Update no.981

 Update from the Sunland

No.981

26.10.20 – 1.11.20

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

 

            To all,

 

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig.  You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

-- George Bernard Shaw

The Shaw quotation seems quite appropriate given the BIC’s mental health affliction, personality traits, and penchant for the mud.  While Joe Biden has failed to heed Shaw’s counsel a few times, for the most part, he has avoided getting in the mud with the BIC.  Biden has a good message of unity, calm, and optimism with honesty.

 

            In this particular presidential election year, 21 of 33 senators standing for election are Republicans.  We are doing our part in Arizona, and we expect to replace McSally with Mark Kelly.  I hope voters in other states will turn those other 20 Republican senators out to pasture.  Most importantly, I hope voters in Kentucky retire McConnell to the dustbin of history; he has done more than enough damage for one man.  Democrats need to gain four seats to take control of the Senate and 13 seats to dominate the Senate.  Let us get the job done.

 

            On Monday, 26.October.2020 at 19:52 [R] EDT, the U.S. Senate voted on Nomination Number PN2252, the confirmation of 7^th Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the passing of Associate Justice Ginsburg.  The vote was 52-48-0-0(0) with Senator Susan Collins of Maine as the only senator to not vote with her tribe.  Barrett was sworn in circa 21:00 [R] EDT at a White House extravaganza ordered by the BIC. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas administered the oath of office, which also seemed quite symbolic and apropos. Barrett’s confirmation comes one month after her nomination and one week prior to the next presidential election.  The Barrett nomination/confirmation will be recorded forever as the epitome of political hypocrisy as well as a bitter condemnation of Moscow Mitch and the entire Republican Party.  This one event among so many others is more than sufficient to reject all 21 incumbent Republican senators as noted above.

 

            Here are a couple of thoughts on the COVID19 situation from my perspective.

1.  The root issue has never been the virus itself.  COVID19 has a comparatively low mortality rate . . . especially compared to Ebola or other viral hemorrhagic fevers.  The root is the contagiousness of this virus, i.e., the easy of infecting others.

2.  Because of the high contagious rate, the critical factor remains ICU capacity to deal with serious respiratory distress.  Because of the low mortality rate, we could tolerate greater hospitalizations if we had sufficient ICU capacity.  ICU capacity is a critical parameter because that treatment potential is needed for so many other afflictions, e.g., heart attack, stroke, severe trauma, et al.  I am far more concerned about this factor than the virus itself.

3.  We would not have needed the lockdown and devastation to our economy if we had dealt with the infectiousness early on when we could have contained it.  This was the BIC's failure entirely because he chose to "downplay" the pandemic.

4.  The end game is controlling infections by whatever means possible to keep hospitalizations and deaths low.  Again because of the BIC's mismanagement, that point will likely be a year or more away.  A vaccine will never be the solution in this country—too many anti-vax'ers.  Because of the politicization of the pandemic and the anti-vax'ers, I suspect we are going to be in the anti-infection mode for quite some time to come.

5.  Lastly, if the issue was only the individual survival rate, I'd say fine, take your chances, like smoking, drug abuse, driving recklessly, or jumping off bridges.  Unfortunately, the choices of others affect my life and my family, and for that, I cannot tolerate the choices of others.  We are in this together.  Unfortunately, too many Americans are like the BIC--me, me, me--screw everyone else.

Those are my thoughts.

 

            I am getting really freakin’ tired of this Hunter Biden nonsense and drivel.  The BIC’s personal defense attorney staff that used to be the U.S. Department of “Justice,” has had the power of federal criminal prosecution for four freakin’ years.  Where are the charges?  Put up or shut up!  Ignore this damnable right-wing conspiracy foolishness like all the other conspiracy gibberish the BIC, Republicans, and other right-wing conspiracists prefer to spew out like projectile vomit.

 

            A friend, frequent contributor, and fellow brother-in-arms sent along the following article for comment.

