The way this Covid-19 crisis is playing out, politically, is just making me even more cynical when I think about “republicans.” I logged onto “MediaMatters.org” today and got reminded they’re the “keep track of right wing news outlets so I don’t have to” website. And, as I perused the sight I thought I’m even more thankful because I can barely stomach what’s coming from the mouths of the talking heads on Fox “news,” and people like Rush Limbaugh. The right wing message machine, of course, goes way deeper than those two outlets, but they reach a lot of people. As I’ve said, there have been surveys which suggest Fox viewers are more ill-informed than people who watch NOTHING. And, Rush Limbaugh? Well years ago Al Franken wrote a book titled “Rush Limbaugh is a big fat IDIOT,” where he pointed out the pathological LYING aimed at the “ditto heads.”

Honestly, I’ve always wondered how so many Americans could be comfortable calling themselves “ditto heads,” but when you listen to them, well, it becomes clear. And, this is the group individual 1 so affectionately referred to as the “uneducated voters” that he “loves.” Well, when you get into the details of what is being said on Fox and coming out of the mouth of Limbaugh it helps to understand why so many Americans come across as, well, STUPID. And, I wish I didn’t feel the need to write it like that, but that’s just how it looks to me. For example, I’ve been watching Yahoo’s finance page to follow the travails of the Stock Market and I read many of the articles from various economic “experts” who are stationed on Wall Street.

At the bottom of each article is a section for “comments.” In the past, I’ve just briefly looked at some of the comments and, clearly, you can see the partisan divide in those comments. But, now, where many of the “experts” are questioning the decision making of our IMPEACHED so-called president the “haters” appear to be coming out of the “woodwork” to defend him with postings which defy logic. And, by haters I mean people who hate and attack anyone who might criticize individual 1. Every day, when I read this stuff and talk to people who support him it becomes clearer to me America has a large segment of our population operating as if in a CULT. They’re STILL finding ways to BLAME Obama for individual 1’s incompetence! Yikes!!!

And, just as their “dear leader,” these people are looking “under the rocks” for someone, something, to BLAME beside looking at the FACTS in regard to how this pandemic is playing out. The reality is, the first weeks and months are the time to make the wise and thoughtful decisions on how to best attack what we all knew was coming – including individual 1. Despite him downplaying the significance of the threat he couldn’t wish this away and, ultimately, he won’t be able to LIE his way out of all the BLUNDERS he’s committed (and continues to commit) as this virus has spread throughout America – just as the scientists and doctors who work on epidemics said it would. Individual 1 had the data and chose to ignore it – in an attempt to prevent the stock market from tumbling downward – which is incredibly short sighted – kind of like the saying “shooting yourself in the foot.”

Of course, individual 1 didn’t hide his stupidity, his selfishness, and his lack of compassion and he can’t hide his NARCISSISM because it’s on display EVERY time he gets in front of the podium and attempts to give himself another “10” for doing a TERRIBLE job in leading “we the people” as we fight this virus. Today, for example, instead of “opening the country for Easter Sunday” he said the “stay at home” order (suggestion?) will be in place until the end of April. Here’s why that’s so absurd. No one who’s in this fight is listening to him. The ONLY people listening to him right now are the Fox viewers and the others in the right wing media world.

People in my state (Washington) weren’t going to “go back to work” in the places which are shuddered because of anything individual 1 says. Our governor – who’s doing a great job, and getting the disgusting sixth grade level put-downs coming from individual 1in the process, will lift the “shelter in place” order when it’s appropriate – which doesn’t appear to me to likely be “the end of April.” Of course, I have no idea when is the “safe” time to re-open places like restaurants, movie theaters, GOLF courses, and BASEBALL stadiums. I’m guessing they pretty much have to “stamp this thing out” before it’s safe to go back to “business as usual.”

Do you think the people of New York are going to listen to individual 1? The people of Louisiana DID listen to our IMPEACHED so-called president when deciding if it was safe to hold the Mardi Gras back in early March and, well, check out how things are going in Louisiana right now. And, keep in mind, many of the MILLION or so people who were crammed into the streets for that celebration have spread all over the country – likely spreading the virus with them.

And, then there’s Florida. About a week and a half ago I mentioned the bluetooth thermometer I purchased (Kinsa) which sends your temperature reading if you have a fever to a data base coming out of Oregon State University’s communicable disease department and around the time Florida’s beaches were crammed full of students on spring break including with a plethora of other tourists, because Ron DeSantis wouldn’t (and still hasn’t as far as I know) shut their beaches down, well Florida looked like it was “lit up” based on the data coming into Kinsa. They keep a map of the United States and it is predictive of “hot spots” about two weeks before the CDC notices an “outbreak.”

Well, Florida has now passed up Washington State on the lists of states based on the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases. Here in Washington we’re all (well most of us) “hunkered” down in our homes/apartments (Plus, they’re working hard to find places for the homeless people – which there are far too many, and who will likely get NO relief from the “rescue” bill) while Floridians are still congregating on the beaches and in establishments like bars and restaurants which are still open – at least the last time I checked. I guess Florida wants to be like New York and, very possibly, in about a week or two, that’s what it may be looking like.

Of course, individual 1 looks at all the wide open spaces in the Mid West and he thinks “why are we shutting those places down?” OK, it was a long time ago and I didn’t survive the downturn of the early 1980’s but I operated a farm for almost 10 years – and, I can virtually guarantee you the farmers in the Mid West are, well, FARMING! First, it’s not hard to “socially distance” on a farm. Secondly, the plants still grow and the animals continue to produce – even in a pandemic. Now, from my “geezer” vantage point, I’m guessing the real issue with all those “wide open spaces” individual 1 sees and then thinks “why are we shutting those places down?” is there are very few people there – even though, as I just said, they’re still farming. But here could be the major problem for the farmers.

You need people to help harvest the crops and the absolute BEST farm workers, from my experience, come from MEXICO. Of course, despite his history of employing illegal immigrants (for MANY years) individual 1 based his (so-called) presidential “run” on xenophobia and racism – and, now he’s got the border “closed.” I haven’t read anything yet concerning all those BEAUTIFUL farms in the Central Valley, the Salinas Valley and other places in California where you see such amazing farms which stretch for as far as you can see. But, who’s going to pick the crops where there aren’t mechanical “pickers?” I can guarantee you the crops are growing despite the Covid-19 crisis.

My point is this, with the exception of the CULT members who have kept individual 1’s “approval rating” pretty consistently between 40% and 45% his entire first (and, God willing, his LAST) term, people aren’t listening to him. Here’s another irony – because individual 1 and his cult are REALLY up in arms with how this pandemic and the crash of the stock market are affecting his re-election chances. In fact, as I was briefly reading the stuff Media Matters has documented coming from Fox, Limbaugh, and a few other websites – they are spreading around some incredible “conspiracy theories” about how this virus is the latest democratic plan to “impeach” our already IMPEACHED so-called president. (By the way, he can be impeached as many times as the House might do so, although, I think they’ve made their point and everyone knows the Senate republicans are living in fear of his “tweet storms” and would NEVER convict)

So, there was an ad which came out, I forget from who – but it used individual 1’s own words for about 30 seconds to document his stupidity. Of course, the reaction of his campaign was to sue the TV stations which were running the ad in “swing states” to “cease and desist.” I wouldn’t have seen it where I live except for the reaction online to individual 1 trying to censor ads coming from the opposition. Well, I don’t do “Twitter” but I did see excerpts of how the “Twitter” sphere reacted to the attempt to censor that ad – first, one person “tweeted” the ad and then a plethora of people started “re-tweeting” it. (I hope I have my terminology correct) In one day they said 6.5 MILLION people had seen the ad – likely more attention than it would have received if individual 1’s campaign had said nothing. Americans don’ t like censorship and many had “fun” with our IMPEACHED so-called president’s campaign attempting to do so.

I even watched Joe Scarborough (who I rarely see on TV because he is off the air by the time I’m usually up – plus I’m not much for “daytime” TV plus he’s not one of my “favorites”) who assured his viewers he’s a lawyer so he wanted to inspect the ad to see if the “cease and desist” order individual 1’s campaign sent to the TV stations airing it was “legit,” and it was pretty funny. (probably not to individual 1) Scarborough played the ad and then shared the info on the “cease and desist” order which he then said he needed a closer look in order to see if that would be justified. Of course, the ad was simply individual 1’s own words, but Scarborough played it again, examined part of it. And, then he played it again, examining another part of it. Finally, he asked one of his guests what they thought, which required playing it again. So, he – without breaking into a grin, looking serious – played the ad at least four times to determine the “cease and desist” order was absurd and couldn’t withstand scrutiny from any court in America. It really was quite funny.

The reason I bring that up is because ads coming from individual 1 asking if he’s a better president than President Obama or ads with ridiculous leading questions comparing him to “Crazy Bernie Sanders” or “Sleepy Joe Biden” seem to be following me around the internet. Maybe because I decided to answer one of them. When I chose Obama as the better president (well, duh) after I clicked “submit” the screen went black. Of course, the first time I did it I made the mistake of putting in my email address and whoever’s running his campaign apparently didn’t notice my answer. So, now I’ve decided to keep answering them – because they keep sending them – I just use a different email address and I’m using some creative “First and Last” names. My point is, individual 1 is FLOODING the internet with advertising and the first time he sees it coming from the “other side” panic seems to set in.

This ad he’s all worked up about – he didn’t like how they used his “This is a democrat hoax” at one of his rallies in describing the “Chinese virus” as he called it (and, if you’re not sure, that is just another example of his xenophobia) is just going to be the first in a long line of ads which are simply going to compare his words with the “reality on the ground” as in the time from from which he said them. The interesting thing is he just keeps doing it – saying STUPID stuff – because he’s got this need to be in the limelight, so he basically has NO press secretary and he leads out the briefings every day and democrats just put their TV’s on “record” and parts of another ad are his gift to them, virtually EVERY day!

Of course, I’m sure he’s got some kind of a plan. For example, I’m sure when people like Anthony Fauci suggested if we just “open up the country” there could be between 2 MILLION and 4 MILLION deaths (republicans think that would be OK because most would be elderly – so much for “pro life” eh?) at some point individual 1 realized that would be REALLY bad for his re-election chances. So, knowing he’s made this entire episode SO much worse than it should otherwise have been had he not “blown” it off to begin with. (In something like this, EVERY day you lose can be catastrophic when you look at the spread of the virus) Here’s my guess as to his “NEW” plan. Today Dr. Birx suggested “if we do everything ‘perfect’ from here onward we may be able to limit the fatalities to between 100,000 and 200,000. I’m already picturing in my head individual 1 BRAGGING that he somehow limited the deaths to that number. He’ll say, “without my great leadership it could have been over 2 MILLION.” Honestly, I’ll be surprised if we don’t hear something like that from him.

Final Thought: For me, to listen to Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx today suggesting, at this point, the best case scenario is now losing between a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand lives, it makes me even angrier at “we the people” having an incompetent BOOB as our IMPEACHED so-called president and a republican led Senate who have NO guts whatsoever when many of them HAVE to know THEIR president is making things so much worse in this nation. I certainly hope Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx are wrong – but, up until this point in time it’s been Dr. Fauci who has given honest transparent information which has “played out.” Those figures means we’ll all be stuck in our homes much longer and makes me want to YELL at the governors in the states who are STILL not taking this seriously!

OMG! Today I drove to Costco to see if I could get in without standing in a line of people which reaches around the side of the building (And, it’s a big building) and, well, not so much. The lady I talked to who was collecting the shopping carts said the people start lining up at 7:00 and, on average, it takes 10 minutes to get into the building. I figured, even if I was willing to stand in that line (because it’s definitely NOT “social distancing”) my son would be very mad at me, so I just came home. I keep telling people my goal in life right now is to find toilet paper before I die! On my way, as usual, I had my XM radio tuned to MSNBC and on came individual 1 at another press briefing. Evidently he’s his own press secretary. Once again, he claimed he knew this would be a pandemic before most everybody else “All you had to do was look at the other countries.” Doesn’t that make you wonder?????

Well, I would think even our IMPEACHED so-called president would be embarrassed to say this in public. Yes, most of his cult won’t pick up on the reality of what he just said. If, on the RARE occasion he MIGHT be telling the TRUTH (and, based on reports I’ve read lately he may be) that means all of his INACTION at the beginning of this crisis makes him look all the worse. If he really was informed this would be a worldwide pandemic why was he claiming it was a “democrat HOAX” in front of his unsuspecting supporters at rallies. Why was he claiming there weren’t any cases here so no need to worry and, after the first case showed up (in my state of Washington) why did he say “we’ve got maybe 15 cases which soon will be maybe 1 or zero?” He’s continued with his remarkable incompetence really up until today.

Today, again I was in my car and listening to MSNBC and they again connected to one of individual 1’s press briefings (apparently he’s his own press secretary – he needs to be the center of everything) and he started out by calling this (again) the “Chinese flu” – a totally RACIST trope – and then after it was pointed out Rand Paul has tested positive for covid-19 and Mitt Romney was self quarantining because he was in the gym with Senator Paul this morning – our IMPEACHED so-called president responded “Mitt Romney is in quarantine? (and sarcastically) that’s too bad.” This IMPEACHED so-called president is, well…….. DEPLORABLE!

Sadly his cult followers – who are encouraged by Fox “news” and people like Rush Limbaugh – continue to believe he’s telling the truth. As he and Mike Pense work to convince Americans they are “doing a great job” they’re, surprise surprise, “way behind the curve.” Sadly, based on what I’m seeing from Italy on the one hand and photos of all the Americans who are willfully refusing to follow the “social distancing” guidelines we are headed for “Italy” or maybe even worse. Obviously, we’re a much larger nation than Italy and I can see the possibility that once a place where I live feels like we’ve gotten past this, there will be many states in the heartland (mainly where individual 1’s cult is predominant) who will be making it worse for the rest of us because it won’t be serious to them until THEIR hospitals are over run.

I was telling my son the other day I purchased a thermometer which has an app connecting it to a research facility showing where pockets of “increased temperatures” show up a couple weeks before certain diseases show themselves. (That’s my understanding) Well, at the time, there were multiple reports of crowded beaches in Florida at the same time this app was suggesting Florida was, well, “in the red.” (My quotes, the red color on the map suggested Florida was experiencing a lot of elevated temperatures compared to the rest of the nation)

Well, I’ve watched as the reports of confirmed cases of Covid-19 have shown up and, it appears to me, Florida is beginning to “catch up” to places like where I live in Washington state that had the earliest outbreaks of the virus. And, of course, something close to 20% of Florida’s residences are elderly retired persons – many of them not taking this seriously – and, it appears to me, Florida may be the next state which is begging for federal support to keep their hospital system from being overrun. As I’ve said, its in the interest of all Americans to participate in the social distancing – in my household we don’t go anywhere unless it’s to the store for needed supplies (I still haven’t managed to find toilet paper). The FACT Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, is refusing to require a “shelter in place” policy will make this much worse for all of us.

