{"id":43860,"date":"2020-12-31T09:44:49","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T14:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=43860"},"modified":"2020-12-31T09:44:51","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T14:44:51","slug":"the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become","title":{"rendered":"The Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So, this meme has been making its rounds on the internet: \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And I didn\u2019t know whether to laugh or to curl up in a corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the uninitiated, it\u2019s Cousin Eddie from the movie \u201cNational Lampoon\u2019s Christmas Vacation\u201d.\u00a0 Some call the flick a Christmas classic.\u00a0 Others\u2026 not so much.\u00a0 But that debate is for another time and place.

For those who have seen the movie, or are at least familiar with the scene, you know the context.\u00a0 Eddie is the deadbeat patriarch who has driven his slack jawed family – unannounced – to his cousin Clark\u2019s home for what turns out to be a tire-fire of a Christmas holiday.

The scene in question revolves around a trip to the local big box store, where Clark is stocking up for some holiday cheer.\u00a0 Instead, what we see is Eddie loading up on chow for his ugly dog \u201cSnots,\u201d while he laments the hard times he and his family have fallen on.\u00a0 All of Eddie\u2019s (un)doing, of course.\u00a0 While Clark is banking on a big bonus that he\u2019s not sure he\u2019ll get from his boss, he insists that he\u2019d like to help Eddie give his kids a nice Christmas with gifts under the tree.\u00a0 After a little pressing, Eddie \u201crelents,\u201d hands Clark an already prepared gift list, and then adds \u201cand if it wouldn\u2019t be too much I\u2019d like to get something for you Clark\u2026 somethin\u2019\u2026 real nice.”

The meme in circulation, though, has added text written above it. It reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us: $600

US Govt: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then\u2026 the Cousin Eddie meme.

It is gut-wrenchingly apt.

The American family, strapped as it is and as highly taxed as it is, is being told that a $600 one-time payment is somehow going to help them through hard times. \u00a0 Get something real nice? \u00a0Heck, $600 a month is not even going to make a dent in most mortgage and car payments, let alone satisfy grocery and electric bills.\u00a0

This $600 for every American household was part of a multi-trilliion dollar Covid Relief Bill<\/a> that was presented last week in Congress.\u00a0 It might as well have been a multi-trillion paged tome: the legislation document amounted to 5,593 pages.\u00a0 It was wheeled in by congressional aides.\u00a0 On a cart.<\/em>\u00a0NBC News correspondent Garrett Haake tweeted the video<\/a>, and re-tweeted that one would have to read 560 pages an hour <\/em>to finish it before midnight!\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 So, nobody read it.\u00a0 But the House passed it.\u00a0 The massive year-end legislation combines $900 billion in pandemic relief with $1.4 trillion to fund federal agencies through fiscal 2021.

It is the second largest bill in US history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/GarrettHaake\/status\/1341095733387288578\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yup, that is a lot of cabbage.\u00a0

But virtually none of it goes to struggling American families.<\/em>\u00a0

Families across the pond, however, are being looked after<\/a>.

Israel will benefit to the tune of $500,000,000 via the aforementioned federal agency funding.\u00a0 An eye-popping $73 million will go towards Israel\u2019s \u201cIron Dome 9\u201d defense system.\u00a0 But what is also perplexing (to say the least) is the $25 million going to Pakistan <\/em>– $15 million to be put toward \u201cdemocracy programs\u201d and $10 million for \u201cgender programs!\u201d<\/a>

The hope, as per the USAid.gov<\/a> website, is to improve Pakistani women\u2019s access to economic, social and political opportunities.\u00a0 The argument is that \u201ca more prosperous, stable, and inclusive society in Pakistan helps further international peace and security.\u201d\u00a0 Counselling and providing legal help to 61,000 female survivors of Gender Based Violence takes money.\u00a0 Of course.\u00a0 And even in a country of 212 million, 61,000 victims of violence is 61,000 too many.\u00a0 Nobody will argue that.\u00a0

But what seems to be flying under the radar are the swelling numbers of domestic and substance abuse numbers in countries around the world under the jackboot of Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns.\u00a0 Six months after Covid-19 arrived on American shores, it was reported that opioid overdoses in large cities<\/a> rose by 54% in 16 states.\u00a0 It would be absurd to think it\u2019s gotten any less severe in the last five months.\u00a0 Also in the summer of 2020, here in my home nation of Canada, a survey was taken<\/a> of some 376 staff and volunteers who deal with domestic violence across the country. Almost half surveyed noticed changes in the prevalence and severity of violence; 82% said the violence had become both more extreme and more frequent, including a \u201csharp uptick in cases of strangulation\u201d.