“Why this election calls into question whether America is a democracy – At the beginning of the Fight to Vote project, we asked this question. After a year of election battles, voting restrictions and partisan conflicts, we revisit the idea – Is America a democracy? If so, why does it deny millions the vote?”

by Sam Levine

The Guardian (UK)

Published: Fri 30 Oct 2020 13.45 EDT First published on Fri 30 Oct 2020 12.00 EDT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/30/is-america-a-democracy-us-election-fight-to-vote

To which, I responded:

            It is embarrassing, disappointing, disgusting, along with myriad other emotions that such an article could even be imagined; but alas, it is an accurate reflection of what we are dealing with during this silly season.  While the BIC did not create this despicable situation, he sure as hell exploited and amplified these divisions for his personal aggrandizement.  These Republican shenanigans have been growing more strident for several decades, once they realized they were a continually shrinking minority.  That said, I am compelled to add the Democrats have been doing their own form of voter suppression through what we popularly call gerrymandering (both parties do it when they control the state legislatures), i.e., manipulating district boundaries to optimize their electoral advantage.  I can only hope we are strong enough to overcome the debacle that has been the BIC’s administration.  This nightmare must end.

 

            A relevant view from Germany:

“A Legacy of Hatred, Culture Wars and Discord – The Mess Created by Trump Will Be with Us for Years – The U.S. president has damaged the political system so badly that it will be difficult to repair, even if Donald Trump gets voted out of office on Tuesday.  The hatred and political discord he has stirred up will paralyze the country for years.”

by Valerie Höhne, Ralf Neukirch, René Pfister, Alexandra Rojkov und Alexander Sarovic

Der Spiegel

Published: 30.10.2020, 18.54 Uhr

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-mess-created-by-trump-will-be-with-us-for-years-a-e6a059c1-3422-4c19-b3c3-4e4b726f7820?sara_ecid=nl_upd_1jtzCCtmxpVo9GAZr2b4X8GquyeAc9&nlid=bfjpqhxz

There are so many valid and relevant observations they exceed my capacity to repeat them.  I urge every American citizen to read this article, contemplate the observations, and heed its warnings.  If I had to select a single sentence the most expansively summarizes the observation of this article, it would be: “Never before in U.S. history has a president done such lasting damage to the fabric of American democracy in such a short amount of time.”  To which I say, amen, spot on, precisely the point!  The BIC is enabled by Republican who have embraced their scorched earth policy, i.e., if they cannot retain power, then burn the whole house down.  We, the People, must reject and condemn the BIC and his Republican enablers.  The BIC’s America is NOT the United States of America our Founders envisioned and the rest of us have grown to love and cherish.  “Make America Great Again” as the BIC defines it; NO THANK YOU!  As the article asserts, the BIC is destroying America as we have known it.  It is long past time to stop this tragedy.

 

            The court rulings are coming too fast for me to keep up.  One court judgment of noted was DNC v. Wisconsin Legislature [592 U.S. 20A66 (2020)]—another election ruling by the Supremes.  This one goes to Republicans on appeal from the 7^th Circuit and was another split 4 x 4 default affirmation.  The previous related case was Scarnati v. Boockvar[592 U.S. 20A53] [980].  The Supremes went to some lengths to explain away the dichotomy.  Regardless, it is what it is. 

            This particular silly season has turned out to be an unusually litigious rendition.  I doubt we are at the end of it all.  Next week, we enter another phase.  At the end of the day, I have to agree with the Court—all elections must have an ending.  Changing the rules in the 23^rd hour is not acceptable.  Further, the courts are not the place to change the rules. The pandemic has added an odd complicating dimension to this silly season.  But, as so many on both sides have advised, vote early; do not wait until the last minute.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.980:

Comment to the Blog:

“I like to remind all and sundry that high offices typically don’t require strong field skills, but rather management ability, personal marketing, and great ambition.  In many cases, the high official has little or no work experience in the actual work being managed or regulated.  I’m not particularly enamored of Dr. Fauci, although I’m sure he’s more competent than the Chump.  Everybody’s more competent than Chump.  If Fauci’s a Christian, that means nothing to me.

“Quite a number of us have physical stress with wearing the masks.  Also, my experience using masks with reactive asthma for particulates larger than the virus convinces me that anything lesser than N95 is too low a standard to be of practical use.

