Update no.958

Update from the Sunland

No.958

18.5.20 – 24.5.20

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

            To all,

  

            Today is the day we remember those who gave their last full measure of devotion to this nation over the centuries of history.  Let us all give thanks lest we ever forget.  We owe our freedom to those who stood to the mark and were not found wanting.  May God rest their immortal souls.

             Remaining true to form, on Monday this week, the Bully-in-Chief (BIC) made an unscripted, off the cuff, highly controversial statement to dominate the headlines for the coming week.  Holding out his hands, as he so often does, like he is gesturing ‘it was this big really,’ the BIC publicly declared at an impromptu ‘Presser’ that he is taking the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine.

A lot of good things have come out about the ‘hydroxy,’ a lot of good things have come out.  You'd be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the frontline workers before you catch it, the frontline workers, many, many are taking it.  I happen to be taking it.  I happen to be taking it.  [incredulous reporters]  I’m taking it, hydroxychloroquine.  Right now, yeah.  A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it, because I think it’s good.  I've heard a lot of good stories [about hydroxychloroquine] and if it's not good, I'll tell you right.  I'm not going to get hurt by it.  It’s been around for 40 years for malaria, for lupus, for other things.  I take it.  Frontline workers take it.  A lot of doctors take it.  [reporters’ questions]  Excuse me.  A lot of doctors take it.  I take it.  I hope to not be taking it soon because you know I hope they come up with some answers, but I think people should be allowed to [take it].  I got a letter the other day from Westchester, New York, around the area.  He didn’t want anything.  He said sir I have hundreds of patients.  And I give them hydroxychloroquine.  I give them the Z-Pak, which is azithromycin [Zithromax; an antibiotic], and I give them zinc.  And out of hundreds of patients, many hundreds, over 300 patients, I haven’t lost one.  So please, keep pressing that sir.  I take, for whatever it’s worth, I take it.  I was, I would’ve told you that three or four days ago, but we never had a chance, because you never asked me the question.  [reporter: Did the White House doctor recommend that you take that, is that why you’re . . . ?]  Yeah, the White House doctor.  He didn’t recommend it, but no, I asked him, what do you think?  He said, ‘Well. If you like it.’  I said yeah, I’d like it.  I’d like to take it.  A lot of people are taking it.  A lot of frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine.  A lot of frontline, I don’t take it, because, hey, people say oh maybe he owns the company.  No, I don’t own the company.  You know what, I want the people of this nation to feel good.  I don’t want them being sick.  And there’s a very good chance this has an impact, especially early on.  But you look at frontline workers.  You look at doctors and nurses.  A lot of them are taking it.  As a preventative.  And they’re taking, totally unrelated, but they take the Z-Pak, or the azithromycin, for possible infection.  Now, I haven’t taken that other than an original dose, because the, all you need is only, you don’t have to take it simultaneously, but the zinc you take.  I’m taking the two, the zinc and the hydroxy.  All I can tell you is [it really is this big] so far it seems to be OK.

Do you believe anything in the BIC’s statement?  History tells us the BIC is lying—not one word is likely true, not even his “this nation to feel good” sentence.  His statement that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for “a couple of weeks” is quite consistent with his many performances over the years as a snake-oil salesman.  When he says such things, think of him standing on his medicine wagon, holding up a purple glass bottle with cork stopper, and proclaiming to the gathered, captivated crowd that his magic elixir reconstructed his deformed hand, reconnected his severed spinal cord, and returned his sight from prolonged blindness.  He clearly believes in his snake-oil elixir—good for him.  Unfortunately, the scientific data does NOT validate his claims (it might when the medical studies are complete, but it does not now).  So, when he states that hydroxychloroquine works for him, think of that image—the BIC holding that purple bottle labeled Trump’s Magic Snake-Oil Elixir.

            The Center for Disease Control (CDC) publicly stated that no proper, controlled, scientific study has indicated the use of hydroxychloroquine for prophylactic use against or treatment of COVID19 infection.

            To the BIC, ‘stories’ are more important, far more important, than hard factual, scientific data.  As he has so often told us, his gut feelings override all facts, just as it did for Clark Stanley and his Snake Oil Liniment over a century ago.  As he says, “what have you got to lose?”  Oh, I don’t know, perhaps your life!

            Just a little historic factoid here might be appropriate.  In no small measure, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was established on 30.June.1906 by the Pure Food and Drug Act [PL 59-I-384; 34 Stat. 768] to deal with worthless ingestible substances like Clark Stanley’s Snake Oil Liniment.

            If you wish to believe the BIC, fine that is your choice.  You can swallow his elixir and believe it cures your ills.  I believe in freedom of choice . . . that is until your freedom of choice hurts other people.  As for me, I will stick with science and the proven processes.  The emperor has no clothes, folks, and the snake-oil elixir he is hawking is worthless . . . and might actually harm you.

            With all the weighty issues that must be dealt with today, why on God’s little green earth does he continue to spend all that precious time hawking hydroxychloroquine?

            The hits just keep coming.  As the BIC left the White House enroute to Michigan [below], the self-proclaimed ‘stable genius’ left another brain-fart on the wind.

And I tested very positively in a, in another sense.  So, yeah, this morning.  I tested positively toward negative, right?  So no, I tested perfectly this morning.  Meaning I tested negative.  But that’s a way of saying it.  Positively toward the negative.

From the BIC’s language (faithfully) transcribed above, an intelligent person might think the fellow who spoke like that had a very poor education as a child.  When he speaks like this, he makes George W. Bush seem like a master of rhetoric, logic, and speech.

            So now, the protective facemask has become a machismo thing for the BIC (and others)—some kind of offense to his manhood.  He visited a Ford plant in Michigan on Thursday, and of course, he refused to wear a protective mask when everyone else was wearing one and openly defying the company policy for all people working or visiting the plant.  He declared, “I’m not going to give the Press the pleasure of seeing [me wearing a mask].”  He is so bloody disrespectful.  The BIC is truly a petulant child—worse, a petulant child in a powerful office.  This is a consequence of malignant narcissism at work, and I have very little doubt that his malignancy will cost many precious lives.  Of course, all the defiant protestors are cheering him on, and he is all too willing to feed their anarchistic or fascist bent.  I suppose the only thing that will satisfy them will be millions of dead.  The BIC could not care less; he’s got his protection.  The rest of us are free to fend for ourselves; he has declared it’s every man for himself.  He seeks to make this pandemic an us versus them affair.  Heck, maybe this is the root of the conspiracy, to intentionally kill off his opponents before the election.  He is working very hard to make voting harder rather than easier for that purpose as well.  These are the times in which we live.

