Conspiracy theory

I love a rabbit hole. And the latest one I’ve fallen into is an absolute doozy. I have no idea why I’m so obsessed, but I really need to know if Republican Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky is still alive.

Mitch swears he is. Well, a statement from him does.

He says he’s been “receiving excellent care over the past several weeks” since he was admitted to hospital.

“In fact, with signs of continued progress, I’ve been able to move from hospital care to a rehabilitation center where I’ll keep regaining my strength,” he added.

He even included a proof-of-life photo of himself with a copy of the day’s newspaper.

But …

The rumour mill has been in overdrive since the 84-year-old was admitted to hospital on June 14. Conspiracy theorists and Democrats are convinced he’s dead and that it’s being covered up.

Republicans swear they’ve had 20-minute conversations with him and he’s definitely alive.

His office insists he is recovering, continuing to improve and is working closely with his team. 

His office was forced to finally issued a photo of him with the newspaper, plus his wife by his bedside, to try and put the rumours to rest, but that’s just fuelled them more.

People are saying the pic has been created using AI. They say he looks too healthy, that he wouldn’t be dressed like that in hospital, that his finger on a local newspaper looks weird. They reckon it’s an old pic of him, from back in 2023.

Desiree Townsend, a Washington D.C. reporter, broke the story that he was “officially brain dead”.

Audio of emergency services calls that she obtained indicated responders performed CPR on a person experiencing cardiac arrest at McConnell’s Washington address on the day of his hospitalisation.

And then, two days after his hospitalisation, his wife flew to China on business and remained there for weeks afterwards.

People are super suss about it.

But why on earth would his staff and colleagues be pretending he’s alive if he’s not?

There’s speculation that it’s to avoid a quick special election, as is required under Kentucky law.

The exception would be if it is less than 56 days from a planned election, in which case the seat would remain vacant until then.

McConnell’s seat is up for re-election in November and he was already retiring. His vacating the seat would trigger a special election up until September 8, after which the 56 day rule would kick in.

There are fears a Democrat or outspoken Trump critic Thomas Massie could replace him.

This has led to an avalanche of “Weekend at Bernie’s” jokes. But if he’s dead, can the facade really be maintained for that long.

I am glued to my Facebook feed for the answer. And my algorithm knows it.

Sadly, someone who has definitely passed is Sam Neill. He was so beloved and my Facebook feed is filled with sadness over the world losing such a remarkable actor.

He starred in some of my favourite movies, including The Dish and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

But my sister and I love him more for his pets and how much he adored them.

His farm animals are famous for bearing the names of his celebrity friends. His menagerie in Central Otago, New Zealand, includes cows (Helena Bonham Carter and Graham Norton), sheep (Susan Sarandon and Angelica Huston), pigs (Anjelica Huston and Imogen Poots), chickens Nicole Kidman and Magda Szubanski and his favourite duck, Charlie Pickering.

During the COVID-19 lockdown he went viral on social media for his videos with his animals.

“I just do all sorts of silly stuff that entertains me. I put it on social media. And if someone else who is also isolated and fearful and anxious gets some kind of enjoyment out of it, then it’s worth doing,” he said in his 2020 Australian Story episode.

“I realise I’m actually in the cheering up business, not just making wine, but I’ve now got a responsibility to cheer people up on social media because it’s such a miserable place. How did I get there, I don’t know.”

And did you know Sam’s real name was Nigel?

In his book Did I Ever Tell You This?, Neill wrote: “The one thing I resent about my parents, the only thing, is that they called me Nigel. Changing my name to Sam at the age of 11 was probably the best decision I made in my life.”

Vale Sam. Who knows about that other bloke tho.

PS Above is one of my fave posts about Sam. Rhys is a legend.

Song of the day: Pretenders “Brass in pocket”