It’s true individual 1 seems to be increasing his understanding of the gravity of this pandemic, but there are certain things you can just count on with him and his republican sycophants in the Senate. I went to bed last night thinking, based on reports I had read, maybe a miracle would happen and the Senate would produce an actual bipartisan bill which would be acceptable to democrats who understand the importance of ANY “rescue” bill working from the bottom up. True to form when Senators reconvened today, there were agreed upon provisions missing from the proposed bill Moscow Mitch wanted a preliminary vote on PLUS republicans had added the MOTHER of all “slush funds” to the bill, almost without restrictions!

At a time like this republicans doing this seems even more disgusting than normal. Their proposal is for a $500 BILLION “slush fund” which would be at the control of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin AND individual 1 – with no strings attached. They could funnel this money to whatever business they would choose (including the individual 1 organization) in any way they choose with no “strings attached.” I don’t know why I’m not surprised – in fact, I actually predicted they would do something along these lines – but, at this point in time, this is almost unbelievable. And, of course, republicans will blame democrats for why this bill isn’t going to get passed. They say they’re still working on it, but I keep thinking, Thank God for the 2018 election!

Nancy Pelosi has said the House will simply come up with their own bill – they’re not going to wait around for the Senate and they’re certainly is NO WAY they would agree to any bill that provides money to corporations in dire straits partly because they’ve used their profits to buy back stock over the past few years in record numbers making more money for their executives and their shareholders at the expense of their workers. I’ll be very disappointed if democrats allow republicans to get away with taxpayer funds going to corporations with out those “strings.” If you remember the TARP bailouts, that didn’t go over well with “we the people” – except that, back then, much of the anger was directed at the wrong people. True to form republicans succeeded in BLAMING democrats for THEIR bailout! They’ll likely find a way to do this again!

I do have to say, however, if democrats allow republicans to get away with anything which is NOT consumer, worker, or what I call “the least of these” friendly then “we the people” are in more trouble than I thought. Individual 1’s first impulse was to attack Social Security by dropping the payroll tax for the rest of the year – an idea which would have been hardly a “drop in the bucket” for what is needed, but it just makes clear where his thinking is and the rest of the “conservatives” in Congress – who would willingly have gone for that except for democratic opposition. Raiding the Social Security trust fund is not the solution to this problem.

I started this post about a week ago and, well, I just can’t keep up with all the “stuff” individual 1 says and or does, but I’m still going to publish it, I’m just not sure when. I will add this, we now know the bill I referred to above has been passed and signed into law. Democrats managed to FORCE republicans to agree to some things they NEVER would accept in a circumstance where they KNOW “we the people” are watching and EXPECT a bill to be passed. Many of individual 1’s own supporters won’t realize the benefit they get from this bill is because the democrats FORCED provisions into the bill which will put more money in the hands of those who are most likely to spend it – the WORKERS who’ve lost their jobs because of the pandemic and the small businesses which employ many of them.

Democrats also put restrictions on the $500 BILLION “slush fund” with an inspector general and an oversight committee (which is going to include Katie Porter – yeah!) who will be directed to “oversee” the dispersal of these funds based on the restrictions attached to them. For example, NO stock buybacks from any company which chooses to take out one of the loans. Also, there’s a restriction to blocking an increase in executive compensation until the loan has been repaid. Finally, NO money is to be dispersed to anyone inside the government, including individual 1’s businesses or that of anyone in his family. That caused many to relax as this was being passed.

Well, I don’t know why I’m not surprised, but individual 1 announced at the signing ceremony that he would ignore the restrictions on the money. Knowing Katie Porter this could get interesting very fast. My guess is individual 1 has every intention of getting his “mitts” on a few MILLION dollars of this money. Stay tuned, this should get interesting!!!

Final Thought: I just can’t get it out of my head that the INCOMPETENT response coming from individual 1 continued until he realized what was going to happen to the Stock Market which he was planning on bragging about in order to convince Americans to give him another four years to do DAMAGE to our government and, by extension, our nation. I’ve said many times the strong Stock Market was the one thing he had inherited in his life which he hadn’t destroyed. Well, no more! And, it’s highly unlikely he’ll face re-election without the market being somewhere well below what he was intending. As I’ve said, it feels to me we’re looking a “depression” right in the “eyes.”

For example, the DOW is already below where it was the day he took the oath of office and it’s poised to drop significantly again tomorrow. Sadly, as I’ve said, individual 1 just “can’t help himself, and he’s already busy blaming China for this disaster. It’s true it originated in China, but individual 1’s refusal to act when he should have – likely because he didn’t want to “spook” the markets (more of his “short termism”) – has made this virus MUCH more dangerous in America than it should have been.

Individual 1’s most sensible advisers are the ones who tell him to “shut up.” He just can’t do it! He keeps LYING, obfuscating, spreading misinformation, and encouraging his cult to, well, only believe him – everyone else are the LIARS! I just experienced that with a neighbor who I care deeply for – it’s just hard for me everytime I listen to someone who’s “bought the coolaid.” The reality, though, is all the LIES are on video feeds. We’re already seeing what is going to be a mass amount of political ads which are going to attempt exposing the TRUTH about what he has actually done to make this worse. I guess it depends on how bad it gets as to whether his cult members start to “splinter” off. Of course, many of them are older white Americans – like me (well I’m older, white, American – but, obviously, not a member of his cult) – and they are the most susceptible to this virus in its most extreme form.

Predictably, the republican effort to provide relief to “we the people,” so far, has been aimed more at the corporations than at “we the people.” I’ve said pretty much since I’ve been writing here our focus should be on the “least among us” – and, from what I’ve heard so far, the proposal coming from Moscow Mitch does the opposite. I want to say, surprise, surprise. Here’s the thing, I have no doubt individual 1 is still more focused on some kind of miraculous rebound from the stock market than he is on “the least of these.” – In my view, the exact WRONG approach – but, I can guess he goes to bed at night dreaming of being able to brag about some kind of incredible rebound on the market. Does that even make sense with reports of 2 MILLION new applications of unemployment insurance this past week. (And, my son still hasn’t applied :o) (FYI – it ended up being 3.28 MILLION applications for unemployment benefits)

Honestly, I believe had individual 1 chosen me as his “senior adviser” instead of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, he’d have a much better chance of being re-elected in 2020. Of course, that would never happen, but I’m JUST SAYIN………………….

Oh yes: It’s Sunday evening and on my trip to Costco I discovered seniors (over 60 and handicapped – I qualify on both fronts) are allowed in for one hour prior to their actual opening on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’m bound and determined to get toilet paper this coming Tuesday. (Didn’t happen, there’s a lot of seniors where I live who belong to Costco)

Today, I witnessed an example of how many people in this country are just amazing. I got a call from Fred Meyer (Our local Kroger Supermarket) that one of my “automated prescriptions” was available. I went to pick it up and when I was checking out I mentioned to the lady at the self checkout, facetiously, that my goal in life was to find some toilet paper before I die. She said, wait a minute, went into the customer service section right next to where I was checking out and came back with four rolls of toilet paper immediately scanning it and putting it in my basket (While I was there I made another purchase). She told me one of the Fred Meyer workers found it stashed somewhere in the wrong section and they were saving it for one of them. They are unable to purchase toilet paper themselves. I have to say, I was overwhelmed. I had four rolls of toilet paper, success!

Well, if I’m able to get a package of “bath tissue” at Costco this coming Tuesday I’m taking those four rolls back to Fred Meyer and that Customer Service Center and I’m giving it to them with the caveat they give it to the person working there who needs it the most. I watch all these people working at Fred Meyer, Costco, Winco, Walmart, and other places (most of which I’m prohibited by my family to visit) and I consider them the unsung heroes of this crisis. Yes, my daughter and all the other medical personnel who are running “toward” this pandemic are heroes, but we can’t forget all these people who are going to work every day in the supermarkets and other grocery stores still open – risking exposure to the virus every day – often at minimum wages and no health insurance!

By the way, while it’s on my mind: Today individual 1 was reminded he’s part of a court proceeding trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act while this pandemic is ongoing and he didn’t seem too worried. True to form, he blamed it on someone in Texas – HIS Justice Department incredibly joined the lawsuit! He responded today, quite STUPIDLY, I have to add, if they’re successful he guarantees republicans will support “pre-existing conditions.” I thought, “what does that mean?” He has no idea, again, what he’s talking about. First of all about 30 MILLION, at least would lose coverage. And, secondly, he can’t “wish” coverage for pre-existing conditions. The good news, with democrats controlling the House, if they succeed in this court case it likely will just accelerate some kind of version of Medicare for all. The democrats in the House will not be allowing Moscow Mitch to define whatever the response would be! I’m going to try being positive here: It’s an interesting time to be alive!

Every day makes Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren look more and more prescient while our IMPEACHED so-called president is creating campaign ads for Joe Biden. It’s very unlikely when it’s time to cast the votes in the final primaries that Sanders would be able to pass Mr. Biden. I sincerely hope they both stay healthy and I hope Sanders gracefully exits the race. At the same time, Biden should commit to pushing much of what Sanders has been criticized as a “pipe dream” which we can’t afford. Well, at some point in time, “we the people” will be considered more valuable than Wall Street.

The $5 TRILLION Congress just passed for Wall Street – on top of a couple TRILLION the “Fed” had already used there – was passed in a short matter of days. That’s enough money to fix our crumbling infrastructure, cancel ALL outstanding student debt and make state colleges and universities tuition free, PLUS enough to create a “Medicare for All” health care system – at least to get it “off the ground.” That $5 TRILLION is, simply put, pure socialism! Now , that’s not what Bernie Sanders and Senator Warren are proposing – pure socialism – but “democratic socialism” is affordable in this country – period, full stop!

It won’t be long and we’ll be listening to all the “free market” hypocrites telling us why we can’t do the things which would make life better for Middle Class America. Hopefully, this pandemic will help us realize that’s not true! We not only can do these things, but we can also begin the process of repaying the national debt by expecting the wealthiest among us to pay more in taxes – one way or the other. America’s taxpayers have been getting “pilfered” for years by the “top 1%” and this $5 TRILLION is just another example of “we the people” socializing “capitalism.”

I”ll say it again, most of this post was written about four postings ago – over about a week. The Covid-19 pandemic, in just a matter of about 5 or 6 days has DOUBLED. Those deceased is well more than DOUBLE. Congress passed the above mentioned “rescue” package which does have benefits for “we the people” – with the idea it may stop the precipitous drop of the Stock Market – that remains to be seen. The reality we all face is grim. Finally, individual 1 just keeps doing the same stuff over and over again – LYING from the press secretary’s podium – until his administration came along almost a mortal sin – and, continuing to FAIL to show the leadership which is so desperately needed at this point in time. He’s in campaign mode at that podium and virtually all his misstatements will eventually come back to haunt him – that’s my prediction! He had the opportunity to show compassion, understanding, foresight, and the courage to be transparent and honest with the American people and he’s literally “blown” it! Sad!!!

God, I wish I could stop writing, at least for a while – but, everyday, I feel an obligation to keep up with the way this pandemic is ripping through our country. Of course, you can’t pay attention without listening to individual 1 (although, I’ve pretty much solved that problem by learning how to use the dial better or my mouse better or whatever). Honestly, I’m just really tired of all the LIES. Then, there is the reality. My daughter is an RN and my niece is an occupational therapist in Seattle where it’s “All hands on deck.” I talked to my sister-in-law this afternoon (after, by the way, I found a Costco with toilet paper) and she told me how her daughter, the other night, just broke down in tears describing her day. She has FOUR young children and she’s in the University of Washington Medical Center (one part of it) where they’ve done with her what individual 1 SHOULD have done with our nation’s manufacturing capability long ago, and that’s being “re-purposed.”

Just as she’s needed to help with the mounting number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital our IMPEACHED so-called president COULD have, weeks (if not months) ago ORDERED the productions of what is called PPE (Professional Protective Equipment) for our medical personnel, along with a massive amount of ventilators, testing supplies, etc. Hospitals in New York are putting the dead bodies inside refrigerated truck trailers because the morgues are ALREADY over run – and, we’re AT LEAST two to three weeks from the peak – if not longer. I want to come across more positive, but individual 1 just isn’t listening to me – and, I’ve warned him of what is going to happen if he continues to put his own re-election chances ahead of the well being of America’s people, her doctors, her nurses, and the rest of the heroic people who are putting up an incredible FIGHT against this insidious virus.

Many weeks ago I began predicting when it comes to the election individual 1 is so worried about – he’s so paranoid about it he continues to attack the media as if they want to use this virus to “take me down.” Honestly, even if that were true, it wouldn’t be necessary because they couldn’t possibly do as good a job in that light as what he’s doing to himself. (pointing this out seems to be a daily ritual) As I listened to the MOUNTAIN of LIES coming from the lectern – as individual 1 seems to have the need to monopolize the time in front of the cameras – I started predicting there MUST be someone, somewhere collecting all the video and/or audio of what he’s saying and, simply put, he’s making Joe Biden’s job easy by creating campaign adds for him. Well, it’s all playing out because, just today, I watched three of the ads and they are, well, in a word, devastating to our IMPEACHED so-called president. (With the exception of those in his cult, who actually believe he tells the truth) I’m guessing even some members of the cult are going to recognize the LIES he’s spewing at them on a daily basis. And, he just can’t stop.

Here’s individual 1’s solution to the first add I saw which came out – a 30 second spot which has been produced with ONLY his own words. The response coming from his “campaign” is they are sending “decease and desist” orders to the TV Stations which are playing the ads. That is almost comical, but, well, whatever! So, this is kind of like when individual 1 says to John Bolton “you can’t publish your book.” Therefore, individual 1 just insured Bolton will spend a few weeks on the NY Times best seller list once it’s published. I don’t do Twitter, but I did see copies of this first ad on “Twitter” via a link I clicked and people were saying things like “They’re trying to block this ad so lets all “re-Tweet” it.” Even I’m smart enough to know that means “play it again, Sam!” (If you don’t recognize that line, well you’re a bit younger than me) Someone said it was “re-tweeted” over 6.5 MILLION times. (Just in the last day or two) I’m guessing that’s more eyes on the ad than would have otherwise seen it. I keep saying, virtually EVERYTHING he does is ass-backwards!

And, there were a couple of other ads, again simply using individual 1’s own words which were even more “devastating” to his charade of campaign style “press briefings.” I have no idea how many times those ads were getting free publicity, but I’m sure it’s in the MILLIONS of “Tweets.” Apparently, when “we the people” are all locked in our homes and apartments we get creative and a bit stir crazy. (Maybe that’s why he wants to send us all back to “business as usual”) The sad reality is he just can’t help himself and, when all is said and done, republicans will be responsible because they had the chance to remove him – for “cause” – back in January and the only one with a shade of guts was Mitt Romney. I’ve turned off the “press briefings” but, if you watch cable “news” you can’t help getting the “high points.”