            The BIC’s idiocy has led us to even more division—us versus them.  The protective facemask, which should be about reducing the transmissibility of the dangerous virus, has become his symbol of defiance and power.  So, we witness his supporters with their political campaign banners and confederate flags protesting at close quarters without protective masks.  His believers have guzzled down his magic snake-oil elixir and publicly proclaimed they have been cured and immunized against the COVID19 virus and all other diseases

            I reject the BIC’s idiotic selfish foolishness.  I will continue to respect other citizens around me and wear my PPE in public.  I’ve given up on the BIC’s supporter respecting my rights, my freedom of choice, my safety; they have joined him in his symbolic defiance of the government’s own published guidelines.  I shall have to pray respectful citizens are protected through this crisis.

            I listened intently and with surprising gratitude to an interview with Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York.  With far too many “Christian” clergymen across the country yammering about violations of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it was extraordinarily refreshing to hear Cardinal Dolan speak about responsible worship during these troubled times.  There are even so-called “Christian” clergymen who are openly defying the guidelines as some First Amendment protest . . . thanks in no small measure to the BIC’s rejection of the personal guidelines.  Thank you very much, Cardinal Dolan, for being a voice of reason and spiritual leadership.  We need many more of you in this once grand republic.

            Despite the BIC’s openly negative example, we do see encouraging reports from various news sources and media of American citizens who are using their ingenuity, caring and concern for their fellow citizens in very positive, uplifting ways.  It is truly a blessing to see a 12-year-old child who is displaying far greater leadership than the BIC has ever shown.  There is hope that we will survive this episode in our history and become stronger for the experience.  Thank you so very much to all the decent American citizens representing the best in us.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.957:

Comment to the Blog:

“I haven’t read that book, but it’s certainly the quickest to take advantage of the current situation.

“I understand the politics of Manafort’s release, but I’d like to call attention to the role of prisons and jails in spreading contagious diseases, including the current virus.  I see no remedy for that except some form of release for large numbers of prisoners.  Perhaps prison employees and available technology could be used for home confinement.  That would serve both a medical and a legal purpose.

“I see a future of some of the Chump’s statements as examples in psychology textbooks.  What really bothers me about him is the number of people who voted for him.

“The attempt at a lock-down is essentially the result of our poor preparedness and isn’t the method of choice for dealing with the pandemic.  We’re still not doing test-and-trace or providing actual, effective PPE to the general public.  I find myself in agreement with people I dislike that the Law of Unintended Consequences is kicking in hard and will continue far beyond the timespan of the virus.  I only used ‘unintended’ here because of the staggering lack of foresight and insight among the ‘leaders’ and their medical advisers.  We pay a high price for possibly saving the lives of those at risk in the other lives of domestic violence victims, overdoses, and various other dead people.  That cost is not being reckoned.  Also, I haven’t seen civil liberties taken away and then restored in my lifetime.  For example, the PATRIOT Act is still in force.”

My response to the Blog:

            If you do choose to read “Viral,” please let me know what you think of the story.  He uses his knowledge to hypothesize a better way of dealing with pandemic potential pathogens.  Very intriguing story.

            Re: Manafort.  I just think the “coincidence” is just too convenient, i.e., the BIC made more than a few statements of his considering a pardon for Manafort; just too damn fishy.  BTW, prisons feature large in the “Viral” story.  I think you will like how he deals with it.  I’m not against compassionate release of prisoners in this crisis.  It is Manafort specifically that sets off alarms for me.  There are certainly more than a few non-violent, low-risk prisoners, e.g., marijuana possession, who deserve to be released.  A long-time friend of mine died in prison (Florida) in February; he had medical issues and got very poor, complacent treatment—no compassion in his case.

            There are way too many issues that bother me about the BIC, not least of which is the large number of people who voted for him.  I seriously underestimated tribal herd mentality in getting him elected.  Up until the very end, I could not see how anyone would vote for such a flawed and incompetent person [six (6) bankruptcies]; but, they did—62M Americans.  That reality cannot be underestimated, again.  At present, I’m assuming those 62M American will vote for him, again.

            Yes, lock-down is an anathema in a free society.  What must not be forgotten in all this is, the denial by the BIC for 70 days squandered our opportunity to contain the spread.  Once the containment window closed (circa 23.January.2020), lock-down became the only effective option to break the chain of infection.  The continuing climb of the infection rate to this very day (passing 90,000 fatalities) is testament to the failure of more than a few folks to abide the lock-down rules of conduct.  The lock-down was drastic and prone to failure even without the BIC’s non-compliance example, but it did slow the spread.  We had spot exceedances of local treatment capacity thresholds (I’m so grateful we don’t live in those areas), but not generally overwhelming the health care system.  New York City is a good example.  You are spot on correct.  We have no general plan for test & trace, and now, we have the BIC’s minions openly defying the protection rules and demanding we pull out all the stops.  From my perspective, we are rushing head over heels toward a far worse second peak.  I desperately want to be wrong, but the signs are not good.  All this clamoring to reopen will simply prolong the pain, but such is life.  We shall endure.  It did not have to be this bad.  So many bloody failures by the BIC directly and his administration, and he has begun in earnest his misinformation campaign to deflect any attention from his failures.  He is very good at what he does.  Unfortunately, his successes have nothing to do with serving We, the People, and our safety.

            We have a very clear choice this November.  We must encourage every eligible voters to cast their VOTE.  62M is not a small number and will not be easily overcome.  VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

. . . Round two:

“I agree that Manafort’s home confinement is corrupt. No news there.

“I favor releasing many prisoners in general, and that would be compassionate, but it would benefit society at least as much as it would the prisoners.  Guards and others have close contact with prisoners.  Then they go into the community daily.  Most prisoners are released after their sentences without quarantine as a condition of release.  Changing their imprisonment from the facilities to ‘home confinement’ would contain the virus far more effectively.

“I referred to much more specific effects of the lock-down than ‘anathema in a free society.’  The concrete question for which there’s no concrete answer yet is: are we losing more lives due to increases in domestic violence, mental illness, addiction, and economic desperation than we are saving by shutting down society?  How about health costs and other damage?

