Right now, tennis bad boy, notorious anti-vaxxer and all-round shitty person Novak Djokovic is winging his way from Melbourne Australia to Dubai after being deported for violating Australian immigration laws, lying about it, and then insisting that rules don’t apply to him.  He dragged immigration officials, tournament officials, the tennis world, and indeed the entire population of Australia through almost two weeks of drama just because he doesn’t want to get a simple safe and effective vaccination.

A three federal judge panel ruled on Sunday afternoon that Australia immigration officials were within their rights doing their damn job and enforcing the country’s immigration laws.  Even better, there was no court that would receive an inevitable appeal from Djokovic.  The decision was final. The decision was unanimous and, to add insult to justice, the panel ordered Djoker to pay all of the costs incurred by the government for this sorry chapter of his life that resulted from his own decisions and conduct.

After years of bad guys all over the world getting away with actual murder, from Rodrigo Duterte Wrecking to Philippine government to Vladimir Putin’s murderous rule over Russia, to TFG’s teflon life where he’s never been personally held to account for his entire corrupt existence, wins for good guys are few and far between.  Of the thousands of Deplorables who stormed the US Capitol only about 700 were charged with crimes and most of those are only petty charges.  Less than 20 are charged with serious crimes and only 11 charged with what all were guilty, sedition.  Bad guys get off scott free on a daily basis, especially willfully ignorant anti-vaxxers who are participating in mass illness and death simply because they’re assholes.

Because bad guys win almost all the time, it’s rare when one of them gets theirs, especially famous ones like Djoker.  Like other narcissists, he believes that simply because he’s really good at hitting a tennis ball he can inflict his warped existence on everyone around him with no consequences.  Australia proved him wrong, and that victory is especially sweet.

What’s infuriating, though?  This entire episode was easily avoidable by Djokovic doing the right thing and just getting vaccinated.  Just think of all the lives he could save, especially in his native Serbia where anti-vaxxers have caused the virus to surge again in a population that’s only 47% vaccinated.  That’s the real tragedy of Djokovic’s failure at being a decent human being.

Note:  COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective and protect recipients from contracting the virus or greatly reducing symptoms if they did.  Serious reactions to the vaccines are very low.  The risk of serious illness or death from the virus far outweighs the risk of serious negative reactions to the vaccine.  The vaccine is our only hope for coming out of the endless waves of infection as the virus mutates.

Yesterday, Kay Ivey, conservative Republican governor of Alabama, finally said it:

There’s not much that Ivey says that I agree with, but I do agree 100% with this.  She along with many other governors, public health officials and the millions of responsible vaccinated people are fed up with the idiocy and irresponsibility of other millions of Americans’ not doing their part to stop the pandemic that has killed 600,000 Americans and infected millions.

I’m certainly fed up and believe it’s long past time to start shaming people who cling to bullshit conspiracy theories, religious dogma, and just plain old garden variety stupidity in resisting receiving the vaccine which is safe, effective, easily obtainable and FREE.  For fuck’s sake, folks, we’re now well into the fourth wave of infection and death and almost ALL of those falling ill and dying are unvaccinated.  What else do you need to convince you to get the vaccine?

We all know who to blame for politicizing science, vilifying scientists, and fomenting all of the divisiveness and fear.  It ranges from right wing talking heads, governors, local and state representatives, national representatives, and religious nuts, ending up at the feet of Trump.  The anti-vaccine hysteria will always be with us, especially with liars like Joseph Mercola, an Osteopath and the largest individual purveyor of vaccine lies to sell his “natural” cures.  He is number one in the “Disinformation Dozen”, the 12 most prolific spreaders of lies about COVID-19 and the vaccines.  Their misinformation is cynical, immoral, and is getting people killed.  The fact that they are profiting from it is inexcusable.

It’s time for normal, responsible Americans to start calling out and shaming those who peddle or support the spread of bullshit and who refuse to be vaccinated.  We need to stop the soft-peddling of “vaccine hesitancy” because that hesitancy is based on lies, distortions, and outright falsehood and it’s simply got to stop.  If you know someone you do business with is anti-vax, stop doing business with them and tell them why.  I recently did that with my dentist when I discovered he’s anti-vax.  If you have a family member who refuses, tell them you won’t see them until they get vaccinated.  If nothing else has worked, maybe this will.  If not, you don’t need to be exposed to that kind of stupidity.   I know it’s hard, but it’s time.  We’re not coming out of this until we get to herd immunity, and worse, the virus will continue to mutate into more contagious and possible deadly strains as it propagates.

Societies who don’t look after one another die.  Our society is in danger of suffering years of infection, economic strife and death driven by anti-vaxxers who callously inflict their stupidity on everyone else.