Again, today, as individual 1 was LYING to convince his cult he’s doing “a great job” he said something along the line of “nobody could have seen this coming.” (Which, of course, is a LIE) And, he can’t resist attempting to make himself look like the victim (which always seems to work with his cult, so why would he stop) so he had to add “we inherited a broken situation but I don’t totally blame the people that were before me in this administration nobody would have ever thought a thing like this could happen.” I heard that and my mind was just, well, YIKES! The reality is that “those who came before him” (what he means by that is the Obama administration) actually had imagined this very disaster and they left him a “playbook” for what EXACTLY should be the federal response to a pandemic. (Former republican speechwriter David Frum suggested the reason individual 1 is unaware of this “plan” is because “it’s in a book.”)

I mean, the FACT he removed the pandemic response team early in his administration is undeniable and suggesting “no one could have seen this coming” simply borders on the absurd! Not only did many in the Obama administration and the Bush administration before them “see this coming” but they actually warned those who were part of individual 1’s incoming administration before he/they moved into the “White House.” Now our health care workers are going to work every day without the protective equipment they should have, many of them are now becoming infected with this virus, and the disaster is getting ready to explode even more quite possibly with a shrinking number of HEROES on the front lines because the health care workers are sick. Also, possibly MILLIONS of Americans’ lives are “on the line” because of individual 1’s INCOMPETENCE!

Individual 1 continues to threaten “opening parts” of the country maybe in the next week as this virus is expanding exponentially. If you remember, one of his most significant LIES was when he was standing next to the CDC doctors in his campaign clothing and claimed “anyone who wants a test can get one.” Well, that was a lie as was “Nobody thought I understood all this so well.” Yikes!!! Like I’ve said, he just can’t help himself. The combination of extreme narcissism and pathological LYING is a “bad look” as “we the people” continue to look for a federal response to this pandemic which would cause the things our medical workers need to be produced and would create a national distribution center which would eliminate states bidding against each other, and incredibly, would allow FEMA to get the PPE medical personnel need into their hospitals! And, Oh by the way, testing is STILL unavailable all across the land!

If people could actually be tested, I suppose, you could possibly find areas where you could relax the social distancing strategy which seems necessary to protect the most people as this virus is running through our country, although that would be dangerous. However, we don’t have the testing and the reality is this virus is spreading ALL across the country. His wishful thinking is based on the idea his re-election plans are heading for the “toilet.” (Maybe our IMPEACHED so-called president is thinking “if we don’t make tests available people won’t know how many Americans are infected”) I believe it will be several months before we “open up” across this country. The “right wingers” in this country – which, of course, includes my friend I mention here often who is a devout individual 1 supporter and is one who believes this is just another version of the flu – are fully on board with just opening things up and let the “chips fall where they may.” My friend continues to contact me in an attempt to convince me losing a couple million old people is worth saving the stock market. Yes, most of the people who are dying are old people who have underlying “conditions.” (Like me) But NOT all of them! (Not that that should make any difference from where I’m sitting)

Honestly, to me, this comes across as a convenient way for “conservatives” to thin out the “baby boomers” and those who were alive during WW II without spending a lot of money trying to give them a few more years of life. (Of course, this virus kills many people who are much younger – I guess they would be “collateral damage”) This is all because individual 1 believes his re-election is connected to the success of the stock market. He keeps suggesting “the market is going to go back up quickly once this is over.” That may very well be true (although, personally, I’m a bit skeptical – I’m feeling we could be in a depression by the time we get out of this) but his own actions are making this last much longer than it otherwise would have if he would have paid attention to that “playbook” he apparently didn’t read.

I keep thinking of all the people who claimed Bernie Sanders’ push for “Medicare for all” was too expensive (although, I believe that’s the opposite of true) and they just couldn’t imagine how it could be paid for. So, all those people (and, I’m talking about democrats and republicans) when looking at a stock market crashing were able to find over $6 TRILLION in the space of a couple of weeks – all with the idea of “propping up” the market. So much for the “free market,” eh? Does this remind you of 2008? To me, I just sit in amazement every time the “free market conservatives” come to the government for massive amounts of money. Of course, this is the SOCIALISM they all complain about. Trust me, republicans will find a way to BLAME democrats for this “rescue” package because it’s got extended unemployment benefits in it. Naturally, we won’t hear a “peep” from them on the 5 TRILLION going to Wall Street. They’ll tell us they’re protecting our “401-K’s.” Ugh!

This MASSIVE infusion of money into WALL STREET – of course, of the $6+ TRILLION in the bill signed today there was about a TRILLION+ aimed at Main Street, which is a good thing – hopefully, it will result in help going to the “front lines” in the hospitals and stabilize the work force which has been furloughed and save many of the small businesses which are closed. The reality is, from the standpoint of our IMPEACHED so-called president and republicans, virtually every day it becomes even MORE apparent Wall Street is more important than Main Street. Of course, all that money has somewhat stabilized the market for a few days at least, but from my standpoint, there’s no way to stop this market from heading south again.

Today, I listened to Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed, who has his “fingers” on over $4 TRILLION of the money attempting to “sugar coat” the reality we’re all facing and I don’t see any way the “market” doesn’t take more of a trip “south.” He’s going to be buying a LOT of “bad debt” – whatever that means (I’ve never hidden my lack of economic knowledge) – and, once again, propping up the “too big to fail” banks – at least that’s how it looks to me. And, I have no doubt, individual 1 will be able to convince the “cult” this is all the fault, as I said above, of democrats. Republicans are really good at that.

For example, I often check the market by logging in to Yahoo/finance where you can follow the markets’ ups and downs during the day. Often I’ll read some of the articles which are usually interviews by the Yahoo “crew” with various people “connected” to various aspects of Wall Street. I try to avoid the “comments” section because it’s usually a “petri dish” of partisan rhetoric – coming from people who often seem to be more ignorant regarding economics than me. The best example of that I can give is I’ve seen countless examples of people writing comments on one article to another where they blame President Obama for the “TARP bailout of 2008.” I’m always impressed they get the name “TARP” correct, but it amazes me they don’t understand Bush/Cheney came up with the TARP bailout and Obama didn’t take office until 2009. To me, it’s just a “public display of stupidity.”

The other thing which is common is “conservatives” BLAMING President Obama for the $1.5 TRILLION deficits he inherited. So, are we getting close to seeing a repeat of that phenomenon? For example, at this point I would say the chances Joe Biden will defeat individual 1 in November are increasing and, very likely the deficits will far exceed what he and President Obama inherited back in the aftermath of the “financial collapse” of 2008. Should Biden by the next president I can hear the chorus of stupidity coming from republican partisans already. Of course, should the unthinkable happen and “we the people” be STUCK with another unimaginable 4 years of the “scandal a day” individual 1 administration all these conservatives will hardly be noticing what are going to be all time record deficits.

God willing “we the people” will be on the other side of this pandemic long enough to have a brisk debate over the future of our nation. Do we want another four years of “leadership” from the morally bankrupt, petty, narcissistic, xenophobic, racist, and pathologically LYING individual 1 or do we want Joe Biden and whoever he chooses as his “running mate” which will be a stark contrast in the morality department and capability department from the present disaster. Personally, I hope Biden (if it is Biden) chooses Stacy Abrams as his “running mate” although, I know he’s committed to choosing a woman. It’s time!

I’ll end this by saying the Covid-19 virus which just 25 days ago individual 1 said would be soon down to “zero” now has surpassed 100,000 cases in America – the MOST in the world, now, by FAR, with 2000 deaths fast approaching – likely by tomorrow – and, FINALLY, individual 1 has enacted the Defense Production Act which will (hopefully) begin getting respirators to hospitals in the next month (which, maybe, won’t be too late) as the peak is due in New York over the next three weeks (I keep saying this, hopefully) and our confirmed cases is still advancing exponentially. That means, by the time these ventilators are available we could be looking at confirmed cases in the multi-MILLIONS.

Individual 1 is still threatening to “open the country” as all these cases are expanding at an alarming speed. This is just going to continue getting worse and his, what I call, “precious stock market” are not going to respond well to his incompetence. I keep listening to those around him and, clearly, they are afraid to tell him the truth. Not only are there a plethora of unqualified people in critical positions but, in many instances, there is NO one in needed positions. Here’s the bottom line, he can’t help himself and he’s not going to change and “we the people” just need to realize that. Andrew Cuomo suggested the way to deal with individual 1 is to cover him with (undeserved) compliments. Individual 1 continues to attack the governor of my state who has been at the forefront of this battle and the people around him are, well, now LYING for him! Sad!!!

Rick Wilson wrote a book titled “Everyone (individual 1) Touches DIES! Well this is going to be the outcome for the two medical people who stand at the press briefings with individual 1 each day if they’re not careful. Maybe Anthony Fauci will come out of this OK – he seems to be able to diplomatically tell the truth. The lady, I don’t know her name, well, not so much. I think she needs to be very careful – because, I don’t believe “we the people” by and large are willing to “sacrifice our old people” – as the Lt. Governor of Texas suggested – to save the stock market. It would be a shame if she tarnished her own reputation in order to prop up an IMPEACHED so-called president who can’t stop LYING!

Final Thought: It just never ends. Democrats fought long and hard to put “guard rails” on the $500 BILLION “slush fund” which was the centerpiece of the republicans’ “solution” to this pandemic and, sure enough, as individual 1 was signing the bill he said he would not recognize the oversight committee nor the inspector general which was “attached” to the money. These “guardrails” were put on to prevent the type of corruption which accompanied the money in the TARP “bailouts” of 2008. Evidently, the other $4 TRILLION wasn’t enough to make individual 1 or his republican Wall Street buddies happy enough. Or, there may be another reason for him saying he’s going to disregard the “guard rails.” One of the provisions in the “slush fund” was that NONE of the money could go to individual 1, his family, or other members of government. Do you think getting his hands on the slush fund money is why he’s ignoring the oversight on it?

November can’t come fast enough for me – and, I choose to believe Americans, by and large, are smart enough to end this national nightmare!

I’m going to pick on governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and, at the same time, give him a bit of advice. First, you should keep your mouth shut, and, secondly, I recommend you buy one of the Kinsa thermometers which are connected via bluetooth and show, ahead of time, places in America where you can “guess” the next “wave” of the disease. And, just to give you a hint of why I chose you, Florida is in the “eye of the storm” based on what I’ve been watching. Yet, here you are, encouraging our IMPEACHED so-called president to “re-open the economy” sooner rather than later. I believe your morgues will be in the same state in three weeks as the ones in New York, as I’m writing this.

I live in Washington State and I know Andrew Cuomo says New York was where this Covid-19 virus first hit the United States, but I always thought it was in Seattle. Our state, for a very long time, until passed by New York, had the most cases, but now is only about fourth behind New York, New Jersey, and California – and, soon to be passed by others. And, I believe one of the main reasons for that is because our governor, Jay Inslee (AKA a “snake” according to individual 1 – there’s an old saying “The real ‘snake’ smells his own hole first”) took aggressive actions right from the start. I’ve seen him and Mr. Cuomo leading the way and now, there are governors all over the country stepping up to fill the void left by the inaction of our IMPEACHED so-called president – who continues to come up short every day.

He wants to open the country by Easter – I think he modified that (STUPID) remark today to be “parts of the country” – in a face saving comment as he was also claiming the media is, essentially, out to get him. Well, I can tell you, if I was an actual member of the media that would be true for me, but I digress. This virus is accelerating in America on a similar “line” (on the graph) to Spain – which is soon to be passing up Italy – and, that’s shocking, and we have so many more people. Yikes!! And, we have a IMPEACHED so-called president who cares more about his re-election than the well being of “we the people.”

And, to these republican governors like DeSantis who just can’t figure out what’s happening, wake up! Just a couple weeks ago, in Louisiana there were virtually no confirmed cases and, then, there was the Mardi Gras. Well, now New Orleans is maybe the fastest rising “hot spot” after all those people partying in the streets just a week or two ago – sending many of those who were coming from all over the place back home and, since then, 65 people have died, Louisiana is approaching 2000 cases and, as they say, the “cat is likely out of the bag” with 65 people now in the morgues of, mostly, New Orleans. Mr. DeSantis, it appears to me, you’re next, and, yet, your beaches remain open in many places! Yikes!! (I don’t know what else to say)

This virus is spreading across America like an out of control freight train and many people who have the unfortunate experience of listening to and believing individual 1 are going to be dealing with this, sooner rather than later. As I’m writing this Florida, is about 500 confirmed cases behind Washington State and, I’m guessing, they’ll be passing us up maybe tomorrow. We in Washington State are, basically, stuck in our homes and it appears it’s working to slow the spread – at least for the past day. Based on the data I’ve seen from the Kinsa data I mentioned above, there’s been a spike in people with temperatures in Florida over the past week – maybe a result of all the “partying” they’re allowing on the beaches? I have to wonder how bad it has to get before DeSantis decides it’s time for “shelter in place.”

Of course, Florida has a HUGE segment of their population which is in the highest risk category – us old people – and, they could be facing unimaginable issues in their hospitals in the next week or two. Sadly, thanks to the (lack of) leadership coming from the “White House” there are too many states where republican governors are thinking this is just another case of the flu. I told my friend I often refer to on this site (he’s a supporter of individual 1) if individual 1 and all the republicans who want to open the economy and “just take our chances” the death toll would be somewhere between 2 and 4 MILLION people – and, NOT all of them would be us old people.

Plus, that kind of assault on our ALREADY overwhelmed medical system would, essentially, virtually destroy it. Already, at a hospital in New York, they have backed up a refrigerator truck trailer up to the hospital in order to store the dead bodies – because the morgues can’t handle any more dead bodies. Just think if over one MILLION Americans had this virus all at once. My friend told me he’d be OK with that, but, I have to believe he was just having a bad moment as far as his critical thinking ability. I’ve been watching the spread of this virus fairly close for a couple of weeks now (We’ve been stuck in our homes for about that long) and, on the maps I’ve watched, as the cases increase, the color gets “redder.” (Not sure if that’s a word)

There is a wealth of evidence that keeping people home actually is about the only thing which works. Once you get to a spot like where Florida is, right now, for example – and, very likely their testing capacity is well below what it should be, you’re at least TWO weeks behind what is really happening. That is why I’ve been predicting Florida is the next “disaster area.” And, with DeSantis – who many thought was about as incompetent as individual 1 when he was elected back in 2018 – as the governor, it could get even worse. What he’s doing is the kind of stuff which makes me angry – because it’s going to prolong this for all of us. And, with a daughter who is an RN I’m just shuddering to think what this is going to do to our health care system.