“I agree that Chump’s response to the pandemic is extremely late and misdirected.  I doubt that containment was ever possible, but marshaling of PPE (for everyone) as well as test-and-trace materials, personnel, and facilities could have begun months earlier and still lacks force.  I will note, however, that hospital facilities are far from overwhelmed here.  People aren’t seeking treatment for non-virus issues even if they need it (more deaths).  A contact who works in a hospital here tells me they have many open beds, and the corporate parent of that hospital has made nice money installing outmoded equipment in an ‘overflow’ facility that has yet to see a patient.

“I’m still not voting for a ‘lesser evil’ candidate this year.  Neither are millions of others.  Not Trump is not enough.”

 . . . my response to round two:

            Agreed fully.  ‘Nuf said on Manafort.

            I’m with you on prisons, although meticulous care must be taken to not release dangerous prisoners.  There is no question prisons are ‘spells trouble’ facilities.

            Balancing health and economic contra-forces will always be a challenge, especially when we approach the boundaries as we are now.  The process of finding the balance is a matter of experimentation, i.e., try this, see what happens.

            Containment was possible.  We’ve successfully done it with Ebola, Zika, SARS, and others.  The processes are well known, as documented by the Obama administration playbook.  With a highly contagious virus, the window for containment is unusually narrow.  From my perspective, the window for COVID19 was days to a few weeks wide—very narrow.

            The USG has been behind this virus from the get-go and remains behind in virtually every category from PPE, to testing, to contact tracing, to guidance for reopening.  Now, the second peak is a very real threat.  In this instance, too much capacity is far better than not enough.  Early on, we focused on reducing the infection rate to avoid medical treatment saturation.  In reality, the other half of the equation is capacity.  Several states were successful in increasing capacity, which made the system more tolerant of infections.

            The question we should be asking, if we did so well with the lockdown, why is the infection rate still quite positive (no inflection point yet).  New York has been successful in turning the corner; the United States has not.  That fact alone does not bode well for reopening the economy.

            You can look at our choices as voting for the “lesser evil.”  However, a glass is half full approach is the “best of our choices.”  Abstention or outright complacency will quite likely ensure the BIC is re-elected.  He may not get 62M votes this time, but I’ll bet his vote count will be close to that level, since his believers are intransigent, and they vote.  No human being is perfect, not Bernie Sanders, not Joe Biden, not Justin Amash, not anyone, not even Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin.  Abstention is a de facto vote for the BIC, IMHO.

 . . . Round three:

“The issue with containment is that this virus spread before we knew it.  I’ve seen a report of a U.S. case from December.

“You didn’t address the deaths caused by the lock-down rather than the virus.  I’m aware that the lockdown's not stopping the virus.

“You can go ahead and say whatever you like until you’re blue in the face.  It didn’t move voters before and it won’t now.  The fact is, negative campaigning has won elections mainly by turning off voters.  Welcome to the 21^st Century.”

 . . . my response to round three:

            Perhaps.  I’m certainly no expert.  As a forensic engineer, I have had to perform many investigations like this to sort out.  You look for one clue that leads to two, and then more until the problem is solved.  Yes, absolutely, the comparative slow gestation period coupled with the non-symptomatic contagious individuals dramatically complicates the investigation process.  In this instance, seemingly indirect infection paths and the rapidity of travel added even more complexity.  But, respectfully, I still contend the containment window existed, not for long, but it still existed.  The PRC took extraordinarily aggressive actions (not practically possible in a free, democratic society) but those measures worked (to the best of our knowledge).  I don’t think the December case has been confirmed as a COVID19 infection fatality.  Comparable unconfirmed reports that the first detected case (patient zero) occurred in Wuhan, PRC in early November.  We do not know the details, but the point remains we need dedicated contact-tracking experts as the core for temporary teams when the need arises.  No matter when or how broad, the containment period occurred; we missed the window.  To put this question in context, imagine a virus with the contagious potential of COVID19 and the lethality of Ebola—very scary.

            Trying to ascertain fatalities attributed to other related causes like stress, confinement, economic burden, et al, will never be easy, if it is even possible.  We should try in order to understand the full dimensions of such actions in dealing with pandemic situations.  The more we understand, the better we can refine our actions.

            The lockdown had a positive effect in places, i.e., reduced infection rate, but we clearly had far too many people who did not abide the guidelines and respect others.  If we cannot take appropriate actions to reduce the infection rate, then our only remaining option is the other side of the equation—treatment capacity.  We must develop a clear, broad, general plan to surge capacity where and when required.  We did that as well, but far too late and far too spotty.

            I am not sufficiently naïve to disregard your pessimistic view of American voters.  Yet, history is on your side, not mine.  As such, we must prepare ourselves for the real potential of the BIC being re-elected for another four-year term.  I shudder to think of what might happen if that potential comes to fruition.  His staunch supporters vote.  They are a minority, but they are a dedicated minority.  We have born witness for the last 3.5 years, but a second term where even the remotest concern for public opinion vanishes is hard to imagine.  That potential alone is depressing, so I remind everyone who will listen that we must vote.

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.957

Update from the Sunland

No.957

11.5.20 – 17.5.20

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

            To all,

            As an acknowledgment and reflection of the times in which we live, I would like to feature the newest novel by Kevin E. Ready.  “Viral” is applicable, engaging, informative, entertaining, and an extraordinarily timely story for our current situation.

 “Viral” front cover

The story is an intriguing tapestry of a notional influenza viral infection that spreads from China.  Ready carefully describes the infection process in an easily understandable fashion, and more importantly, he offers a unique view of how people working together can overcome even a highly contagious virus pandemic.  As Mister Ready does so well with all his books, he brings complex contemporary issues into crystal clear focus with engaging characters, exceptional research, and an eminently readable writing style.  I truly enjoyed this page-turner and highly recommend “Viral” to everyone regardless of your interest in the underlying stimulant for the story.  The book is available in print and all digital formats from any retail source—digital or brick & mortar.  Please don’t forget to tell Mister Ready how you liked his book.

            The follow-up news items:

-- After Attorney General Barr dismissed all charges against Michael Flynn [956], more than 2,000 former Department of Justice attorneys and FBI agents signed a petition calling for Barr to resign as a consequence of his actions.  Apparently, it is now acceptable to lie to federal agents.  It is doubtful anything will happen since Barr’s boss is a big fan.  However, the breadth of dissatisfaction among so many professionals is certainly telling.

