Most of us live in some variation of what you've described. Some of us have the horrible people in our own families as well. I'm finding myself feeling extremely depressed, and I don't even mind having to stay home.

I don't know if or when or how we'll get through this. I'm just thankful for DU right now. Hang in there.

DU is the ONE place I can vent and show my true colors.

He also delivered hellfire sermons to the 19th century white supremacists on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Maybe he got a little shrill at times; his brother had been murdered by some of the "good people" of Alton, Illinois, apparently with the approval of the other "good people" there. And their 20th century cohorts really show the same deliberate, belligerent ignorance, passed down through the generations. You are doing a good job. Remember the company you are keeping, and be a little proud of yourself.

Don’t know if cases are predominately in Chicago or if the backwoods are adding to the caseload but the state now has more new cases per day than anywhere else.

The big majority of the cases are in Chicago area

Had a bigger number of positives yesterday, but had been flattening things out a bit. We’ll see what the next week brings

Above it are NY, NJ, CT, MA, LA, DC, MI, RI, PA.

Death counts are more accurate than testing counts.

Statista posts death rates daily, and IL hasn't risen from its position in the last few weeks that I've watched this site.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/

im dissapointed in dems who voted for trump and not hillary. i know your pain. havent been threatend yet .

living with that many assholes. Not to be simplistic, but can you get the hell out of there. Kinfolk said Atticus move away from there..
That's what I would do if I had the means. Some states are going to pay dearly for this hateful thinking and their christo fascist zombie brigades.

But I guess not.

Good luck and stay safe.

Not simple now but it was in 2017.
You can use this time at home to pack it up and look for your new home.

Why stay in that “shithole“?

Republican, conservative, and religious.

and sometimes get frustrated with the local red bozos, but YOU, dear Atticus, are living in a red hell.

I feel for you, and DU is as good a place as any to vent your frustration and anger. Don't worry about anyone judging you here, you're in a safe haven. Stay strong my friend. He who laughs last, laughs best, and those red devils will get their comeuppance in November.

I'm surrounded by the same idiots. Been threatened and told we should move out. I practiced my crazy eye look and crazy old man and give it to them regularly (I heard that from an old Carol Burnett interview, lol). They pretty much have left us alone now, or forgotten.

I am crazier than they are. At least that is what they think, so I let them.

I hope you can get some relief. You come across just fine here, I enjoy reading your posts and OP's.

Stay Well...

There's always some assOs to be found near us but you take the cake. Stay strong and vent here.

You see up close and personal what the lunatics at the gate would do nationally if allowed to. They were bad enough before trump. Now they feel that the whole federal government supports their hate du jour. Oh. wait. trump is making sure it does. 4 more years of this will kill democracy.

I tell them "I've got more guns & ammo than you do" usually settles them down, and yes I know lying is wrong but it sure works.

I know some of Eastern and rural WA is bonkers but for the most part we’re among the most sane states.

And why are people threatening you personally?

Am I mixing you up with someone?

Was going to do an overnight backpack trek through Jackson Hollow in Shawnee National Forest, but the little voice in the back of my head said that constituted "unnecessary travel" so I didn't do the 5 hour drive from Chicagoland.

I discovered my love of hiking when I began attending SIU-C in 1975.

And yeah, the local folks are a lot more like red state south than blue state Illinois.

where the lodge restaurant is famous for their fried chicken.

It's a cute little hippie haven, as I recall -- and I did splurge on a chicken dinner once at G.C. Lodge when I was at school in Carbondale.

I saw Paul Simon speak on campus before the 1976 election, and he got my first ever vote (I registered in C'dale).

Halloween parties on Illinois Avenue were quite an event back then.

I had a part time job as a janitor for University Housing, and the local employees who supervised us were what might be called good ole boys.

you cross the track.

And how close to there do you live?

I was in the Design Dept. (saw Bucky Fuller give a lecture) and had some friends who rented a house on Pleasnt Hill Road out in "the country."

This conversation is bringing back some memories.

was "packed", as you might expect.

I'm about two hours north. EIU graduate.

One of my fondest childhood memories was sleeping "under the stars" at Giant City's Campground #2 and hiking the "canyons" for the first of many times. We try to walk the trail though the "city" at least once a year and buy apples at Alto Pass most autumns.

And, alas, some awful Trumpers.

We HAVE to win in November.

East County in San Diego County is where the KKK hood-wearing Vons shopper and the swastika mask-wearing Food4Less shopper were recently photographed...

"good Christians" with whom I simply disagree. Many are racist homophobic simpletons who think guns trump brains. I have to tone it down in order to get LTEs printed, but I make them wear their hateful ignorance.