Just try to put yourself into the place of young doctors and nurses who are signing death certificates for multiple patients every day and then thinking the body is going into a refrigerated truck trailer with no family able to mourn their loved ones until, well, after this is over. I’ll never forget when my “little girl” (who’s “tough as nails”) told me about how, when one of her patients dies (she was an oncology nurse at the time) she’s the one who puts the body into the body bag and takes it to the morgue. Well, just try to figure what it’s going to be like for young nurses all across this nation taking MULTIPLE bodies to the morgue. (And, in truck trailers, no less)

Then there’s Mississippi where the governor is maybe worse than even DeSantis. There are municipalities in Mississippi which took action to protect their citizens due to the lack of action coming from their (incredibly bad) governor Tate Reeves. So, what did Mr. Reeves do? He over road the actions of the local communities and told them to do “business as usual.” Apparently, these are the republicans who have individual 1’s “ear” suggesting “The cure is worst than the problem” – which, true to the “Big Lie Theory,” our IMPEACHED so-called president is and will be repeating that phrase until it is “drilled” into the heads of all his unsuspecting cult members.

Here’s the bottom line, no matter what individual 1 says, as he’s trying to be his own press secretary, the “buck” stops at the president’s desk and the responsibility for the success or failure of the fight against this terrible virus resides at the “top.” Yes, individual 1 has BLUNDERED his way to this point and it appears that is not going to change, but, thankfully, there are a bunch of governors in the country who are “taking the bull by the horns.” However, it will take ALL of us to get beyond this. So, when Washington State slows down the spread, we are still vulnerable when Idaho is on the upswing and Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana are all “bright red.” (And, there are several “red” states (and, by that I mean those states where people actually believe individual 1 tells the TRUTH, like Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, etc.) which are turning REDDER every day) These places are going to prolong this problem.

It’s already been reported that once “we the people” get beyond this “first phase” of the virus’s attack on America, we could be facing another “wave” next winter – unless a vaccine is miraculously manufactured by then. That being said, many of us who are doing what we’re supposed to be doing would (likely) appreciate all those who aren’t taking this seriously to do so. The cause of the second “wave” could be coming from countries in the Southern Hemisphere which are just beginning to feel the effects of this virus. Some are saying, by the time we’re coming out of this the danger will be a “second wave.” God help us if that happens.

My friend I always mention doesn’t believe this problem is as serious as I make it out to be, and all I could say the other day was “wait for the next three weeks.” Well, yesterday, in all of the United States, there were about 55,000 confirmed cases (more or less). Right now, as I’m writing this, Wednesday evening 3/25, according to the “worldometer” the total is approaching 69,000. It’s 10:00 PM and, at 6:00 PM the total was 64,000. And, the total of deaths in that time frame has increased by over 100 to 1032. The next two to three weeks could be unbelievably devastating. My prayers are that, despite the look of the curve in the United States, and the warning from the World Health Organization that we will be the “hot spot” soon, that we can somehow avoid the “look” of Spain and Italy.

Actually, Italy is starting to see a reduction in the number of new cases – they’ve been “hunkered down” – the entire country and it’s not “optional” (Mr. DeSantis) for about two weeks now and, despite heart wrenching numbers of deaths – they can’t handle the number of bodies (about twice the number of deaths as China – which, really, showed us how to deal with this), as, it appears, quite possibly the strict “social distancing” has begun to work. Sadly, in the United States there is NO coordinated approach to this pandemic. It actually is beginning to appear the federal response to the outbreak is, in some ways, punitive to “blue” states. Today, governor Cuomo claimed the amount of support in the $2 TRILLION bill passed today in Congress headed for New York as a “drop in the bucket.” Nancy Pelosi said the bill lacked at least $50 BILLION which is needed in the state governments.

Actually, state governments are bidding against each other in their attempts to provide their hospitals and health care workers what they need to fight this battle. I listened to a couple governors tonight and a republican governor said, “we shouldn’t complain about yesterday” and just “focus on today and tomorrow.” The democratic governor, while trying to be diplomatic wasn’t willing to give individual 1 a pass. They are all desperate for “stuff” which SHOULD be available but isn’t. Individual 1 actually said, today, that governors need to be nice to him in order to get what they need. He called this a “two way street.” For heaven’s sake, he just needs to SHUT UP! I keep saying he’s making it too easy for the democrats come November. Today, he accused the media of attempting to cause him to lose his re-election, but they don’t need to worry, even if that’s their goal – he’s doing a great job of that himself!

Tonight, I saw an add that apparently is playing in four different states. These types of adds don’t show up where I live because Washington State is pretty safely BLUE. But, as I’ve been saying, these adds are going to be using individual 1’s own words to make it clear how INCOMPETENT he’s been in dealing with this pandemic. And, then when it sinks in that the one time he’s told the truth was when he admitted “I knew this was a pandemic before most everyone else” he’s going to be in even more trouble. With that being true, his early refusal to do ANYTHING to mitigate the effect of this virus looks all the more horrible – and, based on the way things are going right now, it appears to me the fatalities will be, at least, in the tens of thousands. INCOMPETENCE doesn’t look good under those circumstances. (And, by the way, this ad was devastating – it regurgitated many of his DISHONEST statements at the beginning of this – like “we have 15 cases and maybe by tomorrow zero”)

The next year is going to be extremely tough in America and one of my main hopes that survived the republican scissors in the bill passed today is the money to guarantee ALL states have the funds to set up “vote by mail.” I can see this IMPEACHED so-called president trying to postpone the November election which, to me would be unthinkable. As I’ve said here many times, I can’t wait to vote in November 2020 to help end this national nightmare!

Final Thought: As the Congress has been able to “come up with” $2 TRILLION fairly quickly because Wall Street is in the tank and even republicans are realizing without workers or small businesses even Wall Street tanks. Along with this, the Fed is PUMPING another $4+ TRILLION directly into Wall Street at the whim of who knows who – virtually with NO restrictions. This is going to be another action which causes “we the people” to lose confidence of our government when all is said and done. Democrats don’t dare block all this at this point in time because they were able to force republicans to do way more than they’ve been able to do for over 10 years.

If there ever was a commercial for Bernie Sanders, well, this may be it. Of course, the democratic nominee is likely to be Joe Biden, but this pandemic makes it doubly certain Mr. Biden had better come along side “Bernie” in order to get Sanders’ voters to show up in November. Undoubtedly, with the help of Vladimir Putin individual 1 will be blasting the airwaves and social media with misinformation designed to further tear democrats apart. I don’t think it will work, but this pandemic shows why Bernie has been so prescient over the past many years and those who consider him “radical” should take a good look at what is coming out of Washington DC right now.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Medicare for All is MUCH cheaper and more effective than what we have now. Our present system is designed to operate at capacity which makes this pandemic so much worse, there’s no room for the “surge.” And, the idea there is no effective backup supply of the items needed in our hospitals and doctor’s offices is just evidence of another failure in our system. We should be protecting those who take care of us. I can tell you as one of the “most vulnerable” my doctor is one of my favorite people. And, those who work in his office are as well. I’ve been praying for them. We should all, in my view, be praying for the health care workers who are “running” right toward this pandemic – with the health of the American people their only worry. Most of them don’t pay attention to politics and don’t complain. I feel as though I have to help them out a bit. There seems to be nothing else for me to do these days! Just sayin………….

My apologies once again for being too lazy to edit this. I get going every day lately and just feel like clicking the “publish” button – it’s late and I’m old and tired!

What is it going to take for “we the people” to realize we have an incompetent BOOB as our IMPEACHED so-called president – and, I’m talking to the CULT who get their brains attacked by Fox “news,” Rush Limbaugh, etc. every single day. (And, today I got a “tip” from my friend I mention here who’s an individual 1 cult member about an article in the New York Post – which is an individual 1 outlet similar to The National Enquirer – he believes this stuff) As I’ve said, I don’t do “Twitter,” but it appears our IMPEACHED so-called president is getting really anxious, looking at his precious stock market continuing to tank. Virtually everytime he opens his mouth and allows words to come out things get worse. Last night, based on reports I’ve heard, he’s suggesting when the “15 days” are over (not sure what he means by that) we should go back to “business as usual.” So we can all go to church on Easter Sunday (except places like the Vatican)

There seemed to be reports suggesting individual 1 is suggesting after the 15 days the “social distancing” needs only to continue in places hit the hardest (like where I live in Washington State). I’ve pointed this out several times the best way to characterize our IMPEACHED so-called president is, in a word, STUPID! Rex Tillerson and John Kelley, after working with him for months used two words, F*@king Moron. I’ll let you be the judge. I can tell you this, I don’t see the baseball season happening this year (maybe about June they could have “spring training”) and it could get a lot worse thanks to our —- well, you know what I call him.

It’s already apparent all those people who have been brainwashed by Fox, Limbaugh, and the other right wing propaganda sites (using, by the way, the propaganda strategy of Nazi Germany) and are acting like this is a “democrat hoax” are going to make this crisis last much longer than it should. That is, as we in Washington State are getting past this, (which is likely at least a couple of months from now) places like Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, etc. will be “ramping up.” From everything I’ve heard this virus is very easily spread and it’s “bipartisan.” One of the major problems is we still don’t have the capacity to test people in numerous places so the number of cases across the nation is likely much higher than we can even imagine. And, by the way, as we’re seeing it even afflicts REPUBLICANS! (The lack of tests is just ANOTHER failure of this administration)

The federal government is beginning to respond. For example there are Army Corp of Engineers platoons being deployed in New York and Washington State, and maybe elsewhere, to build temporary field hospitals to help with the overrun in their hospitals. However, individual 1 continues to balk at putting the Defense Production Act in place to order for companies to produce medical PPE which is desperately needed in hospitals across the country. My daughter, and RN, told me the other day, where she works they have TEN masks left! This makes me ANGRY every time I think about it and then realize our IMPEACHED so-called president cares more about the stock market than “we the people.” And, when our health care providers collapse, well, it could be well worse than Italy here in the U.S.

As usual, the process of getting a “rescue” bill is not a “smooth” process, although, thankfully, nothing can happen in the Senate without Democrats approving whatever they come up with. Actually, that has been the case for the past three plus years, which is why NOTHING has been getting done. Moscow Mitch has something like 300 bills passed by the House sitting under his desk somewhere with dust all over them and he appears to be very unhappy he’s actually FORCED to work with democrats to pass this bill. And, of course, republicans are attempting to slip in some incredibly disgusting parts to this bill. Reports are that after democrats thought they had an agreement republicans “threw” in what has been referred to as a $500 BILLION “slush fund” – with virtually no restrictions and at the whim of Steve Mnuchin and individual 1. There’s just NO WAY democrats are going to allow that to happen once again, period “full stop.”

While my focus seems to be following the response of those in Washington DC who have the power to help mitigate this virus (with, of course, an IMPEACHED so-called president who has already BUNGLED the process, big time) the reality is on the rare occasions I leave my house to go to the pharmacy or super market, I’m encountering some amazing people. I’ve seen some incredible acts of kindness and MANY people continuing to work at places like Fred Meyer (which is our local Kroger), Costco, and others willingly going to work in the face of a clearly higher risk of catching this virus.

The other thing I wanted to write about in regard to the stores I’ve been in. Not one of these local stores is raising their prices despite almost what looks to me to be panic buying by people who seem to be hoarding things like toilet paper, other paper products, rice and pasta, etc. I actually know people who are buying enough toilet paper to last a four person family for a year! The problem when people do that is obvious. But, that being said, I think these businesses which are not price gouging deserve a lot of credit. Of course, this isn’t universal.

For example, it’s being reported medical suppliers are not so honorable, the supplies needed by our medical personnel are being “jacked up” to the “highest bidder.” Masks which are desperately needed and were less than a dollar apiece before this started are being reported to being sold for about $7 each. This is the result of our IMPEACHED so-called president refusing to enact the Defense Production Act and enacting a NATIONAL plan to distribute the supplies as they are needed. This lack of PPE very well could be the biggest scandal of this crisis when all is said and done. Why our IMPEACHED so-called president is forcing the governor of Washington to bid against the governor of New York or the governor of Illinois or ……… You get the idea, is unthinkable!

And, then I listened to Defense Secretary Mark Esper announcing the two military hospital ships are being sent, one to New York and the other to Los Angeles. Military personnel are volunteering to provide the human resources enabling the ships to be effective. That’s something to shout about. There are things which make you proud to watch people risking their own lives to help for the benefit of “we the people.” But, for me, the overwhelming emotion I’m feeling is anger because I’ve watched this from the day the first case showed up in Seattle Washington (near where I live) and the more I learn about our federal response the worse it gets. Individual 1, as the “leader” – despite his unwillingness to take responsibility – is RESPONSIBLE for the federal response and there’s NO doubt he’s making this worse. Period, full stop!

Now, he’s suggesting attempting to restore his precious stock market is more important than the lives of MILLIONS of Americans. He, along with his right wing benefactors – who, by the way, are the ones trying to slip “free money” into the emergency bill before Congress – and, then BLAMING democrats for doing exactly what they SHOULD be doing and blocking this newest version of corporate thievery from America’s taxpayers – in an incredible act of federal borrowing! What he doesn’t seem to understand, in my view, is the longer he refuses to support our medical staff, ORDER the creation of MILLIONS of tests so that the spread of the disease can be better identified, and ORDERING a nationwide “shelter in place” the stock market is NOT going to recover. I’m predicting he could “push” the DOW down to 10,000 with his incredible INCOMPETENCE!

I keep thinking back to the IMPEACHMENT “trial” where Alan Dershowitz argued, incredibly, if the president believes his actions are for the best interest of the nation, and he believes his re-election is in the best interest of the nation, then nothing he does can be “IMPEACHABLE.” So, maybe individual 1 is thinking his re-election is in the best interest of the nation so re-opening the economy is more important than the MILLIONS of lives which would likely be lost. His right wing supporters – who know all they need do is get a spot on Sean Hannity’s Fox “news” show, suggest something no matter how absurd, and individual 1 will be regurgitating their nonsense by the next morning. Now individual 1 has inserted “The Cure can’t be worse than the problem” into his “Big Lie Theory” machine. We’ll be hearing that phrase over and over until it’s “drilled” into the brains of his cult members.

And, sadly, roughly 45% of America will believe them. Last week I read a poll which suggested 55% of Americans were approving of individual 1’s performance in this battle. Today, the number is DOWN to 50% and, who knows what will be the results by this time next week. At some point, even people in “Red” states will realize they are in more trouble than necessary thanks to THEIR impeached so-called president. I’ve already seen the propaganda which will likely see individual 1 attempting to take credit for the emergency relief bill which will affect MILLIONS more Americans thanks to democrats – but, will likely see republicans taking credit. These are the same republicans who want a $500 BILLION slush fund with no strings attached. Today, individual 1 volunteered to “supervise it.” My first thought: “are you kidding me?”

Talk about hiring the fox to guard the hen house. There’s no doubt individual 1 is attempting to find ways to send BAILOUT money to “the hotel industry” – which would include his own hotels, wouldn’t it? And, trying to do this without “we the people” actually knowing he’s doing it and with “no strings attached.” If individual 1 gets his way and turns back on the “economy” next Monday (he changed his tune to Easter Sunday the next day) I fear I could be stuck in my house for the next six months – or more. I worry baseball season will be canceled and my one trip to visit Seattle won’t happen this year – because, even if Governor Inslee of my state succeeds in stopping the spread in Washington state, the people in Idaho who are going about life as if this isn’t happening will, some of them visit Washington and, well, here we go again!