-- Paul Manafort [858] was released from prison reportedly because of COVID19 risks given his underlying health issues.  He was released to home confinement.  It is not clear whether he will be returned to prison once the virus risk passes.  Attorney General Barr ordered low-risk federal inmates to be released to home confinement to reduce the risk to the prison population of 140,000 prisoners.  Something less than 3,000 prisoners are eligible for which Manafort is one. Michael Cohen is not eligible but is approaching his early release threshold for good behavior.

            The obstruction of congressional oversight by the Bully-in-Chief (BIC) has finally made its way through the lower courts to the Supreme Court.  The Supremes will hear oral arguments in this session on two related cases, although it is not clear if they will render a decision by the end of the current session (June). 

-- Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP – Can a congressional committee subpoena the records of the president of the United States when those records are unprivileged and held by a third party?

-- Trump v. Vance – Does a sitting president enjoy absolute immunity from a grand-jury subpoena seeking 10 years’ worth of the president’s financial records, even if the subpoena was served on his accounting firm, and not himself?

These two cases should be a substantive test of the BIC’s self-image that he is omnipotent and above the law.  We shall see . . . eventually.

            Monday, the BIC orchestrated a Rose Garden ‘Presser’ press conference.  They focused on how well they are doing regarding testing—the most/best of everything, of course.  What they claim at the federal level is of interest, however, what really matters is what is happening at hospitals in towns, cities, and states.  The great stuff they claim and want us to believe does not appear to be relevant to the front lines.  It is quite like the federal government claiming they have produced all these bullets and bombs, but what really matters are the bullets and bombs at the frontlines.  The reality of medical frontlines across the country does not match what the government is claiming.

            It is really nice to see the press wearing masks; thank you very much to the White House Press Corps.  The government officials, namely the BIC, refuse to set a proper example for the rest of the nation.  The BIC likes to declare we are “Leading the World in Testing” and “We have prevailed on testing.”  This is the BIC’s “Mission Accomplished” banner (ala Bush 43).  For Bush, combat operations accomplished the initial task, i.e., defeat Iraq.  What Bush’s statement failed to recognize is the hard part of the mission had only just begun—winning the peace.  To that end, he failed.  History records his failure.  The Coalition was not prepared to win the peace.  As a consequence, we witnessed widespread, broad-scale looting, and lawlessness.  I suspect history will so record the BIC’s shallow myopic statement in a similar light.  He repeatedly stated, “People who want to get tested, can get tested.”  The statement is patently false.  Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD PHS

repeated tried to correct the BIC with just one, word change, “The people who need to get tested, can get tested.”  One freakin’ word!  He was repeatedly reminded of his mistake, but he refused to change, since to him “want” sounds much better than “need.”

            I am beginning to see a trend.  The BIC dropped these bombshells on Monday to dominate the news for the whole week.

            The BIC also berated the Press.  The job of the Press is to ask direct, hard questions.  It is NOT their job to ask ‘nice’ questions.  The BIC has failed miserably to recognize the reality of his position.  He is NOT up there to stroke his ego.  He is there to help the nation understand, to mobilize the nation to a common goal in a crisis.  If anyone wanted to see the difference, just examine the rhetoric between Prime Minister Johnson a week ago Sunday and the BIC on the following day.  One is a bona fide leader; the other is a snake-oil salesman who does not like being confronted with the worthlessness of the snake-oil product he is hawking.

            We learned that three important health professionals on the White House COVID19 response team were exposed to an infected individual.  All three self-quarantined themselves.

-- Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci, MD – NIAID Director

-- Dr. Robert Ray Redfield, Jr., MD – CDC Director

-- Dr. Stephan Michael Hahn, MD – FDA Commissioner

Now, we hope they were not infected or suffer consequences.  So far so good.

            As is so bloody often the case, the BIC failed to accomplish even the simplest of fact checks before he spoke.  He has incessantly chanted about some mythical conspiracy he calls “Obamagate,” “the shelves were bare,” “they left us nothing,” et al.  Every single word is patently false.  The Obama administration left a 69-page guide to dealing with potential pandemic situations.  Whether the current administration threw the document away, ignored it, or simply did not have the capacity to read it does not alter the reality.  The title of the Obama pandemic plan stood out on the first page in bold red letters.

PLAYBOOK FOR
EARLY RESPONSE TO HIGH-CONSEQUENCE
EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASE THREATS AND
BIOLOGICAL INCIDENT

Figuratively speaking, the BIC declared, I don’t need no stinkin’ facts.  My gut tells me all I need to know.  If the BIC only opened the Playbook when the USG was first notified by the PRC and WHO [3.January.2020] that a highly contagious, potentially lethal, lower respiratory virus had begun to spread in Wuhan, PRC, he might have taken the appropriate actions to contain the outbreak before it took root in this country.  Nope; no such luck!  We are left with . . . if/only.  The BIC denied, obfuscated, deflected, and otherwise rejected all rational advice until it was too late; containment was no longer possible.  We were left with the only responsible response option to break the chain of infection—isolation.

            The Playbook offers an excellent summary of the governmental/societal challenges of infectious viral events.  It also lays out a checklist of relevant questions, a decision matrix to quickly establish effective response, and provides incisive questions to determine whether the situation is a “pathogen with pandemic potential”—COVID19 qualified early on as that type of pathogen.  The time lost in the first six to eight weeks after notification of a spreading novel coronavirus (addressed in the Playbook) was the fatal flaw in the USG response.  We were way behind at the get-go.  We are still behind, i.e., reactionary, to this very day.  The plan dealt with all levels of government—state, local, territorial, and tribal.  The plan is an executive-level template for dealing with “pathogens with pandemic potential.”  The plan did not provide provisional contingency plans with various assumptions for future situations.  The appendices offer relevant laws, agencies, and organizations to assist in any future pandemic response, as well as a primer and exhaustive listing of the contributions of various federal departments, agencies, and organizations in any national emergency pandemic response.

            I do appreciate that some citizens simply do not care about facts, reality, the truth, and such distracting nonsense; they only care about their vaunted snake-oil salesman because he delivers his worthless elixir to cure their ills in copious quantities and gushing words.  I am too simple, unsophisticated, and incapable of appreciating the BIC’s wonderment and greatness.  I have tried, but I have been resoundingly unsuccessful in finding any political, social, or scientifically redeeming value in any of the BIC’s drivel.  I used to give him credit for believing what he says.  Today, I am compelled to condemn him as an outright liar, and more significantly, he is a clear and present danger to this once grand republic. Whether we will ever recover from the destruction he has wrought on our culture is yet to be determined.  He has no redeeming value to this country.