Clearly, families are under duress. \u00a0And it\u2019s not from any tightness in the chest, but from financial burdens pressing down on their shoulders. $600 won\u2019t even cover the cost of a bumper-tap involving distracted mothers and fathers worrying about how long they\u2019ll be able to put food on the table during a so-called pandemic that has next to nothing to show for it, but has nonetheless left plenty of harm, destruction and death in its wake.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was once a good holiday chuckle of Christmases past, is no laughing matter in the context of today\u2019s struggling family.\u2028<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":43929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"What was once a good holiday chuckle of Christmases past, is no laughing matter in the context of today\u2019s struggling families.","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":"","sponsored_post_label":"","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"510"},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[510,805],"tags":[7209,496,7208,7207,7201,2230,911,7203,7205,7204,7206,7202],"class_list":["post-43860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-foreground","tag-7209","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-vacation","tag-cousin-eddie","tag-covid-relief-bill","tag-covid-19-2","tag-family","tag-gender-programs","tag-israel","tag-pakistan","tag-us-aid","tag-us-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become - IFN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What was once a good holiday chuckle of Christmases past, is no laughing matter in the context of today\u2019s struggling family.\u2028\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IFN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-31T14:44:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-31T14:44:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/face-mask-5819709_960_720.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"652\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Damian Goddard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@iFamNewsEN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@iFamNewsEN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Damian Goddard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become - IFN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become","og_description":"What was once a good holiday chuckle of Christmases past, is no laughing matter in the context of today\u2019s struggling family.\u2028","og_url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become","og_site_name":"IFN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews","article_published_time":"2020-12-31T14:44:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-31T14:44:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":652,"url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/face-mask-5819709_960_720.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Damian Goddard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@iFamNewsEN","twitter_site":"@iFamNewsEN","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Damian Goddard","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become"},"author":{"name":"Damian Goddard","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6d0f801dfdd942a95916e3671c906b70"},"headline":"The Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become","datePublished":"2020-12-31T14:44:49+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-31T14:44:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become"},"wordCount":810,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/face-mask-5819709_960_720.jpg","keywords":["$600","Christmas","Christmas Vacation","Cousin Eddie","COVID RELIEF BILL","COVID-19","family","gender programs","Israel","Pakistan","US Aid","US CONGRESS"],"articleSection":["Family","Foreground"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become","name":"The Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become - IFN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/face-mask-5819709_960_720.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-31T14:44:49+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-31T14:44:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/face-mask-5819709_960_720.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/face-mask-5819709_960_720.jpg","width":960,"height":652},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-sick-twisted-joke-covid-19-has-become#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Familia","item":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/es\/categoria\/familia"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Sick, Twisted Joke COVID-19 Has Become"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/","name":"IFN","description":"International Family News Network","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#organization","name":"iFamNews","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Share-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Share-logo.png","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"iFamNews"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews","https:\/\/x.com\/iFamNewsEN"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6d0f801dfdd942a95916e3671c906b70","name":"Damian Goddard","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/027a86dd10a90ba99904514279b628a246ec46b6073860f473da680bca6ca9bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/027a86dd10a90ba99904514279b628a246ec46b6073860f473da680bca6ca9bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Damian Goddard"},"description":"Damian Goddard is a veteran television, radio, and internet broadcaster who garnered international headlines in May 2011 after taking to Twitter in defence of \"the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage\". \u00a0Not twenty four hours after delivering the tweet, he was fired from his job as anchor for Rogers Sportsnet; one of Canada's two network sports broadcasters. \u00a0Damian's extensive broadcast experience also includes work as a news anchor at Sun News Network, a talkshow host at NewsTalk 1010 CFRB in Toronto, and ample experience in the sports realm working for the CBC, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (lead host at Raptors NBA TV and LeafsTV), and The Fan 590 in Toronto. \u00a0A history major with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario and a devout Roman Catholic, Damian is passionate about world and cultural affairs, the history and future of the Catholic Church, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/author\/dgoddard"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43860"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44732,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43860\/revisions\/44732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}