I’m really getting the idea “conservatives” in our nation really do care more about the stock market than they care about our people. Honestly, until I heard all this today, I couldn’t imaging talk like that coming from the federal government – well, OK, it doesn’t surprise me as much as it should based on three years of observing individual 1. So, today, I had an extended share of texts with my friend I mention here often who is part of our IMPEACHED so-called president’s cult, and he sounded just like individual 1, the Lt. Governor of Texas, and several others i listened to or read about today. My friend suggests this is just another “flu” bug and he supports opening the economy up fully. Like some of the others (including individual 1) suggested MOST of the millions who would die from the massive spread of the virus would be older Americans and “That’s just the way it goes.”

They are suggesting the lives of a couple MILLION (mostly older) Americans aren’t worth a few months of having a significant portion of our economy essentially shut down. Even though democrats in Congress are going to protect those who are out of work or those small businesses which need help in order to make them “whole” when this is over many republicans would rather just allow this virus to wipe out who knows how many Americans. And, of course, in the process, our national medical system very likely would be destroyed in the process. We are within days in several places around the country where doctors will be choosing who lives and who dies. I don’t think I’ve ever known a doctor who wants to be in that position and it’s going to have a serious effect on they’re ability to cope in this crisis! And, of course, we REALLY need them AND all the nurses – like my daughter and my friend’s daughter – who are both RN’s.

My friend who’s in the individual 1 cult actually believes individual 1 tells the truth. He absolutely doesn’t believe he’s a pathological LIAR, a racist, a xenophobe, a misogynist, and an incredible narcissist. He’s part of a significant segment of America who you can see individual 1 attempting to fool into believing he’s doing a good job. When he gives himself a “10” for his response to this, my friend and the rest of the cult actually believe that – despite the FACT he purposefully denied the seriousness of this virus from the beginning and every day he refuses to act like a real president is making things worse – for EVERYONE – including republicans.

As I said the other day, if individual 1 would have had me as an adviser back in early January, this pandemic would be affecting the United States much differently. There was NO way to stop it from “arriving” – it’s pretty much EVERYWHERE in the world. But, ignoring what was coming and trying to make things look “good” was just more evidence he was more focused on Wall Street than Main Street. That is ALWAYS, in the long run, a recipe for disaster. And, sadly, it continues to be just that. Individual 1 is not going to act like a responsible LEADER and the next three weeks is going to be – well, it appears more like Spain than Italy. It’s going to get really bad – and, not just in New York or not just in “liberal” or “blue” states. The South and the Midwest – where we have several governors who are not taking this seriously – are going to be “on fire” in the next four or five weeks. My friend, and others in the cult, just don’t want to believe this. Yikes!

Final Thought: Here’s the reality of individual 1’s “wish” to “open up the country” by Easter Sunday. My first thought when I heard him say “Having the churches full on Easter Sunday will be a beautiful site” – I want to know how many times individual 1 has actually gone to church. And, if someone gave me a number I’d need proof – and, NOT “two Corinthians.” He knows his “base” is full of a bunch of right wing “Christians” and he’s playing them like a fiddle.

My second thought was individual 1 didn’t close anything down and he does not have the power to OPEN anything up! He has not acted in any way which would include anything more than holding up a 15 days of ………. (something) at one of his press briefings – where he LIES through his teeth at the American people over and over (Do you remember him saying weeks ago “anyone who wants a test can get one” – Yikes!) – so, he’s not going to be able to do anything to get the economy “going again.” Sadly, it’s the governors across the nation “calling the shots.”

There is one thing, of course, individual 1 could accomplish in this foolhardy plan and that is encourage all his right wing “Christian” followers to return to packed churches on Easter Sunday. This would be the most likely recipe for DISASTER I can think of. I go to church virtually every Sunday, but I’m very comfortable with watching the sermons being streamed to my computer on Sunday morning. It would be a great mistake and I’m not sure how many Christians would actually go to church under these circumstances, but with our IMPEACHED so-called president’s encouragement we could see another “spike” in the numbers of positive Covid-19 cases.

Of course, Governor Cuomo of New York is filling the vacuum created by individual 1’s lack of leadership and, our governor in Washington State, (who individual 1 called a “snake” – which apparently pissed me off more than it did Governor Inslee – who just kept working hard) was right in the forefront of the decision making as governors in several states are working hard in an attempt to “flatten the curve” and save as many lives as possible while individual 1 continues to showboat. However, the reality is the people in other places who listen to our IMPEACHED so-called president and are doing the “business as usual” thing are going to make this crisis last well longer than it otherwise would have. And, come November, that’s going to be on individual 1. The recession won’t be the reason he is NOT re-elected – It will be due to the INCOMPETENCE in the face of a national crisis!

One more thing: Clearly individual 1 is more interested in Wall Street over Main Street because he envisions the stock market as his main “selling point” as to why Americans should continue this NIGHTMARE be re-electing him. However, virtually everything he does makes the recovery of the stock market, in the long term, more difficult and farther “down the road.” Today, in anticipation of the HUGE government “bailout” (maybe that’s the wrong word – stimulus, recovery?) the market made an historic jump upward – but, I can virtually guarantee you that jump upward is TEMPORARY. If individual 1 doesn’t make sure there is mass testing across the nation ASAP we are looking at a long road to getting through this. You just can’t have one “hot spot” being exchanged for another and on and on if you want this to be stopped. It’s not brain science – but, individual 1 can’t see past the moment he’s in.

We very well may be facing a depression and it wouldn’t have to be that serious. Yes, there are traders on Wall Street who will push the market up and down in, very likely, huge moves – with what appears to me, their “sheep mentality” – trying to make money day by day – but, the underlying reality is America’s companies will have a tough recovery once this is past us. I think the democrats in Congress are trying to save the economy with the bill they’re working on which is republicans agreeing to a Keynesian economics type stimulus package.

You could call it “socialism” couldn’t you! Hopefully, there will be NO $500 BILLION “slush fund” with no strings attached and at the control of individual 1. Just the fact republicans tried to push it through ticks me off – and, then they complain about democrats trying to get $2 BILLION for states to guarantee ALL states are set up for “vote by mail” for all the upcoming elections including the general election in November! I really hope the democrats stay strong until they get what is right in this bill. They may NEVER have more leverage than they have right now – certainly, at least until the next Congress. (Hopefully, Moscow Mitch will be gone from the Senate by this time next year)

Lastly: To my friend – and, I have to say, the fact he’s so enamored by individual 1, means nothing more to me than we see things from virtually opposite viewpoints. He’s a good friend, I’m just having problems “getting through” to him. However, I told him the next three weeks are going to be devastating – and, not just in New York. I have the feeling Florida is going to be the next disaster area – and, their population is almost 20% over 65 years old. Louisiana is looking to be in an almost desperate situation and they sent numerous Americans around the country, likely infected, from their recent Mardi Gras!

A couple months ago republicans had the opportunity to remove individual 1 from office, and, of course, with the exception of Mitt Romney, they all cowered into their little – whatevers. Well, now we’re in the middle of a world wide pandemic and the United States may end up being the most irresponsible as far as our reaction to this crisis than any country in the world. The U.S., of course, is much larger than countries like Italy and Spain and if we end up having a more severe outbreak, per capita, than them, we could be looking at MILLIONS of deaths coming from this coronavirus. Now, our IMPEACHED so-called president is having anxiety over the stock market which is, seemingly, making it even more impossible for him to lead.

Last night he proposed something like (on “Twitter”), “We can’t allow the cure to be worse than the problem” as he’s suggesting to relax the social distancing requirements in order, in his mind, to “recharge” our economy. Of course, as with virtually every decision he makes (in situations which have any semblance of importance) he does the exact opposite of what he should. Let’s just consider what would happen if he said something like New York, Washington state, and California stay on “shelter in place” and the rest of us will be business as usual. If he does something like this and people actually listen, this disaster will multiply even more than it already has. Apparently, individual 1 doesn’t think he’ already done enough to make this worse!

Let’s just be clear! Individual 1 KNEW this was an oncoming pandemic because it’s been publicly reported he was warned back in January of what “we the people” were facing and he took NO action. His precious stock market clearly is more important to him than the well being of MILLIONS of Americans. Every day our IMPEACHED so-called president fails to act, for example, he’s refusing to enact the Defense Production Act to force the production of the PPE our medical professionals need to protect themselves as they are on the front lines of this battle. Honestly, every day I get more ANGRY with our IMPEACHED so-called president.

Based on reports individual 1 wants to get back to holding rallies with large groups of people, apparently not understanding he needs his voters in November and, as I’ve said repeatedly here, every time he opens his mouth he makes another commercial for democrats to run during the election in November. As I’ve said here, also, I’m predicting if this goes on for more than a couple more months individual 1 will be attempting to block the November election. You can see I’m not the only American thinking this because part of what the democrats are wanting in this bill presently being negotiated which Moscow Mitch likely doesn’t like are protections for the upcoming election – guarantees we have the election plus the primaries and, if necessary EVERY state have provisions for “vote by mail.” This likely makes individual 1’s stomach as queezy as mine when I hear him talking.

Trying to be real here I feel safe in saying had the federal government ramped up testing capability in January when INDIVIDUAL 1 knew what was coming, this virus could have been slowed down right from the get go. There is STILL an issue with testing, so in places where I live there could be as many as 10 times the number affected as those confirmed cases. Yes, that means there are people who have the disease with less than serious symptoms, but we don’t know who or where they are and if they listen to individual 1 they could be soon infecting others. There are more negative aspects to the FAILURE to provide sufficient testing, but, apparently, according to experts, that is now “water under the bridge.”

The only hope we have to minimize the number of people who are affected by this pandemic is through the social distancing we’re practicing around the country – which, obviously, has closed significant parts of this economy. I keep saying “I’m no economist” but, you can check the archives here I saw the downturn in the stock market coming at least a month before it happened. I’m just a retired sixth grade teacher so individual 1 SHOULD have had a more effective strategy right from the day he had his first briefing from the intelligence community.

Publicly, I’ve been hearing predictions from medical professionals since back in January when it became public knowledge there was a serious crisis in China – my wife and I have friends in China and they’ve been on “lock-down” for several months still. They’re actually contacting us now worrying about our safety because they know we live in Washington State which was the first state to be in a state of emergency. It ticks me off when individual 1 refers to this as the “China flu” but it doesn’t surprise me – just a bit more of his racist dog whistling. He had the opportunity at the beginning of this to actually act like a responsible president but he’s incapable of doing so. And, it’s affecting all of us – even those in his CULT.

I’m actually tired of writing so much, I wish I could stop. After I closed this out (I’ve got three rants going at once, that’s a record for me) I first went to Yahoo.com to see what’s going on with the stock market and read an article with lots of people making comments. Usually, I don’t pay too much attention to that but the first comment which came up was someone complaining about how democrats are opposed to the working people of this country and he “signed off” with a “F” bomb. That was too much for me, so I had to respond and, in a nutshell, suggested he stop watching Fox “news” (There have been studies showing Fox viewers are less informed to people who watch NO news) and asked “Do you really believe a $500 BILLION “slush fund” at the whim of Mnuchin and Individual 1 is acceptable at this point in time? Yikes!!

Then I turned on MSNBC and, sure enough out walks, first, William Barr – no idea how he got onto the “White House” pandemic “team” or whatever they call themselves and soon out came individual 1 – naturally, he has to take center stage of all of this, despite the reality he has NO idea what he’s doing – he’s literally causing more people to die with his decision making – but, he can’t stand anyone else in the limelight. I had to mute the computer because I can’t stomach him and it’s even worse when Pense starts every sentence with “Mr. President” or “Thanks to the decisions of our president” – seriously, makes me want to puke. And, there was something very notable about this press briefing: Anthony Fauci, the head of the CDC was not there. There have been reports individual 1 is getting tire of Dr. Fauci “contradicting him.” (Do you realize how absurd that whole notion is?)

I can guarantee you this. Individual 1’s mind is on somehow reviving his campaign as opposed to finding a more efficient solution to this problem – which is going to make the crisis last MUCH longer than it otherwise could have. There are still many places in America who still believe this is a democrat “hoax.” Likely, for some people, until they or someone else in their family is threatened by this virus it won’t be anything more than another flu bug. I actually believe that’s what individual 1 believes right now. I think he believes this is some kind of conspiracy to prevent him from re-election and, likely, it’s becoming just that as every day of his incompetence passes. His CULT will never believe otherwise, but I suspect there are a lot of Americans watching him bungle this who are, like me, more alarmed every day! We’ve been warning, if he ever has to deal with an actual crisis, LOOK OUT!

He’s threatening to “roll back” the “social distancing guidelines” next week and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was able to get large crowds to join him in rallies while all this is going on. Apparently, they would be believing they would just be infecting liberals if any of them contracted the virus at an individual 1 rally. I can guarantee you (or at least I think I can) that people like Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer are sitting on the sidelines prepared to “intervene” if individual 1 re-invigorates his campaign during this pandemic. You will start seeing the adds which, I’m sure, have already been created where our IMPEACHED so-called president has either contradicted himself or people like Dr. Fauci.

Today, over 100 Americans died, just today. The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 pushed well over 40,000 today from just over 30,000 yesterday. The CDC data is way behind “the curve” (and, honestly, I wonder why) and doctors I’ve listened to today suggest the real number of those affected is at least 10 times the confirmed cases – and, that the worst is yet to come and our hospitals very well could be overrun in the next week, maybe two weeks. Plus, and this one really bugs me as I have a daughter who is an RN, individual 1 can’t seem to take the emergency of the lack of PPE for the health care workers seriously

As I said above, republicans had their chance to remove this IMPEACHED so-called president in January and FAILED miserably – so, now they have to live with the consequences. I believe the “slush fund” I referred to above was intended to be a backhanded way for the Treasury Secretary (with “no” input from individual 1 “wink wink”) to bail out the Hotel industry without “we the people” knowing it. Of course, that would be a bailout for dear leader – and, I can tell you there are MILLIONS of Americans who would oppose him getting any bailout. He’s beginning to start talking about how he has not taken a salary and how this job has cost him “billions” – well, if that’s an issue, I’ve got a quick solution! RESIGN!!!