            And, some citizens wonder why I am so hard on the BIC?  My evidence remains replete week after week.  The fodder for my condemnation of the BIC is persistent, incessant, and endless.

            If anyone needed more evidence of the level, depth and breadth of the BIC’s ignorance, the paucity of any semblance of intellectual curiosity, and his categorical unwillingness to learn about matters he is called upon by his employment to deal with for We, the People, you have but to listen to the BIC’s public proclamation on Thursday.  The BIC toured the medical supply distributor Owens and Minor in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  [Of course, the president and his chief of staff were the only members of the tour group not wearing masks; ya gotta love his audacity.]  The BIC said:

“So we have the best testing in the world.  Could be the testing is, frankly, ah, overrated.  Maybe it is overrated.  We have more cases than anybody in the world.  But why?  Because we do more testing.  When you test, you have a case.  When you test, you find something is wrong, with people.  If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.”  [emphasis mine]

The extent of his ignorance in that one public statement is staggering.  Testing documents facts.  This president has no interest in facts.  He relies on his infallible gut feelings; he just ‘feels’ the cosmic vibrations, I suppose.  How refreshing!  The BIC’s public statement is the antithesis of knowledge, reason, and logic.  To put this in very graphic terms, imagine an engineer saying ‘just trust me’; you go fly that experimental aircraft, see what happens.  We don’t need to measure or record anything, just trust me.  The BIC’s statement is true; if we do not test, we are blind.  In essence, the BIC is saying ignorance is far better than knowledge.  If we do not test, we would have only one way to know about infections—deaths.  He cannot deny dead citizens.  Oh, wait, I’m sure as the consummate snake-oil salesman, he would attempt to declare they were not deaths from COVID19 infection, they were just natural deaths.  And, if you did not test the corpses, we would never know why they died—other than severe respiratory failure.

            Just to be crystal clear, let’s recall the dictionary definition:

Idiocy = something notably stupid or foolish; extremely stupid behavior.

If anyone needs a graphic, real-world example of a dictionary definition of idiocy, you need to go no farther than the BIC’s statement on Thursday.  Suggesting the injection of disinfectant into human beings to fight the COVID19 infection [954] is bad enough.  The rejection of testing is orders of magnitude worse.  The former kills one person at a time.  Ignorance kills thousands upon thousands, if not millions.  Ignorance is not our friend, as the BIC would have us believe.

            We used to laugh at President Bush’s (43) abuse of the English language, but his faux pas were innocent, benign, and harmless.  As I stated previously, the BIC’s outright lies and grossly misleading statements are a clear and present danger [954] to We, the People.

            As part of a separate discussion regarding the on-going trauma of the COVID19 response, I thought the exchange below would also be useful to this humble forum.

I wrote:

OK, I'll bite.  You've been very critical of the recommendations of the scientists.  So, oh so wise man, what do you propose instead?  Just let the virus run its course?  Kill off as much of the population as it can, and the rest will presumably have immunity by surviving the infection?  What's your plan?

The contributor responded (my highlights identify questions for further response below):

“The ‘bite’ I am not afraid of IF we still have such an opportunity to debate in this country and exercise our free speech without censorship from the Ministry of Thought.  I don't think I've been ‘very critical’ of the scientists, I've actually been critical of the loss of liberty and freedom, and questioning the logic, data, and programming of the masses, by a government and a bunch of public health & safety bureaucrats deemed essential workers, coming up with nonsensical guideline/procedures/new ways, which if we don't OBEY them, we can be cited, arrested and/or imprisoned...like if I had a cafe and wanted to keep it open for others to enjoy, and so-called free Americans to make their own choice to take a certain level of risk to drive and eat at my cafe.  The driving part is much more dangerous than the promotion that all of us are gonna get Coronavirus and be on a ventilator in a week.

“What the scientists from wherever they are bred at, not sure if WHO, CDC, NIAID, and other agencies can get paid all that money and consulting fees, buy into BIG PHARMA stocks (VAX companies), and be honest with us.  Then in their ‘wise man’ wisdom, tell me I cannot take a walk on the beach or paddleboard into the Pacific, because of undue risks on others.  So this all gets handed down by the mad scientists turned into recommendations that get turned into directives by public safety staff, mandated by governors and mayors and county board of supervisors (right out of the Roman Empire is how I view it), leading to two police officers chasing me on their motorized ATV's so they can arrest me, you don't see that the world has gone apes?  And who are these wise men paraded before us on the alphabet news channels as the experts, what do they have in the game?  I can make many think anything I want with data, spreadsheets, STAT graphs, PowerPoint presentations, and how do we know of the integrity of their data (especially in light of what their recommendations are doing to limit the freedom of mankind, and given their agendas you and I don't get to know much about because we don't get invited to Davos, or the round circle clubs).

“The new mandates by law about phase roll-ins for dine-in restaurants is just as nutty, have any of them run a restaurant and understand their roll-ins to allow a mom & pop cafe owner to open, the crazy procedures and rules will ruin them.  None of those bureaucrats understand how to make it in the restaurant biz.  Where does all the illogical and irrational rules come from?  It does not come from me, I doubt it comes from you.  Little Joe's Cafe that seats 20 people cannot open, but COSTCO can stay open.  Tell me where there is any logic there.

“Have you been to Walmart lately Cap?  It's like checking into a FEMA camp.  I will never-ever sit foot in a Walmart again, and may take Target off my list too in how they hire renta-thugs to enforce mask rules (masks don't work, they depress your immunity).

Masks don't work.  Do one-way arrows in grocery stores aisles, herding the cattle (‘Flattening the Herd’), keeping people outside in perp lines, and all the amazing lunacy of the RULES (to control), who came up with that, the local gal in Sacramento in the health department, or some guy in our city's public health safety and code enforcement, some guy on loan from the DMV?  Who is devising the crap that is promoting FALSE BELIEFS that those very rules are making you safer?  I just heard if we keep our eyes closed, there is a better chance we won't catch COVID-19, so do we now keep our eyes closed while navigating the many lines/arrows in Vons?

“They are not allowing HERD IMMUNITY and to let the virus run its course, they are actually hurting the people much more through the fear propagated, the stress of many of us (maybe not you) losing our jobs, our businesses, our incomes, our future.  But let's keep Sally Q. Public who has underlying health conditions, and lives in FEAR continuously but wants the government to save her, let's keep her masked up and doing perp walks outside of Walmart, waiting for chow (buying a bag of Cheetos and 72 rolls of toilet paper) and afraid of strangers (silent spreaders) because she would not go to the beach and take a walk in the sun with fresh air if her life depended on it.

