Big Red Car here on a lovely Texas Thursday with sunny, clear skies and a bit of a chill in the air. Today, we discuss the politics of ringworm and billionaires as brought to us by the following snippet from my new favorite Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

True — the Big Red Car adores Alexandria the Great. She brings a brash freshness to the US Congress from New York’s 14th District.

In a long interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates at a Martin Luther King Day event, Alexandria said the following:

” … a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don’t have access to public health is wrong.” 

Damn, girl, speak it. Ringworm and billionaires! The Bronx shouting out to Alabama! Isn’t democracy great?

Ringworm

So, dear reader, you are undoubtedly envisioning worms burrowing into your head (slipping into your ears as you sleep?), drilling through your skull, eating your brain, working their way down to your heart, devouring your soul, right?

Well, not so much, dear reader.

Turns out “ringworm” is a fungal infection. No worms need apply. No worms involved in ringworm.

In fact, you know ringworm as a rash called “jock itch” or “nail fungus” or, maybe, “athletes foot.”

Athlete’s foot, y’all — tinea pedis. Treated with over-the-counter Desenex or any inexpensive antibacterial ointment. Wash your feet. Dry them well. Apply a bit of Desenex. Run for Congress.

Detailed studies show there is no more incidence of athlete’s foot in Alabama than there is in the Duke University basketball team locker room. It does not require the intervention of the National Institute of Health, or the Mayo Clinic, or surgery.

It requires a good washing of the feet, followed by a good towel drying (wash the towel because it can spread the dreaded ringworm/athlete’s foot, and the application of an inexpensive ointment such as Desenex, Monistat-Derm, Nizoral, Lamisil, or any antibacterial cream you can find at Walmart.

Billionaires

One other cure for athlete’s foot (ringworm) is, apparently, to become a billionaire. I, personally, prefer that one.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. Don’t let the politicians bullshit you about ringworm. No worms.