Final Thought: I don’t believe any human being has turned me off anywhere near individual 1. I thought I would NEVER say that after watching George W Bush and Dick Cheney not only LIE “we the people” into an incredibly ill conceived was, but to make matters worse, they both authorized TORTURE and then willingly went on national TV, admitted as much, and then BOTH said, “I’d do it again.” For me, that was really bad! There was Ronald Reagan who started the assault on our Treasury, the transferring of much of America’s wealth into the hands of a very select few who was ALSO a LIAR, but NOTHING on the level of individual 1. GW Bush had trouble finishing a complete sentence, but, again, nothing on the level of individual 1. And the lack of compassion, the moral ineptitude, the racism right from the podium of the press secretary, the xenophobe response to virtually any crisis major or minor, the connection to the white nationalist movement, and on and on. He’s unfit for the office and a disgrace to the good people of America! Again, November 2020 can’t come soon enough for me! (And, if he tries to postpone the election for ANY reason there needs to be a national revolt which would make the women’s march look like a Sunday picnic!

I was giving thanks at dinner tonight and praying for our nation, for wisdom with our nation’s leaders, and especially praying for the people on the “front lines” like the doctors and nurses who are attempting to “flatten the curve” – well, actually, they are the ones dealing with our inability to “flatten the curve” of this pandemic, and then I said, “especially for my daughter (I, of course, said her name, she’s an RN) and, almost immediately, my eyes filled with tears and I was unable to finish. Every time I think about why it is my daughter and so many others who are willing to FIGHT for their patients in almost unbelievable circumstances are working without the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) they need I start getting angry. If you’ve been around this site you know I’m writing more than ever!

Yes, I know it makes virtually NO difference as to what I think and, likely, most of the “visitors” to this site are “bots” – which I don’t know what they are, really – but it’s the only way I know how to vent. My daughter is one of the many Nurses in this nation who are letting us know they are working without, in some instances, even face masks! Every day I watch individual 1, as he seems to have the need to be giving advice when he clearly has NO idea what he’s doing. standing in front of the cameras and LYING. I want to say embarrassing himself, but the reality is he’s working for the next election and SHOCKINGLY I read today, it’s working. Apparently, according to ABC 55% of Americans polled thinks he’s doing a good job.

The reality is his LYING is almost getting worse, if that’s possible. He’s making this all worse and he’s NOT doing his part to take this as serious as he should. I keep thinking of all the people in Kansas and Oklahoma and other Midwest, so-called “red” states which have people all over their states who are listening to individual 1 and taking this as “business as usual.” They are, along with THEIR president making this worse for every one else – and prolonging the “social distancing” practices. This is STUPID and selfish!

I’ve been watching this since the first days, when Don Jr. said, “democrats are hoping millions of Americans die from this coronavirus in order to stop all the winning.” First, that comment pissed me off (sorry, I’m reverting back to my younger years, I guess) because I don’t know a single “democrat” wishing that and secondly because it’s so incredibly STUPID. I remember thinking, as I’ve said here before, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Individual 1, in my view, in the early stages of this pandemic, was worried more about his precious “stock market bragging rights” than he was worried about “we the people.” How did that work for him?

Now, MILLIONS are in jeopardy of contracting this virus, which may or may not have been inevitable, but the reality our medical workers are facing is UNTHINKABLE! And, even though he’s already said, “I take no responsibility for this,” his FAILURES have created life threatening circumstances for untold numbers of Americans. Not only are the medical professionals in danger the hospitals in several areas facing what will soon be an overwhelming number of critically ill patients. And, they’ll, in many instances doing this without the number of beds, the PPE needed by the doctors and nurses, and potentially, like in Italy, being forced to make choices on who lives or dies.

Just like we will never be able to quantify the actual impact of the Russians working to help him “win” the 2016 election, I don’t believe we’ll be able to quantify how many people would have been saved had individual 1 listened to experts back in January when we knew the possibility this was coming. We are still lacking the ability to test in a way to actually know where this virus is in America and, of course, if there had been someone in individual 1’s administration listening to those “in the know” this would NOT be a problem as I’m writing this. There are so many things which COULD have (and still could) be done if we had a president who wasn’t more concerned with himself than the people of this nation.

Individual 1 was warned about what was coming back in February by our intelligence community and he chose to publicly call this a “democrat hoax” at his rallies. Others of his supporters were saying this is another media frenzy trying to “IMPEACH” the president once again. And, of course, there are already a bunch of video productions of all the contrary comments coming from our (already) IMPEACHED so-called president. (Democrats didn’t need this to IMPEACH him, he managed to pull that off himself by EXTORTING the president of Ukraine for “dirt” on Joe Biden).

I have a (wonderful) neighbor who obviously is someone who watches Fox “news” on TV. She understands this is a serious problem at this point in time and, I think, is practicing “social distancing.” Of course, we live in a semi-rural location where the homes are on 2 1/2 acre to 5 acre parcels so social distancing is easier. However, I talked to her on the phone yesterday and she believes individual 1 (she, of course, refers to him by his surname) is doing a good job during this pandemic. She believes he is the “brains” behind the impending stimulus bill being negotiated in the Senate as I’m writing this. I said, “well, it’s the democrats who are making sure workers are the focus of any legislation,” and she relied, “no, no, no.” To me, just another (very nice) person who is ill-informed by individual 1’s LYING and the willingness of Fox to perpetuate the LIES. As I’ve said MANY times here, they use the “Big Lie Theory” because it works! But, as usual, I digress.

Speaking of Joe Biden, it is becoming more critical EVERY day going forward that “we the people” prepare to vote him into office and then hope that the DAMAGE to this nation caused by individual 1 will be fixable in less than a generation starting in January 20, 2021. That DAMAGE is likely to be much worse than what Obama/Biden faced in 2008 – which was the worse crisis since FDR took office in 1932. Do you get the similarities? It seems it’s always a democrat coming in to fix the MESS created by the previous REPUBLICAN (in this case IMPEACHED so-called) president. I only hope Mr. Biden has learned that “looking forward instead of back” in regard to the illegal activity of the predecessor is a BAD idea! Doing that, only makes it worse the next time Americans (somehow) decide to elect another republican to the “White House.” (And, trust me, republicans will be complaining about the national debt the day Biden takes the oath of office)

When I think of all individual 1’s LIES as this pandemic has evolved possibly the most egregious was the one where he said, “I knew this was a pandemic well before most others” or words to that effect. Well, I have to say, I hope that’s a LIE because otherwise he’s a worse IMPEACHED so-called president than I had thought. Think about this, if he actually knew the potential of this pandemic and, still, was saying the garbage which is on the videos which will be showing over and over again in the next election where he was LYING virtually every day and causing the pathetic federal response to this crisis it would make him look MUCH worse than INCOMPETENT which is what he appears at this point in time. As I’ve said, every time he opens his mouth he makes another campaign add for Biden in the upcoming election. And, I know people like Elizabeth Warren, who I really appreciate, have complained about “billionaires,” but I have to say I’m very glad Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer are going to be on Biden’s “side.” There’s going to be a lot of adds showing exactly what I’ve been writing about prior to November 4, 2020!

And, tonight, it’s being reported individual 1 was informed by his intelligence community about what was coming. Republicans had the opportunity to remove him from office before all this started and the only one with the courage to do the right thing was Mitt Romney. This will be a weight on all of their “shoulders” from here until, well……………… Just think about this as the death toll rises in America, individual 1 had a warning well before the first case hit our shores and he ignored it. This will likely be a more significant FAILURE than Bush/Cheney ignoring the warning about the terrorist attack of 9/11 shortly after taking the oath of office.

I’ve said for years now it appears to me individual 1 can’t see past the day he’s experiencing. I really do believe he thought he could stop the tanking of the Stock Market by LYING about what he called “the flu.” (lately, true to form, he’s turned it into a racist meme, calling it the “Chineseflu” or “Kungflu” as he’s looking for ways to deflect BLAME) Well, he’s made matters worse as he’s done over and over in his 3+ years in office (unless you’re part of the corporate empire) and his precious stock market is now down below where it was when he “inherited” it from President Obama. While it’s likely the market would have “crashed” no matter what he did, he’s made this so much worse than it should have been. I’ve said this before, I won’t be surprised if the DOW falls to around 10,000. Nobody wants that to happen, but we’re looking at a depression right “in the eye.”

Right now, people are waiting to see what kind of federal response is going to emerge from Congress as MILLIONS of Americans will not be allowed to go back to work for, well, who knows how long. Of course, if people continue to ignore the warnings and continue to congregate in large groups, the timeline will increase. I see it on TV, I see it in person, large groups of people close together as if this isn’t happening. I’ve heard the government “response” is going to be in the neighborhood of 2 TRILLION dollars – that’s a lot of money! Let’s see $2,000,000,000,000. I think that’s the correct number of zero’s. All Americans should be thankful for this and, in response, “shelter in place” (except for needed trips to the grocery store, pharmacy, doctor’s office) To me, that’s the respectful and responsible thing to do.

This pandemic has FORCED republicans in the Senate to work with democrats because a response to this pandemic is required. Everyone knows where the stock market is and major corporations are calling for major bailouts because they have no business. That’s the formula to get the attention of people like Moscow Mitch and, in the case, they can’t get the money to their corporate friends without the “help” of democrats. Nancy Pelosi’s response to the original proposition put forth by Senate republicans was “It’s dead on arrival.” Democrats will use their leverage to ensure as much of this “stimulus” money goes to the people who will provide the actual stimulus to the economy – and, that’s the workers who are living “paycheck to paycheck.” Trust me, individual 1 is already planning on how he can take credit for the bill when his ONLY role in this will be to sign it.

Of course, the one part of this HUGE bill individual 1 will be looking to take part in will be the bailout of the Hotel industry. Clearly, he’s got properties which are not producing the income he’s accustomed to – but, to me, any “bailout” of the Hotel industry or any other industry should be aimed at keeping workers being paid and making sure the hotels can stay afloat until this pandemic is history (which, of course, will be longer from now than it could have been with a competent president). Anything beyond that SHOULD be in the form of a loan which will eventually need to be repaid – with interest. And, for the public corporations, there should be restrictions on the money so there isn’t a repeat of the TARP bailout of 2008 where the banks which caused the problems were handing out million dollar bonuses to the people who caused the problem in the first place. I don’t think that will happen, thanks to democrats who I’ve listened to – they understand the public backlash which would ensue.

While my anger directed toward individual 1 and his sycophants just doesn’t seem to be able to subside, I have to say the number of health care providers in this nation who are “running toward” this issue is an example of what is really great about this nation. Of course, it’s happening elsewhere around the globe – these health care providers take their Hippocratic oath seriously, unlike individual 1’s response to the oath he took on January 20, 2017. We should all be thankful for these wonderful professionals, we should be praying for them – however you do that, and we should be doing whatever we can to make their jobs right now even a little bit more achievable – by sheltering in place until this pandemic has taken its toll.

The reality is thousands of Americans are going to die from this disease and it’s incumbent on all of us to try to keep that number from reaching the tens of thousands or who knows where it could go. I’ve seen reports that based on the way we are responding to this pandemic as many as 150 MILLION Americans could get it. I watched governor Cuomo give a press briefing today and New York has over 15,000 confirmed cases as of today (Sunday 3/22) and one of his slides showed large groups congregating somewhere in New York City. His response was “This is unacceptable” and he said he’s giving the leaders of New York City 24 hours to come up with a plan to stop these congregations of people to happen.

I live in Washington state and our Governor, Jay Inslee, who’s also doing a great job has very matter of fact told the people of Washington to follow the guidelines – that means stay in your home unless your at the grocery store, the pharmacy – which here is often in the grocery store, or at the doctors office or necessary workplaces – which should practice “social distancing.” Governor Inslee said he will make the “guidelines” more strict if necessary. Just as in New York City, the city of Seattle, Washington is bracing for the number of critically ill patients to overwhelm the capacity of the hospitals. And, I can tell you, there are some world class hospitals in Seattle – but, they don’t have the protective equipment for their staff’s and they don’t have the ICU capacity for what they know is coming.

Washington state has something like 1700 confirmed cases of covid-19, but that’s because we don’t have the capacity to test. I’ve heard estimates that in the Seattle area there may be as many as 10 times the number of cases which are known with people who haven’t been able to get a test. I know that where I live should I feel the symptoms coming on, unless those symptoms advance to where hospitalization is on the horizon, it’s better to just stay home and hope for the best case scenario. They just don’t have enough tests and they don’t have the protective equipment for the people who would administer the tests. It’s a sad situation!

That all being said, I’m very thankful for all the tough, courageous medical personnel who are willing to be on the front lines in this BATTLE. I talked to my daughter the other day who is an RN and she said, where she works, there are 10 masks left. I have no idea how they’re going to solve this problem. I listened to Mike Pense the other day in maybe the last press briefing I’ll expose my brain to as he assured “we the people” they’ve ordered many millions of masks (I can’t remember the number) but, apparently, like everything else they claim, the masks aren’t getting to the professionals who need them. It embarrasses me to watch Pense as he’s at the podium, but it always appears he’s talking to individual 1. It’s like every sentence begins with “Mr. President” or thanks to the President – OMG that is beyond frustration. Stay tuned…..

Final Thought: Well, the only final thought I have today is my daughter going to work without the protective equipment she SHOULD have under any circumstance and a federal administration which, apparently, doesn’t see this as a national emergency. The Defense Production Act could have alleviated this problem weeks (or months ago – based on individual 1 admitting he “knew this was a pandemic before the rest of us”) and should be enacted nation wide IMMEDIATELY! Individual 1 is making his legacy darker by the day. My advice to him is get away from that podium and let the scientists do the talking! STOP all the LYING!

I’m old, my eyes are tired, and I apologize for publishing this without editing. After all it’s just my diary – my way to vent my frustrations that “we the people” allow such a DEPLORABLE person to be living in the “White House.” If my friend in California who sold me my absolutely amazing classical guitar reads this, I hope you are well – I think of you often!

I live in the state of Washington and our governor, Jay Inslee, is doing an awesome job in trying to fight off this novel coronavirus (Covid-19) not waiting for the federal government to figure out how serious this pandemic is. (And, NO individual 1 didn’t recognize it as a pandemic before most other people – unless, maybe if they get their “news” from Fox or Listen to medal winner Rush Limbaugh) Individual 1 referred to our governor as a “snake” while standing in the presence of the doctors at the CDC who likely fully understood his EXTREME level of LYING as he pointed out “anyone who wants a test can get one.” That was absurd!

Inslee has been a national leader along with governor Cuomo of New York as their two states, so far, are bearing the major “brunt” of this pandemic. New York has many more affirmed cases of Covid-19 than Washington right now, but, that may be because they have more testing capability. I remember when Washington had a couple hundred cases confirmed (we now have well over 1000) the estimate of the actual number was 10 to 20 times higher because there weren’t enough tests to actually have an idea of the true reality. Calling my governor a “snake” was just another STUPID choice of words coming out of the mouth of our STUPID IMPEACHED so-called president. Every day he seems to be obsessed with being the center of attention (just like a naughty sixth grader) and he just can’t stop all the LIES! That’s how it works with pathological LIARS.

