Archives for May 2020

Day 1218 – A Roundup of Madness and Fun

Wednesday May 20, 2020 

165 Days until the election on November 3^rd

245 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

OMG, OMG! Did you hear?

So many little tidbits, but the biggest one is Nancy Pelosi.

She said she was worried for the president and his health.

Aw. So nice.

She said given his age and weight, seeing as how he is MORBIDLY OBESE …

When she was asked about that comment later. Wasn’t she worried about the reaction from the president? Her response was beautiful. Why would he be upset? He’s always commenting on other’s appearance? Yeah, Nancy. If you can’t take it Donnie, don’t dish it!

I fully expect the right has lost its mind over that.

Speaking of losing their minds. There’s the Susan Rice email. OMG, the reaction by the right is unbelievable. I guess they failed 5^th grade reading comprehension. Oh wait, it doesn’t matter what it really says. All they have to do is put out the headline because their followers don’t read the article. They just put up the headline on their facebook page.

The National Review put up a headline that said based on the email Comey found nothing to charge Flynn with. Ehhhh, not really true. Not 100% wrong, but not the point of what was written in the memo. But who cares? ( I do. I do. )

The point was that although they had no hard evidence that Flynn had done anything illegal it was concerning that he had had so many interactions with the Russian ambassador and Comey was instructed by Rice and by Obama to do everything “by the book.” 

The “by the book” comment is another talking point on the far right – as if to suggest that otherwise Comey would not have done that when in fact the opposite is true.

George Orwell’s predictions in 1984 keep coming true.

TMBO – is going to be my new name for our president The Morbidly Obese One.

Later…

165 Days until the election on November 3^rd

245 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Croc!

Day 1217 – An Exploration into Values

Tuesday May 19, 2020 

166 Days until the election on November 3^rd

246 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Robert Persig’s subtitle to his book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” was “An Inquiry into Values.” 

As “Field and Stream Magazine” said about Richard Brautigan’s “Trout Fishing in America” that “It had little to do with trout fishing,” so “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” has little to do with motorcycle maintenance except as a metaphor for value and in that there is a lot to unpack.

I realized that my screeding is, or has become, more than my bitching about our current political situation. It is an exploration and an examination into our values. The idea of American Exceptionalism, the America portrayed to the world by Hollywood, by the Peace Corps, by the CDC, by our military, by our economic presence, by so many things big and small they all speak to our ideals and our values.

Donald Trump has been busy showing another set of values to the world. He and his ilk are sending a very different message. The question is “Is this what we want to become?”

When I think of the things that make this country different and a model that others want to emulate none of those qualities are displayed in what Mr. Trump is doing, saying, or how he is acting.

When I ask people what they like about the U.S.A. they never mention the programs and practices of this administration or the ideas that they have promulgated. The government programs that are most mentioned are those started by Democrats. In fact, I can’t think of a single program that a Republican has put forward that has actually helped people. Wait – EPA, Nixon – that’s one. Along with the Clean Water Act. Of course, ever since they were passed Nixon’s fellow Republicans have been trying to degrade and tear down those laws.

Okay, moving on. Beside getting rid of four Inspector Generals this past Friday what else has been going on? Note: one of those IGs was looking into the Secretary of State. Shocking. Just because Pompeo was trying to sneak arms to Saudi Arabia? Come on. Oh and he had an intern walking his dog and picking up his laundry. That’ll teach that kid statecraft.

Well, by way of introducing the next topic next week is Memorial Day and we can celebrate with the head of the White House Corona Virus Task Force, Mike Pence, the end of Covid-19. Begone! Yeah. Mike predicted, “We’d be looking at the virus in our rear view mirror” come Memorial Day. And so we shall. So what if the virus is on the rise throughout most of the country? Let’s celebrate. Eric Trump has said that the pandemic is actually an attempt by the Democrats to hold down his father’s rallies. I say no. Hold the rallies. Don’t let no little virus stop you. 

