARS of trying to conceive only to hear silence where there should be a heartbeat

I’m pro-Lindsay who lost her virginity in her sophomore year with a broken condom and now has to choose whether to be a teenage mom or just a teenager.

I’m pro-Courtney who just found out she’s already 13 weeks along, but the egg never made it out of her fallopian tube so either she terminates the pregnancy or risks dying from internal bleeding.

You can argue and say that I’m pro-choice all you want, but the truth is: I’m pro-life. Their lives. Women’s lives. You don’t get to pick and choose which scenarios should be accepted. It’s not about which stories you don’t agree with. It’s about fighting for the women in the stories that you do agree with and the CHOICE that was made. Women’s rights are meant to protect ALL women, regardless of their situation!#roevwade#prochoice#abortion#women#womensrights#mybody#mychoice#mybodymychoice#prochoiceisprolife#mindyouruterus

❤COPIED & PASTED – you can, too!

From Facebook

If you are interested in more of my thoughts on abortion, you may like this.

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Random thoughts on a windy day

That’s my friend, James Thompson. I met him when I was living in Gainesville, Florida. Yesterday, I learned that he killed himself earlier in the week. Just before I read about this tragedy, Harvey Ward posted on Facebook about men and suicide. This is unbelievably sad. I wish I could have done something. It felt so random to read of his passing.

This is what Jeremiah Tattersall told the Gainesville Sun:

“He was a very, very kind man. There are very few things that happened progressively in Alachua County that didn’t at least have his fingerprints, often behind the scenes,” Tattersall said. “It was always great to talk with him. We would start talking about something small, like the school board and the unions, for maybe 20 minutes and then talk another two hours about art, life, children, friends. It was also like that with him.”

James also wrote this piece in the Iguana.

It’s hard to think that James was suffering. I am comforted by the fact that he was surrounded by people who did care about him. That might seem strange, given how things turned out but it goes to show how little we know about what’s happening with the people around us. I can be in a crowd of people and feel totally alone.

I also understand, more than I would like, the thought process he may have been experiencing. I have struggled with depression and anxiety and have had thought that I am not going to explain now. I just hope if anyone reading this ever feels they aren’t worth much (as I have felt) or that they need help, I am always here.

This has actually been a tough week for me. Not so much emotionally but physically. I went in for an upper endoscopy (EGD) on Monday and while the procedure itself went fine, it takes about ten to 15 minutes, the experience was harrowing. It felt random the way I experienced this test, which I had had before.

The problem, as it always is, was getting the IV in. I always tell the nurses that I am a “hard stick.” Do they listen or believe me? Of course not! They were all, “we do this every day, all day.” It seemed a nurse got one in but it didn’t work. It took an anesthesiologist about 45 minutes and an ultrasound machine to get the job done and I am back to looking like a domestic violence victim or heroin addict.

I am not looking for sympathy here when I write this, it helps me to get this out of my system, but I experienced something I never have before. Lying on the stretcher, with the medical people trying to get an IV in, I felt more scared and vulnerable than I ever had before. One nurse kept poking and prodding and saying, “If that doesn’t work, I’ll go here!”

No, no you won’t. They tried my foot (hurts a lot). They tried my hands (never happening again). The doctor who finally got the IV told me to never let the nursing staff try and to just ask for an ultrasound.

I am lucky. I have good insurance and access to decent care but that was scary.

I had a city adventure on Tuesday

Fresh off my EGD on Monday, I went into the city on Tuesday

But there’s good news! I have lots of comedy shows coming up!

  • Thursday, September 16 @ 8 pm EDT. Zoom show. This is a fundraiser for the International Campaign for the Rohingya, the parent organization for the Campaign for a New Myanmar. You can get tickets here.
  • Saturdau, September 18 @ 8:30 pm. Coasters in East Meadow. Come on down!
  • Wednesday, September 29 @ 8 pm. The Broadway Comedy Club in NYC. Tix are normally $22 but give the guy my name and your ticket will be $11.
  • Friday, October 1 @ 9 pm. Contest show at Clyde’s in Mt. Sinai. This place used to be Barton’s Place.
  • Friday October 8 @ 8pm. Vagisilly at Coasters in East Meadow.

Did you see this?

My birthday was a few weeks ago and there is still time to donate to my fundraiser for the International Campaign for the Rohingya. You can learn more about that here.