Governor Inslee is getting very creative in his anticipation of what lies ahead. Today, workers were building a makeshift hospital with, potentially, 200 beds on a soccer field near Seattle. King County (Where most of Seattle is located) purchased an old hotel with 85 rooms with the idea of putting non critical patients in these rooms. Then they went out and leased another hotel, I’m not sure how many rooms, for the same purpose. I haven’t heard a single “peep” out of Inslee in response to individual 1’s despicable comment because, first, I don’t think he stoops to that level and, secondly, he’s too busy trying to save as many lives of Washington citizens as he can. I’m happy he’s my governor (he actually ran for president) and, I hope the federal government will soon begin giving him and our medical professionals more HELP!

I still believe individual 1 is more interested in the Stock Market than he is “we the people.” Even the “bailouts” he’s proposing, I’m guessing, will be aimed more at large corporations (ie HOTELS) than to helping those at the very bottom who need the help more than anyone else. They need money, they need FREE health care, and they need shelter. I have doubts republicans have any idea how to get money to the true “grassroots,” and will be required to work with democrats in order to do so. As much as I’d like a $1000 “windfall” I’m not the one who they should be focused on. Yes, I am retired and living off Social Security and don’t have a lot of money, but my family won’t allow me to go anywhere so I’m not spending money. The money SHOULD go to those who will most likely SPEND it!

Today, individual 1 said “nobody in their wildest dreams had any idea we would need all these items,” referring to all the medical supplies which our doctors and nurses are desperately in need. (Including my daughter, an RN) That statement, of course, was absurd! Rex Tillerson and John Kelley both referred to individual 1 as a f*@king MORON! They absolutely knew what they were talking about. They spent MONTHS working with him. Sadly, as I’m sure individual 1 is aware, his most fervent supporters have EXTREMELY short memories so he’s coming up with some really WHOPPERS in the LYING category, and from what I can tell, his supporters continue to believe he’s telling them the truth.

I’ve been doing a LOT of reading lately and there are WAY too many Americans who still believe this coronavirus is a “hoax,” or it’s the result of the “liberal media,” or it’s democrats in the latest version of their IMPEACHMENT strategy. What many don’t seem to understand, he’s ALREADY been IMPEACHED! He will go down in history as the third IMPEACHED American president, and when the history books write this era’s “history” he’s going to be right next to Benedict Arnold and the democrats are going to look good. Whether it happens this fall, individual 1 will be the reason the republican party is going to be headed toward being a “recent memory.”

Many “experts” are realizing this crisis is likely to last longer in America than in other places around the world – including China which individual 1 has now decided will be his new “bogeyman” helping him to deflect BLAME from his own incompetence. We’re now listening to a bunch of “free market” – “conservatives” – agreeing the solution is for the government to “throw” money against the wall and hope it “sticks.” Here’s the major problem from where I’m sitting; all these people in places like Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, and other places around the country where people get their “news” from Fox and aren’t taking this seriously, they’re making it worse for all of us.

From what I’m learning, this virus is not “partisan” and it’s spreading across the country. Seattle is the home of companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe, and there are, I’m sure, many of their employees were traveling all over the world – so, it doesn’t surprise me the first case of Covid-19 showed up in Seattle. Sadly, it showed up in a nursing home which resulted in many elderly Americans dying. But the present reality is it’s quickly spreading across the country, our IMPEACHED so-called president has no idea what he’s doing, and way too many Americans aren’t taking it seriously. In my mind, these are the same people who won’t believe in the Climate Crisis even when Miami and Los Angeles are under water. It’s making it worse for the rest of us!

In the last day the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. went from 10,000 to over 15,000 – that’s in one day. I just read in the Chicago Tribune where hospitals there don’t have the capability to test people with mild symptoms because, well, all those tests individual 1 said “anyone can get” aren’t available. Their testing the most severe patients. Here’s the problem with that. All those people who have this virus and either have no symptoms or have mild symptoms are capable of spreading the disease – and, in many cases are doing just that. Picture in your mind the HUGE lines at the airports when people were given a two day warning to return to the country from Europe or ???? How many of them were infected and where did they go and the people crammed into the waiting lines with them go?

And, then you have all the students on the beaches of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and ???? then crowding into the bars at night all getting drunk together celebrating an EXTENDED spring break – then, likely going home in places around the country – many taking this virus with them! Yikes!!! I’ve heard interviews with many of these students, I’ve heard interviews with many people in Midwest states, and they all sound like individual 1 when he gave his last “rally” where he called the coronavirus “the latest democratic hoax.” These people believe this crap. And, for the students – well, it’s a bad advertisement for our higher education system! I taught my sixth graders to be more inquisitive in processing information than what I’m seeing from some of these college students. (Your life is not ruined if you can’t get drunk during spring break of your college years!)

I’ve been saying since the 1980’s that Ronald Reagan succeeded in turning America into a “me” society from a “we” society. It hasn’t been more clear to me than right now looking at the number of Americans who are just not going to “get” what is happening until it’s right on top of them. This is why many experts are suggesting it will take up to 18 months to eradicate this virus from our “shores.” They’re saying we will be facing “waves” of the virus – I’m inferring because there are so many people who aren’t taking this seriously – so when it appears we’ve weathered the storm, well, we haven’t really – and the cases will start growing again. If I understand things correctly, that is why experts are saying something on the line of 40% of Americans are going to contract this disease.

Almost universally, the students I listened to being interviewed were “so what” it doesn’t really affect young people more than like getting the flu – “I’m not going to let getting the flu stop me from getting drunk on spring break.” Here’s the problem with that. First, there are young people getting sever to fatal cases of this virus. But, what they’re really saying is I don’t care about grandma and grandpa. Or, I don’t care about people with immune disorders, etc. That’s what you would expect in a country which has been a “me” country for the last 40 years. This is why Bernie Sanders is so passionate – he’s trying to change that mindset. I still remember when America was a “we” society, and I, for one, much preferred it. (And, don’t tell me to move to another country, because, in most cases, I’ve been here much longer than you!)

Right now I’m listening to Yahoo.finance having a discussion about the “stimulus” plan proposed by Moscow Mitch and it just confirms to me there are so many Americans who just live in the “moment.” I can tell you, when ANYONE brings up halting the payroll tax as a way to help pay for this economic downturn I just have to shake my head. The payroll tax goes directly to the funding now – and in the future – of Social Security. The government has been going after that trust fund for as long as I can remember (I started paying into this fund in 1963) and I will be very disappointed in democrats if they allow ONE CENT of that fund to be pilfered.

The “Yahoo” conversation has “swung” to the issue with Senator Burr selling about $1.5 MILLION of his stock “portfolio” just days before the market began its historic drop – likely saving him about half a MILLION dollars. It sounds like the commentators on “Yahoo” are agreeing with me this doesn’t have a “good look.” Of course there were other Senators doing the same thing, including Diane Feinstein (who claims she had no idea these shares, which are in a blind trust, had been traded), and that should be an interesting side note of this crisis! Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R Georgia, (who was just appointed) sold several MILLION dollars of her stock after a meeting where she was warned about the upcoming crisis. I don’t know if these trades would qualify as “insider trading” but I can tell you this is just more republican crap that, as I said, is a bad look!

Final Thought: The republican party is looking very Keynesian as they are busy throwing money everywhere they can. The Fed has already infused MORE than $2 TRILLION into the Stock Market and REPUBLICANS are proposing a $1 TRILLION stimulus package – which I can almost guarantee you democrats will not support – there’s going to be a lot of negotiation – but their concern for deficits – well we knew this anyway – is completely gone. (I guarantee you, the second Joe Biden takes the oath of office that concern will return – in a big way – again, they TRUST their followers to have short memories)

What you can count on is MOST of the concern coming from republicans will be the health of their corporate benefactors and they’ll be suggesting throwing some money at “we the people” to make us all feel a bit better (they should strengthen unemployment benefits, make it easier to apply, and increase the amount available plus lengthen the time – because of what I said above – this is going to be lasting a long time, very possibly. Yes, I hope the “experts” and, therefore, me, are wrong – I’m already tired of sitting in my house listening to how I’m one of the vulnerable ones! It’s the working class Americans who need help, it’s the people on the streets who need help now, more than usual – for example, that’s why health care absolutely, right now, must be FREE!

By their nature republicans work from the “top down” in their philosophy of government – “supply side.” Well, this pandemic should make it crystal clear, you can produce ALL the supply you want and if there is no “demand” your supply just sits there. The common sense approach to governing is to work from the bottom up! I’ve explained this many times here on this site. The “Reaganomics” was scam which republicans have used for the 40 years I mentioned above to pilfer taxpayer dollars into the bank accounts of their donors – you, know, the people even republican members of the cult complain about – the elite “swamp.” I don’t know if it’s the fault of our “liberal media” why Americans are so uneducated or ???? (I do know, when I was young you could drop out of high school in 10th grade and get a job which would support a family – which would explain why so many “baby boomers” are “uneducated”)

My point right now is, if republican succeed in sending you $1200 you don’t need that’s not a good reason to think they’re doing a good job right now. The fact the hospitals can’t test people for Covid-19 in Chicago should tell you all you need to know. That’s a massive government FAILURE which emanates right from the top. Yes, individual 1, the “buck” stops at your desk! And, don’t expect them to be able to prevent this stock market from continuing to tank. I don’t think there’s a big enough printing press at the Fed to stop that from happening. We’re looking straight into the “eyes” of a depression and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the DOW at 10,000 within a couple of months. Maybe the people on the beaches and elsewhere who aren’t taking this serious will understand their selfishness and we’ll solve this crisis more quickly, but, so far, I’m a bit skeptical.

One last thing: Once all the hoarders stop buying up all the toilet paper, again selfishness to buy more than you need, the rest of us can again throw our magazines into the recycle bin. When I see people on Ebay selling “Kirkland bath tissue,” which you can buy 30 rolls for $20, got 6 rolls for $40 I just want to put some kind of “scarlet letter” on their “Ebay store.” To me, that’s a perfect example of what is tearing this country apart – GREED! Enough said, stay tuned……

As I’ve predicted individual 1 will be busy with a new wave of LIES in his attempt to shirk his responsibility for his TERRIBLE response of our government, which he’s in charge of, to the “invasion” of the covid-19 virus. Today, the actual “plan” was instigated – we now have a “war president.” (I’m guessing he’s listening to Joe Biden press conferences) Of course, they (republicans) believe Americans won’t change administrations in a “war.” Of course, in a “war” where the IMPEACHED so-called president has made our ability to defend ourselves so much worse will “we the people” FALL for the scheme? Being the eternal optimist, I don’t believe there are enough Americans STUPID enough to push this cult leader into another “win” (albeit with likely MILLIONS less votes than Joe Biden) next November.

Today, there was a report this “war” is going to be ongoing for 18 months. I’m certainly not smart enough to have any idea if that’s true, but it’s not going to change my view if individual 1 somehow manages to get re-elected “we the people” deserve what we get. We still have enough access to the voting booth to be ashamed of ourselves if we allow this nightmare to continue. We COULD be looking at depression like conditions depending on how this evolves, but, at least, there’s a bunch of “free market” republicans who are suddenly realizing there’s a place for government in our lives. (Aside from funneling taxpayer dollars to donors) And, by the way, I’m saying it right here right now, expect individual 1 to try (at least) postponing November’s election!

I’m so proud of my daughter who is an RN and I’m praying for her and her co-workers several times a day. (I don’t have much else to do other than sit here and rant about individual 1) These health care workers have been among the HEROES of this nation for as long as I can remember, but not ever more than right now. They don’t seem to even hesitate as they take on this mammoth challenge even though, as my daughter told me and I’ve heard from many other sources, the protective “gear” is woefully not available. Our doctors and nurses are working to mitigate this crisis – trying to save as many lives as possible – all while many are not sufficiently protected. If we get to the point where they are getting infected things will be that much more worse! That’s why individual 1 pissed me off (sorry for the language) when he said something on the line of “we’re not shipping clerks” when questioned about helping to get this equipment to the people on the front lines!

In the last couple of days individual 1 has (sorta) changed his “tune,” but the damage of his inaction coupled with incompetence has created lasting DAMAGE! (The DAMAGE he’s done to this nation may take a generation to “fix”) Sadly, there are millions of Americans who still believe he’s telling the truth when words are coming from his mouth. (I can barely force myself to listen) Like many other Americans I’ve seen the pictures of all the people on the beaches of Florida blowing off the danger of their “partying” during this crisis. Sadly, while people like me are in “detention” – my son is telling me I have to stay home – these people are making it worse for everyone else.

Undoubtedly, there will be (apparently mostly students) many coming from these beaches to other places around the country and causing this pandemic to expand even more. While individual 1 is mocking the Chinese, calling this the “Chinese flu” or the “Kung flu” – brazenly RACIST comments – the Chinese may end up being the one country which figured out how to stop this virus in its tracks. And, to use their “model” (which is likely not possible in America at this point) it still took around 4 months to get to the point where there are fewer cases every day being reported. (I believe, today, there were none)

When you think about all these people “partying” on the beaches they could be helping to cause this crisis to be around in America for at least a year. Many who think like me have been using the word “STUPID” to characterize the people who have “bought in” to Fox “news” or Rush Limbaugh and the other right wing “talkers” – plus, Sinclair Broadcasting is a more surreptitious participant in “The Big Lie Theory” which is the propaganda scheme of the “conservative” movement in the U.S. (As I’ve said here many times, it was originated with the Nazi head of propaganda Joseph Goebbels) At this point, when I think about all the Americans who are still “partying” the word that comes to mind is SELFISH.

And, I’m sure the word which comes to mind to people like my daughter the RN is ANGRY. They are putting forth an incredible amount of courage and energy including, it seems to me, almost the likelihood of contracting this virus because they don’t have the protective gear they should have. I saw a picture of the governor of Oklahoma at a busy restaurant with his children almost mocking the idea we should all be staying home except for essential necessities (like going to get groceries or going to the pharmacy). From what I’ve read this is going to affect everyone and, sadly, there is a significant segment of our population who are almost acting like oppositional children. And, individual 1 continues to make matters worse.

Individual 1 just can’t help himself, he has to continue to complement himself because, apparently, he’s not seeing enough (dishonest) compliments even on his “fixed” TV network. As I’ve said, the LYING wasn’t going to subside during this crisis, so now our IMPEACHED so-called president is trying to LIE himself into a campaign mode during this crisis. Selfish, but not surprising. Today, he was attacking the media again suggesting if the media was “honest” we’d have a much better country. This, of course, coming from an IMPEACHED so-called president who’s LIED likely MORE than 20,000 times since taking office. That’s their (conservatives) plan. I really wish our so-called “liberal media” would point out our IMPEACHED so-called president is using the propaganda strategy of the Nazis!

This is a critical time in the history of this nation. If the bungling of this crisis by individual 1 is not sufficient to get this mob boss-like IMPEACHED so-called president out of office, then “we the people” deserve what we get. This year there’s NO third party candidate to take votes away from Joe Biden and we know to be on the lookout for the Russians (and maybe others) attacking social media plus people like me are calling on the 55% of Americans who are committed to defeating individual 1 to massively vote this coming November. As I said above, I have a bad feeling that individual 1 will try to block the election if this pandemic continues through the summer. But, “we the people” have to make it clear that is UNACCEPTABLE!