Rachel revealed a fascinating little tidbit last night. It explains how we got here. Why Pence said we’d be looking at the virus in our rearview mirror come Memorial Day, and it gives a window into the workings of Donald’s mind. Let me say, his mind is a scary place. It reminds me of a course I took on the universe and how our planet was formed. When the lecturer got to the point of describing the early cells they had all this DNA swirling around colliding with each other, breaking apart, reforming, breaking apart. It wasn’t until cells developed a nucleus that the barrage stopped. I have the impression that Trump’s brain has no nucleus and that it is continually being bombarded by bits and fragments of information and stimuli. 

It turns out that Trump didn’t like the death figures he was seeing from the virus. He wanted to open the country back up and he wanted data to support his point of view. (Truth be damned! Oh. Sorry.) So an economist type developed a model and found a function that would predict what Trump wanted to see. It showed a dramatic drop off in deaths come the middle of April. Donnie likey; Donnie fuse in brain. Jared likey. Mikey likey. Mikey repeat predictions to the press. Jared based his work (does he work? Or does he just go around gumming up the works?) and his policy mentions on this (I don’t think he really does policy. He just talks about policy.)

So. So the White House was basing what was going to happen based on this model that had no basis in epidemiology only in some curve fitting function based on the data they had at a particular point in time.

I understand the desire to want to see results in line with expectations, but this? Come on. I want a person heading up a pandemic response like Andrew Cuomo, not that sneaky fraud Pence.

OMG. How much longer? Not the stay at home, the idiocy, the cruelty, the destruction.

Our experts keep saying we have no time to lose. That we must act now. But our leaders are congratulating each other on a job well done. Of course like the Monty Python movie where they call, “Bring out your dead” and one body get touted out only to say, “I’m not dead yet!” That fellow gets beaned with a black jack. The governors believing the president and his minions have to ignore the dead and dying that call out for help. Not a problem. We are all fine. Bop. Sorry. You were messing up our illusion.

To quote Dr. Bright’s testimony before Congress, “We are in deep shit.”

166 Days until the election on November 3^rd

246 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Stud Puffin 

Day 1215 – General Bitching, A Weekly Roundup

Sunday May 17, 2020 

168 Days until the election on November 3^rd

248 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

It’s hard to know where to start, but here goes:

To the General Populace:

1. You do understand that when “They” say “They” want to get the economy going again “They” are talking about “You,” don’t you?

2. They aren’t saying it’s safe. They are saying that they know some of You will die, but that’s okay, as long as They make a few bucks. You understand that, right?

General Observation:

3. I went to the grocery store and was shocked to see about half the people wandering around without masks. This is in sharp contrast to before “They” started to open up the economy. What are “You” thinking? See 2. Above.

Political observation:

4. Trump has fired four Inspector Generals in the last week. One was overseeing the State Department. Trump “lost confidence” in the IG when it was rumored that he was looking into Pompeo.

Legal:

5. The case to have Trump reveal his financial records is going to the Supreme Court. The betting is slightly in favor of the court doing the right thing.

Basic Math and The Pandemic:

6. It has been reported that we have plateaued at 2,000 dead a day. I’m not sure what plateaued means in this case. Not increasing? I guess. Let me say this. It’s going to get worse. A lot worse. But let’s be optimistic shall we? Let’s stick with 2,000 dead a day.

Total U.S. Dead as of today – 89,785

By the end of June add         + 44,000

July, Aug, Sept add               +184,000

Oct, Nov, Dec                        +184,000

Total                           501,785 dead by the end of the year, and I’m being optimistic 

Add another 40,000 when the next president takes over.

Total by Inauguration Day 541,785 dead.

Are you tired of winning?

168 Days until the election on November 3^rd

248 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Skull Rack, Chichen Itzá 

Day 1214 – The Two Forbidden Cities

Saturday May 16, 2020 

169 Days until the election on November 3^rd

249 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

When I was in China in 1983 someone offered me a little guide to the Forbidden City. It was two yuan, about fifty cents. I bought it. It was pretty standard stuff when you quickly thumbed through the pages. There were pictures of all the regular places within the city, but without anyone standing in front of them. 