I have nearly had to get physical in a store parking lot while my grandchild was being blocked from getting out of the car because her window had an "Impeach Trump" sign on it.

Irony, of course, is dead. Resurrection awaited.

I cannot imagine what you go through. Grew up in a moderate district that is now red, but live in one of the bluest of the blue, and even so my brain hurts.

I have not gotten threats but I get dirty looks for wearing my mask ( particularly Walmart when I am forced to go there. )

I am curious to see what is going to happen when I get my BIDEN 2020 face mask.

But I mistook Atticus for someone near Tacoma.

They are a whole different world.

If I could just pick up my workplace and move it to Seattle, life would be near perfect.

I have never considered you any such thing. You are intelligent, thoughtful and we have had great discussion (or sometimes even very satisfying arguments).

Man, does that seem a lifetime ago now. But I was openly ridiculed by my "Christian" neighbors. Got into a tense yelling match at one point over their dog that they were letting bark outside my bedroom at 2 a.m. which culminated in her yelling, "You're just a liberal!", and him yelling, "Why don't you just move!" I responded with, "Well, that's NOT going to happen." Fortunately, we get along now.

Sorry.

One thing I do not understand.. For the portion of the population that despite all evidence believes this virus was lab created.. Why would that matter toward whether one self isolates and wears a mask and such? Arent human created Biological weapons usually More harmfull than natural ones? Shouldnt a human Origin make you more worried, do more things to try and stave it off as much as possible?

you're trying to make SENSE of their words. It is mostly mindless gibberish. Another common remark locally is that wearing masks weakens your immune system, "because you're rebreathing all that carbon dioxide and everyone KNOWS that is bad for you!"

To paraphrase Barney Frank, you may as well try "reasoning" with a dining room table.

I'm in KY and my county went 78% trumPutin, also.

It must be really hard

In my hometown, it is close to that. It was 77% pro Trump and pro Amendment One.

I have dealt with the bullying in different ways here. I have had to fight to be out gay here and get them off of me, but not before they ganged up on me and raped me and beat me several other times. I hardly count where they ganged up on me and beat me since the rape though. That was back in the late 80s and early 90s. I was still young when it was found out I was gay, then I just didn't deny it. I was taking the beatings and hate for it anyhow. Why lie? Fuck them. They are a little less violent now, but I don't trust them still. They could attack me again at any moment or kill me and there would be no big vigil attended by people across the country or none of that. The people AND police here would sweep it under the rug. Hell, even mental health told me to "Get right with God." That is, taxpayers' county mental health. So, even that is not a safe place for me.

I don't think a lot of people know what it is like to deal with areas of the country where bigoted assholes are in charge of every part of local government. People will do whatever they want to you and even local police and government will side with them every single time. At least, that has been my experience. No matter what happens to me, I know there is no cavalry coming. There will never be justice and I will always be hated by almost 80% of the people around me.

That is before they find out I am a liberal too, lol. Even the Democrats around here are like that. That is why I rant and rave about the party always sticking us with Dixiecrats and Conservadems in the south. In my home county, they are just as damn bad as the Republicans when it comes to bigotry and other horrid crap you would usually associate with the Republican party. Sometimes, I think they are worse, because they want to impress the Republicans so much. It is sickening.

People cannot imagine what it is really like in my area. They would have to do more than ride through and stop and get gas to notice it though. That's not happening. It's not even worth putting on the map. I despise the poverty that has trapped me here, but we can forget unions or any kind of decent labor law enforcement here too.

Who'd thunk it. Once I leave the confines of the city I am right back in the land or the Orange Tongues. Better to not leave the city.

YOU DO ....NOT......."..come off as an erratic and simplistic old man..

It is the ..........................."unmasked idiots."......who are erratic, stupid, fools, ..who

make "ElmerFudd "look incredibly intelligent.......................................

.................. ...&...not everyone in the modern world..even knows who ...Elmer Fudd is/was.....

.......................Let's hear it for Elmer Fudd.....

We have a few crazies here, but I'm seeing an impressively high % of masks when people go into stores & such.
I'd have to say at least 80%!
So, not quite like what you're dealing with.

The new is the vaccine is going to chip us.

I'm a teacher, and I have colleagues spouting this stuff! Aren't they supposed to be more intelligent than that? One even shared something about "kids need to get in the dirt to beef up their immunity, because bacteria is good for you. And she's a Science teacher!

We need to meet for a beer when all this is over.

What is it about your county that has caused population increases?

Outside of Chicago and the collar counties, and the counties around St Louis, all but a dozen or so of Illinois' 102 counties have seen population declines over the last decades, and those seem to have universities or prisons.