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!