Riding the Wave, 33 & 34. Closer to Christmas, and a Strange Petition.

Thankfully, my cousin is now conscious. Hopefully, the worst is past. But there are many out there who have been infected, and the numbers are growing. Santiago de Compostela has been shut down, again. So has the nearby small city of Ribeira, one of the places I've been doing the weekly shopping since Boiro shut down. At the rate we're going, it won't matter if our town shuts down or not; if the towns surrounding us are closed, we don't have many places we can go.

Christmas is looking complicated. We had already decided to eat alone weeks ago, instead of going to my in-laws'. According to the rules, we could still go because we would be two households with a maximum of six adults. But the recommendations are to have a large table to be able to sit at least a meter and a half apart, wear masks except for when we are eating, and either eat outside or have all the windows open. Heck, no. We'll do a video call, just like we tend to do with a brother-in-law who's living in one of the archipelagos, and we'll be fine. 

All the regions are closing their borders, and will only allow travel between regions to visit family. But that will also depend on how many people each region will allow to gather together. The long weekend at the beginning of December has made contagion skyrocket, again, all over the country. Christmas and New Year's will probably bring closures like last spring, especially since some people consider it very important to get together with family and friends, and not think about the virus. Having a good time takes priority over health, for some people. I recently saw a comment from a Spaniard living in Germany, that in Germany, the police don't have to tell people what they can and can't do. People do the correct thing without being told. Different societies, different reactions. 

Finally, the ex-King, after the Congreso declined to investigate him for fraudulently using an opaque credit card, will not be coming home for Christmas, after all. He uses the same excuse a few families will probably use to avoid those family members that make everyone want to strangle them, and run howling from the family banquet: Covid. Juan Carlos won't travel to Spain because of the pandemic. Uh huh. We believe you. 

I learned last week that someone within the extreme right-wing Vox party sent a petition to the White House. There is a web page to which one can add a petition to the White House for just about any matter. If the signatures reach a hundred thousand within one calendar month, it will at least be read, if not taken into consideration. There are all kinds of lunatic and solidly reasoned petitions, from calling for investigations into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "for...Crimes Against Humanity", to calls for saving the United States Postal Service.  

The petition sent from Vox is titled, "For the removal of the illegal government installed in Spain." The petition includes mentions of George Soros (of course, he's everyone's monster under the bed), and "the legitimate President-elect Donald J. Trump." The person who created it asks Trump to send U.S. troops to overthrow the government and take over the Spanish army and police departments to ensure peace keeping during the transition, since they have been "compromised and restrained from acting against said unlawful government".  It also mentions using blockchain technology (whatever that is) to choose the new government (which will obviously be composed only of Vox party members). In exchange, the new Spanish government will help "use its influence over Hispanics all around the world and to intercede on behalf of the U.S.A., if need be." 

It's only reached just over four thousand signatures, and the month has almost run out. I don't know whether to laugh or become concerned. The petition is an idiocy created by a reactionary jerk. But the emotions behind it are there. There are people who really think the somewhat leftist government of Pedro Sánchez is illegitimate, especially because they allied with leftist Podemos to create a government. I know people who, whenever there is bad news of any kind, blame the Coletas, the Pony Tail, as those who disaparge Podemos call its leader, Pablo Iglesias, who wears one. Bars have to close at five o'clock because of the pandemic: it's the Coletas fault. Numbers of infected are rising: it's the Coletas fault. The United States is not the only country with its radicalized fringe lunatics that find easy pickings among those who find thinking difficult.

Life continues.