It’s clear it will be difficult to get through to those who make up individual 1’s base. I’m not sure there’s much hope for all the white nationalists, but there’s got to be a segment of his cult who are susceptible to the reality of this situation and the intellectual capacity to understand individual 1’s incompetence is making their lives worse. I am picturing in my mind where all those who are partying on Florida’s beaches are going – likely infecting many more people whenever they get there. We’ve allowed the right wing media in this nation to partially destroy our connection to the values which made America Great. When individual 1 is finally out of office it will, THEN, be time to “make America great again!” And, it’s going to take years!

Final Thought: Today our “war time” IMPEACHED so-called president made sure the governors understand the government “is not a shipping department.” Someone pointed out to him he has wartime powers which he (sort of) enacted – and, today he suggested he’ll use it “when it’s needed.” My first thought: “Are you kidding me?” These powers would allow, for example, ventilators could be getting produced in large numbers in some of the manufacturing facilities which are now sitting idle. Individual 1 wants to convince “we the people” he’s doing a good job, but he continues to demonstrate his INCOMPETENCE!

When he announced the enactment of the war powers he said something like, “I’m sure you know what that means” to the journalists sitting there. What was clear to me was HE didn’t understand what that means. I’m guessing he heard about the powers on some TV show and decided it MUST be a good idea. It’s just becoming more clear he has NO idea what he’s doing. Apparently, until the states in the center of the nation which, at this time, are lagging in the number of cases – maybe he’s thinking these are the “red” states – so what’s the hurry? Yikes!!!

One more thing: I’m not giving individual 1 a “Ten” on his handling of this crisis. As the saying goes, “I might be dumb, but I’m not stupid.” And, of course, there’s Mike Pense who occasionally is asked to speak. He looks into the camera, but it sounds as if he’s actually talking to individual 1. He embarrasses all of us virtually everytime he speaks!

Oh yes, last night I purchased a digital thermometer which is connected to an app on your phone. The company can target where abnormal temperatures are appearing before the CDC understands there’s a problem. As of this evening, Florida appears to be the center of the elevated temperatures in the U.S. Makes me think of all those people on the beaches. Stay tuned………….. The next week or two may be telling us something interesting!

These days nothing should surprise us, so I just took it with “a grain of salt” when I heard it reported Moscow Mitch McConnell is encouraging older “conservative” judges to retire ASAP so he and the rest of the republican Senate can continue their right wing assault on our courts before they’re all voted out of office this November. What was Moscow Mitch doing this past weekend instead of keeping the Senate in session so they could pass the bill which came out of the House Saturday morning? Yup, he was in Kentucky with (the accused sexual assaulter) Brett Kavanaugh “christening” one more YOUNG right wing judge into the judiciary. We’re talking about the word YOUNG being more important to these republicans than “qualified” because these are all LIFETIME appointments.

While McConnell is focused on judges and everyone else is stuck at home (or in the hospital) because of covid-19 it’s not a surprise to me republicans are getting more bad publicity because many of them still believe covid-19 is a “hoax” – in the words of individual 1. I can still guarantee you there are likely MOST republicans who are seeing “rescue packages” right now as money which should go to the HUGE corporate interests who have been funding them for years. Well, that’s just not going to work, first of all, and secondly, I think even republicans are realizing this disaster is something they’ve never seen before. Yesterday, in America, there were around 4400 cases of covid-19 and today the number went past 6000 before my wife said, “dinner’s ready.” (OK, that’s correct, I don’t cook)

There are MILLIONS of low income workers who spend virtually EVERY penny they earn who aren’t earning ANYTHING right now. For those of them living in an apartment they don’t have an extra week waiting for Congress to pass a bill strengthening unemployment insurance so they will be paid while waiting to go back to work. My son is a server in a restaurant and he’s basically without work until this pandemic has passed by. Yes, there are openings in other areas for jobs in other businesses (ie stocking shelves overnight at local grocery stores) but the reality for so many people is they are screwed unless “we the people” DEMAND our “leaders” in Washington take care of OUR people FIRST! (I did hear Mitt Romney suggest every adult should receive a stipend to help stimulate the economy. That may or may not be a good idea, but those without work need to continue being paid)

We’ve witnessed one example of INCOMPETENCE after another coming from our IMPEACHED so-called president since day one of his administration. I’ve (along with many others) been saying for over three years that when individual 1 is finally facing a true “crisis” “we the people” are, likely, in a “heap” of trouble. Well, at this point, unless you’re still listening to Rush Limbaugh or watching Fox “news,” (Limbaugh’s still calling this a “hoax” apparently even blaming it on George Soros – yikes! – he should have to give his “medal” back) you know the actions of our IMPEACHED so-called president has made this much worse. In fact, it continues to make it worse because with so many republicans believing this is a “hoax” they’re still operating as usual and, likely, helping to spread this disease.

Tonight there are reports of three primaries which were all won by Joe Biden who is now presumably the democratic nominee. So, the November election is (at least unofficially) on and we’ll likely see an ever larger MOUNTAIN of LIES coming from individual 1. He is UNABLE to admit making any mistake let alone the TERRIBLE series of MISTAKES which have made this covid-19 likely much worse than it could be had they taken this seriously back in January when all the “clues” were clear as to what we were facing. The “graphs” which are representing the spread of the pandemic are looking almost identical to Italy – which SHOULD give EVERYONE (including republicans) pause. Two weeks from now it is appearing the “you know what” is going to be “hitting the fan.”

It wouldn’t surprise me if we started hearing about Hunter Biden again. Today, individual 1 tried to convince “we the people” to believe him when he says something like “I always knew this was going to be a pandemic before most people understood this.” It just keeps getting more offensive in my opinion. As much as I loathe our IMPEACHED so-called president and look forward to the day he’s VOTED out of office I would love to see him actually take responsibility for his blunders and move forward in a way which doesn’t just continue turning off those Americans who actually have the capability to think for themselves. (And, that doesn’t make them “elitist” it just means they’re smart enough to realize when they’re the victims of pure propaganda) We need individual 1 to actually lead!

Covid-19 is getting worse rapidly and it’s true around 80% of people who contract the virus will get minimal symptoms if they have any symptoms at all, but what our leaders who have been taking this seriously from the outset are attempting to do is to minimize those who are the other 20% which have the possibility (at this point, now, the likelihood) of over running our hospital system with critically ill patients. I have a friend who contracted a severe version of H1N1 about 10 years ago and the doctors still don’t understand how he survived (he was in intensive care for a couple weeks – I still believe it was all the prayer from our church – just sayin….) as his case evolved to “SARS” (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) where it appeared to be a severe case of pneumonia. If covid-19 continues following the “Italy graph” this crisis will make the reality of having individual 1 as our IMPEACHED so-called president even more of a serious issue. It appears he’s beginning to realize what is actually happening, but……..

I’ve heard reports individual 1 has been relying on Jared Kushner and Steven Miller for advice as this crisis has emerged as a freight train coming with people chained to the tracks and him not knowing how to operate bolt cutters and getting advice from people who don’t know what a bolt cutter is. The refusal to accept what seemed obvious to so many back in January and remaining in denial until – well, hopefully, he’s figured out by now this is a problem – and, not simply with the issue with the stock market and the “numbers” which “make me look bad.” His son, back sometime in January was on Fox “news” claiming “democrats are wishing for this virus to kill millions of Americans in order to stop all the winning.” I remember hearing that and thinking “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Well, all these people Don Jr. was referring to were actually trying to get “through” to his father and those around him in order for them to see the danger which was coming in order to actually give individual 1 the opportunity to act like an actual president. Today, on a day when the number of identified cases of covid-19, when individual 1 said “I knew this was a pandemic well before others realized it was a pandemic” – or words to that effect. People are actually getting even more ANGRY at what they’re seeing coming from the “White House” and our IMPEACHED so-called president worrying more about his own situation than that of the MILLIONS of Americans who are bracing for dealing with this virus – and almost ALL of us dealing with it at least indirectly.

I haven’t been one to be giving individual 1 direct advice, but here’s the reality of his situation. There was a MAJORITY of Americans committed to voting AGAINST him in the November election based on his first three years in office. This crisis was actually an opportunity for him to show he has the ability to act “presidential” and, as usual, he’s failed miserably. And, the continuation of all the LYING is simply going to make matters worse for him. He should have understood the need for transparency. listening to the scientists, and the importance of making reasoned decisions with the benefit of “we the people” as the focus. He has FAILED miserably on all accounts. That being said, he’s going to be our IMPEACHED so-called president at least until next January so “we the people” need to hope he can figure out he’d better start listening to the experts soon. And, as many people have been encouraging him “shut up” and “stop tweeting.”

Not only should he listen to the scientists going forward but also to – well, the “progressives” (OK, liberals) among us who are saying the money the government invests in saving this economy SHOULD work from the bottom up. Essentially, the ONLY legislative act of significance since individual 1 took the oath of office was a tax cut (scam) which funneled TRILLIONS into the “coffers” of major corporations (who are now asking for immediate “bailouts”) and the top “1%” who were already flush with money. The result of that SCAM was corporations and wealthy Americans investing even more in the stock market. It was reported today the airline industry invested 96% of their profits in stock buy backs – and, now, of course, they want government grants and ZERO percent loans to get them through this crisis.

Well, the financial crisis of 2008 is still fresh in my mind and, personally, I’m not opposed to our government INVESTING in corporations who may be in trouble during this time but if they’re going to “do the right thing” providing relief to people like my son who is a server in a restaurant is more likely to boost this economy. People in minimum wage jobs are likely to spend virtually every cent they receive and, beyond that, it’s the right thing to do to put our people FIRST. Maybe, if the republicans are intent on bailing out their donors, it should come in the form of buying stock – like a “public offering” which would allow the money to be recouped after this crisis abates. For sure, in my mind, any money going to the airline industry or other corporate interests should have “strings” attached to it.

It still bothers me thinking back to the major Wall Street banks giving out multi million dollar bonuses to the very people who created the financial crisis with their reckless behavior with taxpayer bailout money – coming from the “free market” republicans. If I remember correctly, when the Obama administration “bailed out” the auto industry (which, by the way, I supported because it saved several thousand jobs in the industry and its “pipeline”) there were strings attached and some of the executives lost their jobs. In other words, there were consequences for the poor decisions which got the industry to that point. I believe the same should be the “plan” going forward in this crisis.

Not surprisingly, to me, we still have around 40% of Americans continuing to support the most inept (IMPEACHED so-called) president, certainly, in my lifetime and, maybe, ever. I’m guessing the next few weeks as this virus continues to “peak” (it went from 4400 confirmed cases to over 6000 in the last 24 hours) there may be even some republicans who realize their party needs to change its priorities. (It’s the next morning and the total number of cases is well over 7000) For heaven’s sake, not only has individual 1 been downplaying this (and, of course, continuing his pathological LYING) but, the idea Moscow Mitch was gone for four days when he could have been showing some serious leadership is not surprising, sadly. And, now it’s reported that one of the U.S. Senators who is always causing me to wonder what is happening in Kentucky (I know they have great basketball teams, but…….), Rand Paul, from reports I’ve heard, is blocking the Senate from passing the House bill which has the first phase of help for those negatively impacted by the pandemic. Yikes!!!

One more thing: It’s really interesting to me watching republicans in this situation when one of their own is in the “White House.” If you remember, the Stimulus bill passed by democrats (with, I believe, a couple republicans with one of them “run out” of the party for his support of the package) amid the 2008 financial crisis which was on the “table” the day Barack Obama took office was at least $400 BILLION less than they wanted and included unnecessary tax cuts to get the 2 or 3 republicans to support it and now, listening to what republicans are saying is, well, how do you spell hypocrisy? (Well, there’s spell check) Individual 1 and his republican sycophants are going to be throwing money everywhere and hoping it “sticks.”

The Fed has already “infused” almost $2 TRILLION into Wall Street, which did almost NOTHING to stop the “tanking,” and they’re chomping at the bit to give almost “free money” to the Wall Street entities which pretty much “own” the republican party. Individual 1 has finally realized his “you know what” is “on the line” here and he’s guessing we’ll all forget his incompetence once this is over if he can figure out how to give out a bunch of money. Personally, I simply believe “paid leave” for workers who are sick and full unemployment benefits for ALL workers who have been furloughed in any way (with a cap of maybe $60,000 per year salary) is where they should start. The idea of the payroll tax “holiday” (which, simply put, is an underhanded way to further the right wing attack on Social Security) made no sense and I’m thankful democrats nixed that idea almost immediately. (That was likely Jared Kushner advice to his father-in-law)

Final Thought: It appears to me Nancy Pelosi is the “adult in the room” during this crisis – up to this point in time. I just hope democrats stick to their values as this all is played out. As I said above, Mitt Romney, again was the republican who stood out – he was the first republican to suggest sending money to every adult American. Now, the question is what will the size of the stimulus be. I’m not sure individual 1 still realizes what we’re all looking at in the next couple of months (at least). His LYING, the LYING coming from outlets like Fox “news” and the other right wing media outlets (which, sadly means MOST of them) along with “talkers” like Limbaugh calling it a democratic or George Soros “hoax” has made this pandemic far worse than it should have been.

“Conservatives” are bumping into each other as they’re trying to figure out how much MONEY to “throw” at this problem. Suddenly the government has become important to them. Well, come to think of it, they’ve always viewed government as a mechanism to pilfer taxpayer dollars and, without a democratically controlled House I don’t think this would be any different. I just listened to Anthony Scaramucci (former “White House” communications director for 10 days until he had an F bomb laced interview on the radio) suggest the government stimulus plan should be about $3 TRILLION. I still can’t forget 2009 when republicans tried to block the stimulus plan of President Obama!

I have to add this: I don’t do “Twitter” but I just saw some “Tweets” individual 1 published today March 18 – right in the middle of this pandemic. He referred to the pandemic as the “Chinese flu” in three different “Tweets.” I’ve also heard him call it the “Kung flu.” Additionally, as he’s been LYING he suggested he reacted early to this and, therefore, “saved many lives.” Well, while I understand the importance of people “coming together” I, for one, am not going to allow individual 1 to get away with his constant LYING and overt RACISM! As I said above, I’m holding out hope he can somehow become honest and transparent but, the reality is, people who are as delusional as he is almost have no hope of changing. Sadly, he’s a racist and pathological LIAR and, apparently, he will never “get” that. (I had pathological LIARS as students and this doesn’t surprise me) The bottom line, for me, is when I read stuff like these “Tweets” I, again, get ANGRY! To me this is unacceptable under any circumstance! I’ve been saying this for 3 years now – November 2020 can’t come soon enough for me!

OMG: The new “plan” is for individual 1 to portray himself as a “wartime” president! Thank God this isn’t a real war!