“Cap, why don't you experiment in opening up your mind for different paradigms: Go tell 20 small business owners still forced to be closed, that they need to stay closed, not produce income, not feed their kids, not make their mortgage payment, not pay their car loans, must bankrupt their businesses, because you think the public needs to stay safe from ‘The Invisible Virus.’  Do you think your reasoning with them with data charts from Dr. Fauci is gonna convince them?

“Not sure who said it, but someone whether Donald Trump or someone he quoted coined: The cure cannot be worse than the disease. If the goal was the disintegration of our economy, destroying lives, civil unrest, and ultimately the loss of most of our freedom, I'd say the ‘cure’ is working quite effectively.

“‘What's the plan?’  Get our freedom BACK!  [Emphasis by the originator]

“‘We're mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!’  We'll never forget, and we're taking names and kicking rats.  Maybe I'll start with CNN and Anderson Cooper since he's been an agent for the TRANCE-FORMATION of America and sits, looks serious, mumbles and people are buying into his crap.”

My reply:

            “Get our freedom BACK!” is a nice catchy phrase kinda like “Make America Great Again.”  Unfortunately, the devil is in the details.  Let’s put things in perspective first.

            In 1917, the USG imposed strict censorship on our personal mail in all forms.  I have copies of letters my great uncle sent back from France that had words and sentences blacked out, and in a few cases, actually cut out, removing writing on the backside.  From 1942 to 1945, the USG imposed similar censorship of our expanded communication including radio and newspaper stories, and even in cinematic movies.  The USG also imposed severe restrictions on all travel imposing travel priorities that virtually excluded routine personal travel on railroads, ships, airplanes, and gasoline, oil, and rubber rationing that made even local travel difficult.  A citizen had to obtain a government travel priority code to go visit grandma for whatever reason, and then that citizen had to wait until a seat opened up on a railcar that would take his priority code.  Food rationing affected our consumption of meat, dairy products, sugar, et al.  After 9/11, the entire U.S. airspace closed down—not a single aircraft flew.  We had vital, perishable, transplant organs, and bone marrow stranded in mid-journey; lives were at stake.  So, when you talk about freedom, let us not forget the sacrifices of our ancestors.

            Second, as you may recall, I have howled about the oppression of our morality laws for decades.  Where is the outrage against those imposed prohibitions on our freedom of choice?  In fact, I’m working on a novel about elements of that very question.

            I appreciate the time you took to share your tirade along with your catchy phrase, but respectfully, you did not answer my questions.

            The COVID19 virus is a highly contagious, contact pathogen.  We see a perfect example In the Republic of Korea.  After all the efforts to contain and suppress the contagion, they opened just a little.  One infected, contagious man decided to go to five, night clubs one evening.  Now, they have hundreds of innocent, unknowing, law-abiding people infected, and they are scrambling to identify and contain those infectious people.  I understand that our vanity objects to masks, gloves, and eye protection, and our sense of freedom rails against restrictions upon our freedom of movement and conduct.  But, the USG failed to execute containment processes early on in this event when we had a chance to stop the viral infection, and the contagion was unwittingly allowed to spread widely across the country.  We have already passed 80,000 dead in this country alone with projections forecasting 140,000 dead by August.

            Personal protective measures are more to respect others and protect them from non-symptomatic, infectious individuals.  Masks do not protect you; they offer some protection to others, i.e., they attenuate the potential spread of the virus.  Goggles protect your eyes from incidental aerosol viral contagions.  Gloves are a barrier (not perfect but more than nothing) to contact transmission.

            It is altogether one thing to criticize actions.  It is quite another effort to propose a better way.  So, you (and many others) object to the stay-at-home guidelines to break the chain of infection.  Hey, I understand and share those objections; I don’t like them any more than you do.  But, what do you propose to do instead of stay-at-home actions to break the chain of infection?  Please tell me!  I’m all ears.  I could not care less about catchy phrases like the BIC prefers to use.  I need to know how we fight this infectious disease.  What exactly do you propose as an alternative?  If a person turned purple when first infected, it would be easy to isolate infected people.  This virus leaves no signs of infection.  Further, the infected individual has no clue he is infectious until 5, 10, 15 days later.  Think about how many doorknobs & handles, elevator buttons, juice box contents checked & put back on the shelf, handrails, ad infinitum, we touch or sneeze on in two weeks’ time.  That is the issue here.

            You suggest we allow the virus to run its course . . . you mean like 1918-1919?  What happens to you or me when, God forbid, we have a heart attack or a stroke, and all of the ICU capacity is saturated trying to save critically ill COVID19 patients?  This is not about surviving a viral infection.  It is all about saturating our critical medical treatment capacity.  The current medical advice to infected individuals is self-quarantine and ride it out, unless you are having trouble breathing.  The people in those ICU beds are critically ill, placed in a medically induced coma and intubated on a ventilator to oxygenate their blood until the infection passes; many do not make it.  What I think you are suggesting is screw everyone else, i.e., old folks like me just need to die off, after all, I’m no longer a productive citizen.  I’m now just a parasite, a leech—easy to write me off.  That state is not so easy for me to accept, I’m sorry to say.

            Now, I must swallow my own medicine.  I cannot criticize you and fail to respond to your imbedded questions.  So, here goes.

“you don't see that the world has gone apes?”  Yes, I do see the pain, agony and uncertainty of our current situation.  Just the video clips from across the country of miles of cars lined up in modern day food lines and soup kitchens is testament.  More vidclips of farmers plowing under piles of squash, tomatoes, potatoes, and dumping tanks of milk are further testament.

“what do they have in the game?”  OMG!  Their job is to protect us as best they possibly can from a highly infectious contagion.  More on this one below.