“I have mentioned “trumpery” here before, for obvious reasons.

“The space junk issue has slowly begun to emerge in the media, but some telecom company is being allowed to put small objects into Earth orbit in the hundreds in the name of communication.”

My response to the Blog:

            Good observation.  I agree, and I bring observations from a management perspective.

            What is it about Dr. Fauci that you do not like?  I do not know Fauci’s religion.  My comment was a general philosophical observation along the lines of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

            Being more competent than the BIC is a very low bar.  Exactly!  I do not hold the BIC in high regard by any metric—president, “businessman,” or even human being.  I would add father to the list since he has apparently taught his children to emulate his abhorrent conduct.

            You are faced with a different problem than most of us.  I hope you can find a steady supply of N95-grade masks for your safety.

            “Trumpery” . . . great word . . . quite appropriate and apropos.

            Yes, agreed, space junk is a mounting problem.  There are organizations working on solutions . . . at least in part.  I think an international standard agreement patterned after NASA’s Cassini design and operation decision is appropriate and warranted, i.e., command a controlled reentry to burn up the satellite at the end of its life.  All satellites should have that design feature.  Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“I'll note that I began dealing with the mask issue long before those hysterical folks on TV started talking about them.  Hence, I have a supply of ‘real’ masks and of contempt for the others.”

 . . . my follow-up response:

            Great headwork . . . as we say in the flying biz.

            I use a mid-level quality mask.  Works for me.

 

Another contribution:

“Well the date grows closer and dominates our news with Covid of course.  We are all with you and find it impossible to understand why and how your BIC has any supporters at all.”

My reply:

            Yeah, less than a week now.  Unfortunately, I think Election Day, next Tuesday, will only be the beginning of the next phase.  The BIC will not go quietly into the good night.  He will attempt to exploit every close vote, and there will be some; I hope none, but I am a realist.

            You are not alone, my friend.  The BIC lives in a delusional world of the snake-oil salesman—alien to the rest of us.  The BIC claiming we are turning the corner and the virus is going away is actually beyond delusional; it is criminal.  He deserves to be tried, convicted and sent to isolation in prison with no access to Twitter.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Cap, we’ve had articles where he claims that if he loses, he intends to stay put behind locked doors.  Surely that would be a case for federal action.  We strongly hope he goes as any decent President would, otherwise I do not wish to imagine the turmoil that might be created amongst your population.  There’s too many personal weapons in your country-I know, I know, you are legally entitled, but enough is enough and where the hell would you start to diminish this weapon passion?  One day it has to come to an end.  I know again, it’s none of my business but it is the view of many others on this side of the pond.  Do it and do it now before the next mass killing.

“Just my views, probably very few of your countrymen will support them.”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

            We have myriad versions of the same illegal and unconstitutional actions by the BIC and his minions.  If such action by the BIC comes to fruition, the remedy task would fall to the FBI which is charged with federal law enforcement; they certainly possess the capacity to deal with a recalcitrant BIC.  I would expect the Secret Service to assist.  They are sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution—NOT the BIC or even POTUS in general.  I trust them to do their jobs faithfully.  If it comes to that point, the BIC will render himself just another criminal, and I trust he will be properly prosecuted and punished.

            Yes, the weapons issue is endemic in this country.  The 2^nd Amendment is 229 years old and born in the revolution; your ancestors (figuratively) tried to confiscate weapons among colonists prior to and during the revolution.  I imagine there is passion for the weapons themselves; however, the far greater belief is in the need to defend our freedoms should the government go awry.  Yes, absolutely, we need better laws and enforcement to keep firearms out of the hands of inappropriate, unqualified, or violence prone citizens; we have failed in that context.  Given our history, I cannot imagine being forced to relinquish our firearms.  BTW, the vast majority of holders of firearms are peaceful, law-abiding, contributory citizens.  Mass shootings are the nefarious actions of often mentally ill, troubled, anti-social individuals; it is those individuals we should focus on rather than general firearm possession.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)