The first paragraph was your standard historical introduction:

“The Forbidden City was built …”

It was the second paragraph that really got my attention:

“But our great chairman Mao …”

The third paragraph went back to the standard history:

“Built by the Emperor …”

And the fourth reverted to the political PR:

“… Throwing out the running lackies and their yellow dog …”

I love that pamphlet.

When I heard the stories about the CDC and how far it has fallen on the world stage I wondered if they needed to take a similar methodology to survive?

There really is no question about what Donald Trump is doing to our government and our way of life. The parallels to Hitler are honing closer and closer to the reality of what is happening in our country. Does the CDC have to adopt a way of reporting like that pamphlet? Do they have to write in one paragraph: “Our glorious president has declared we must get the economy going and all do our part…” and in the next say, “According to the rate of infection the following states have a rising percentage of …”?

I wonder how long they can hold out. Donald is trying to knock of the heads of the beast wherever it surfaces. Vaccine doctor says can’t approve an unproven drug – Swoosh. Gone. Report says you must follow these steps to be safe, but that won’t let the economy open by next week. Twack, Hidden. 

And so it goes.

Commentators and pundits are no longer hiding their distain, calling him an idiot and the worst president of all time. For those who wanted Washington shook up, I’m wondering if this is what they wanted? Did they want to see someone come in and rip apart the very foundations of our democracy?

History is replete with examples of great confusion and chaos followed by a strong man. Usually, that strong man becomes obsessed with the power he wields and the country falls under an oppressive rule. Democracy is not the norm. Feasance and fidelity to the great one is more common.

For the first time in our history Doctors Without Borders has come to our country to help out. This is an organization that typically goes to third world countries.

Here we are months into this pandemic and we are still talking about testing and getting enough Personal Protective Equipment. There is talk about what is the normal way we have handled such things in the past. The president and his cronies have been begged and pleaded with to do what is the obvious, but they refuse.

The esteemed journal The Lancet, a British based international magazine has called for a change in leadership here. They are a public health and medical magazine. They are calling for it not as a political solution, but a public health solution.

The president has said that he doesn’t want to do more testing because that drives up the number of cases and he doesn’t want the number of cases to go up. This reveals, once again, his fundamental misunderstanding of reality. Not of truth – reality. It has been explained over and over again since he said that statement that no testing and getting a result does not drive up the number of cases. The cases are still out there. If you don’t test you don’t know where they are. 

There are two ways to fight a virus: find everyone who is infected and separate them from everyone else and keep them separated until they get well or live with the virus in our midst and come up with treatments to help people who are infected survive and get better.

The first strategy is called “containment.” That is what we have always managed to do in the past. That is what the CDC and WHO are designed to do. 

The second strategy is what a society does after containment doesn’t work. After the virus is so numerous and spread out that we can’t stop it. In that case, all one can do is muddle along, and hope for a vaccine. But vaccines take a long time to develop and in some cases like AIDS we still don’t have a vaccine. We have medicine that allows people to survive with the AIDS virus but they aren’t cured. They are coping.

Our president is neither following a strategy of containment or of coping.

I am reminded of a joke about a woman who has gone to bed with three different men. The third man is an ad man. (Okay, that’s very 1950s. It’s an old joke.) One of the women’s girlfriend asks what the adman was like in bed. She replied, “he sat at the end of the bed the whole night and told me how great it was going to be.”

That’s pretty much where we are. However, while Trump sits at the end of the bed he is also busy deploying his henchmen throughout the government decapitating the agencies and turning them against themselves and us.

I keep waiting for an adult to enter the room, turn on the light, and all the cockroaches scatter. 

It’s up to us in November to make that happen.

169 Days until the election on November 3^rd

249 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Worry Dolls, Guatemala. Put all your worries into one of these dolls before you go to bed. Place it under your pillow. Go to sleep. In the morning all your worries will be gone.