“Where does all the illogical and irrational rules come from?”  The simple and perhaps flippant answer is: from governmental officials who are responsible for keeping us safe.  They are doing the best they can.  What I see in your treatise on these illogical & irrational rules as you call them is the abject failure of the federal government to provide leadership.  The BIC has sought to wash his hands of any responsibility for the miserable action, e.g, he provides guidelines but refuses to follow his own guidelines, and in fact, thumb’s his nose at the guidelines.  He has in essence told the states and indeed every one of us . . . I’ve got mine, you’re on your own MF’ers.  The BIC’s outright dangerous “inject disinfectant” and his “most testing in the world” nonsense are a clear and present danger to We, the People.  His fiddling Nero as Rome burns image is not attractive and not helpful.  Is it any wonder why states, cities, town and individual store owners are left to interpret the guidelines as best they can?  Further, the guidelines are very general leaving individual business owners to do the best they can to comply.  Lastly, we have the BIC encouraging protesters to take to the streets, to defy guidelines . . . talk about irrational and irresponsible!  I’m not against protests; I’m absolutely against those protesters not respecting my rights, my freedom of choice.  The constitutional responsibility of the POTUS in any time of crisis (war, natural disaster, pandemic, whatever) is to focus the nation in a collective response and mobilize the nation to fight the threat.  The BIC has FAILED miserably; we have ample or rather a plethora of evidence to validate that statement.  I encourage you and others to focus your outrage, your ire, at the real culprit in all this; it is not your mayor or governor; it is the current [not four years ago] president of the United States.

“Have you been to Walmart lately Cap?”  Nope.  Not gone to Costco, or Sam’s, or any other large store, but I’ve certainly seen the vidclips and images.

“who came up with [the amazing lunacy of the RULES]”  Simple answer: political leaders trying to do the best they can with the paucity of leadership from the USG.  The ‘flattening of the curve’ motivating objective came from responsible medical professionals.  It certainly makes sense to me because it is all about our emergency, critical care, treatment capacity.  The virus is much faster than our ability to increase capacity—thanks to the unpreparedness of the USG.  Once again, the responsible person is the BIC—not President Obama, nor the Democrats, nor anyone else.

“Who is devising the crap that is promoting FALSE BELIEFS that those very rules are making you safer?”  See above.  I’m not sure where your disconnect comes from here.  The USG guidance is logical, direct, and apropos from my understanding.  The implementation of those guidelines occasionally becomes nonsensical because of local or spot interpretation.

“do we now keep our eyes closed while navigating the many lines/arrows in Vons?”  No!  However, eye protection would help.

“Do you think your reasoning with them with data charts from Dr. Fauci is gonna convince them?”  I’ve listened to most involved individuals from the BIC to various governors including my own state, and other local individuals, as well as the variety of medical professionals including Fauci, Reddfield, et al.  I’m not an infectious disease expert or a medical doctor, but I’m also not ignorant of the medical matters in play with this pandemic.  Perhaps we have failed to inform, educate and mobilize our individual business owners.  Further, trying to find the balance between the medical and economic divisions of the crisis is no easy trick.  The BIC has clearly chosen his side, after all his “businesses” are losing money.  We have to hand it to the BIC, he is trying to show sufficient interest in the infectious element to justify his “open the country” self-interest position.

            Lastly and perhaps the most salient summary point is, your freedom of choice gives you NO right to endanger my life, to take away my freedom of choice.  Those unprotected protesters are doing exactly that, and I take that threat very personally.

            My preconception, based on limited Press coverage, of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday regarding the legality of the state’s stay-at-home orders stimulated me to read the decision for a host of reasons.  The case at issue here is Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm [WI SC 2020AP765-OA (2020)].  The respondent (Palm) in this case is Secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) Andrea Palm, who was nominated by Governor Evers in January 2020.  Her confirmation has been stalled in the Republican-controlled state Senate, ostensibly because Palm chose a Planned Parenthood executive to be her deputy.  Emergency Order 28 was issued by Palm through the governor’s office on 16.April.2020.

            As I read through the Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm ruling, I vacillated back and forth between pro & con.  The essence of the 4-3 majority opinion centered upon the definition of an ‘order’ and a ‘rule’ under Wisconsin law, and the authority of the DHS secretary under Wisconsin Statute § 252.02 to impose upon the rights of everyone in the state regardless of residency.  The majority argument illuminated the fact that the DHS secretary exercised extraordinary power beyond the executive branch and thus violated the separation of powers in both federal and state constitutions.  Associate Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley, in her concurring opinion, stated, “It is especially in times of emergency that we must protect the rights of the people, lest we establish a dangerous precedent empowering less benevolent government officials in the future to oppress the people in the name of exigency.”  Very few Americans would disagree with her observation as a singular pronouncement.  Seen through that lens, the majority concluded that Emergency Order 28 was “unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable.”  There was not one mention of precedent, practice, or past performance until the dissent raised the reality that the Wisconsin legislature had precedent dating back to 1876, and the secretary’s actions had been imposed in previous situations not least of which was the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19.  Associate Justice Brian K. Hagedorn in his dissenting opinion observed, “[W]e are allowing the legislature to argue its own laws are unconstitutional, a legal claim it has no authority to make.”  He rightly concludes that the legislature had no standing to raise the complaint.  The question that kept popping into my little pea-brain as I read was, why now?  What was different about this incident from the other similar events in Wisconsin history.  At the end of the day, my conclusion was selective interpretation—convenience of the moment.  The Republican-controlled legislature (both chambers) wanted to open the state and saw Emergency Order 28 as an obstacle to that objective.  I will also note that the exigencies of the current pandemic did not enter the majority’s reasoning.  If the legislature did not like their law, why didn’t they simply amend the law.  The stated response was such an action would likely take 18 to 49 days, with an absolute best metric of 12 days, thus not responsive given the rapidity of the viral infection spread.  I will note for the record here that it took less than 26 hours for Congress to pass and the president to sign the declaration of war after Imperial Japan initiated its attack on U.S. Forces stationed in Hawaii.  Proper legislation can and does happen at a very rapid pace when necessary.

            As I read the Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm ruling, I see a very misty, ambiguous decision that seriously hobbles the state’s ability to reduce the infection rate and avoid saturation of the state’s medical treatment capacity.  There are several very unusual, if not outright extraordinary, aspects of this ruling, not least of which is the legislature arguing against itself in court.  The court’s majority uses broad, flowery, flag-waving arguments to carry the legislature’s water without addressing the context in which this case came before them.  At the end of the day, I believe the dissent’s arguments prevail, and this was a very poorly rendered decision.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.956:

Comment to the Blog:

“I offer readers something from the New York Times Morning Briefing today that is more relevant to the virus and the re-opening than the hysteria on TV.  This article come from an associate professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, who has a strong background in infectious diseases, excerpted below the link.  The entire article is useful to read once you get past the very technical part.

https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200511&instance_id=18384&nl=the-morning&regi_id=78152399&segment_id=27239&te=1&user_id=e80ee7285ce6f8ffd8e13b1ea6c5d93e

“‘Ignoring the terrible outbreaks in nursing homes, we find that the biggest outbreaks are in prisons, religious ceremonies, and workplaces, such as meatpacking facilities and call centers. Any environment that is enclosed, with poor air circulation and high density of people, spells trouble.’

“I find it fascinating that the environment of the White House would be one of those that ‘spells trouble.’

“Upon reading the article, it confirms my understanding that infection = exposure + time. Hence, spending an hour or less in a grocery store is a less risky activity and such activities as walking and cycling (with social distance) very low risk. The nature of prisons, on the other hand, puts a person at risk for capital punishment not included in the sentence or job description.

(Paragraph breaks are important to the above writing.)

“Chump’s traits also fit most of the traits of people from alcoholic and other abusive families. He’s known to have had an alcoholic older brother. Perhaps others like that are his base.

“Good luck with that voting thing. As we know, the majority might not win.”

My response to the Blog:

            Interesting article indeed . . . a bit cumbersome but useful.  I also agree with your assessment.  The West Wing precisely fits the “spells trouble” definition.  Of course, what does the BIC do when threatened, he deploys the most aggressive testing and contact-tracing processes to the entire White House staff.  Why?  Because he can . . . unlike all the rest of us.  This is a graphic demonstration of his selfish “I’ve got mine where’s yours” attitude; he is unique and above all others.  Screw the rest of the country.  Yesterday’s (Monday) Rose Garden briefing was almost as bad as his ‘inject disinfectant’ disaster.  The admiral tried repeatedly to help him, but he steadfastly refused to abandon his patently false public statement.  More in this week’s Update (I’ve already written too much).

            Yes; perhaps lots of that illuminates the BIC’s traits.  As I wrote last week, I think malignant narcissism is the most directly applicable.  He simply has no capacity for perception (or anything else) beyond himself.  We saw that in spades yesterday afternoon.

            Americans have historically been far too complacent regarding our precious right to vote.  If we do not vote, we will always get what we’ve always got.  If anyone believes the BIC is not doing a great job, don’t vote because the consumers of his snake-oil vote, all of them do vote.  They only way we can overcome his army of snake-oil consumers is by voting.  I am only one voice, but I intend to be persistent until the decision is rendered this fall.

Another contribution:

“956 on target, as usual, Cap!  However, since you cannot resist condemnation of every move and assumed motivation of my President, I respectfully suggest you rename your blog  

“Update From AntiTrump Sunland.”
“Keep smiling, friend.  I may add gloves to my armament during my few public ventures, assuming I don’t need a concealed carry permit to hide my deadly karate-trained hands.”

My reply:

            Perhaps, you have missed a few of the Updates.  I give the man credit when credit is due.

            With all due respect, I will not be changing the name of the Blog.

            I remain critical of the Oh So Great Orange One (OSGOO) simply because he offers so bloody much to be critical of each week.  I cannot possibly cover it all, so I must select the most egregious from a bountiful supply.

            I always appreciate your constructive criticism.  I am an absolute subscriber to Churchill’s prescient statement that criticism is like pain in the body it brings attention to an unhealthy state of things.  That said, and not with any intention to deflect (as the BIC does consistently), I would love to hear your defense of the BIC.  You have consistently been critical of my criticism of the BIC’s performance and conduct, but I’ve not heard your defense of him.  Please tell me how you believe he is doing a praiseworthy job?  Where is my criticism wrong?

            How you (or anyone else) choose to respect others during the pandemic crisis is your choice entirely . . . that is until you enter the public domain, then the state must define safe conduct.  I simply offer my perspective.  BTW, I was remiss in not mentioning my wearing of my wraparound sunglasses or safety glasses to protect my eyes.  The eyes are another entry path, not covered by a mask or gloves.  I actually had one guy (middle aged [younger than me]) ask me as I entered a store if I was in there to rob the store.  I was not pleased or humored.  I simply responded, “Nope, just trying to protect you.”

A different contribution:

“How are you both down there in the sunshine?  We’ve had a polar blast for some days with parts of Scotland forecast for snow down to low levels!  But like this damned virus it will improve.

“How are all the Parliers coping with it?  A dreadful number of deaths over your side, not good here.  Our leader Boris is relaxing a few of the restrictions imposed earlier with the proviso that he will enforce them again should the situation deteriorate.  We do have some utterly stupid individuals ignoring the advice given, if caught they are fined by the police.  These fines are being increased.

“I continue to be staggered by the ineptitude of your leader.  Does he believe he is immune from human pandemic?  Even if he survives his inept behaviour surely he knows he can then infect others lots of others, even those he loves.

“OK bud, keep up the good work-any holidays planned?”

My response:

            Jeanne is getting a little restless, but I’m a hermit author after all.  LOL  Odd thing is, the urge of eat out at a restaurant is mounting rapidly with her.  Our governor has indicated restaurants can open for dine-in soon.

            Yes, the death toll of this pandemic is tragic in so many ways.  And, I contend, it did not have to be this bad, if the BIC had only heeded the warnings of the medical professionals earlier.  We lost 6-8 weeks of precious time to contain the infection.  By the time the BIC finally got the message, the opportunity for containment was long gone.  Then, his anemic inept response added to the death toll.

            As I wrote for this week’s Update, I listened to Prime Minister Johnson’s full public statement last Sunday.  I was impressed.  I ask readers to contrast the two public statements: the PM on Sunday with POTUS on Monday—dramatically different.  One is a genuine leader; the other is a consummate snake-oil salesman.

            Freedom of choice (in all its forms) is important to all of us.  Yet, our freedom of choice does not even remotely imply that we can threated or injure others by our choices.  Not abiding the public restrictions is doing just that . . . threatening others.  This is NOT about personal preferences; it is ALL about respecting others until this threat is behind us.  This too shall pass . . . if we respect each other.

            The sad, cold reality is the BIC could not care less about anyone else other than himself . . . well and perhaps his precious Ivanka.  Everyone else is expendable and thus worthless to him.  The BIC is the antithesis of leadership by any measure.

            Nope, no holidays planned.  What we did have planned for this year have all been cancelled, including our granddaughter’s graduation from college and her installment as a registered nurse.  She is courageous jumping into her chosen profession in the middle of a pandemic.  May God bless and protect her.

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)