OMG, it just keeps getting worse. And, of course, if you’ve spent any time on this site you know I’m talking about individual 1. I just can’t keep up with all the graft coming from our IMPEACHED so-called president. Often times, I don’t know where to start so that i end up chasing my “tail” just like so many other Americans who are in disbelief that such a “deplorable” person could become our (so-called) president. Today, I heard about how he insisted on having his own name placed on the “relief” checks MILLIONS of Americans – some of them desperately – are waiting for – and, the wait will be increased at least a few days and for what? Does he really believe Americans are so stupid to believe these checks are a “gift” from him? (Sadly, I have to say “don’t answer that”)

I wrote about that one yesterday, but today it’s been reported that individual 1 is claiming powers which reminds me of why he’s so admiring of Vladimir Putin. I turned on MSNBC while driving around and, sure enough, there was individual 1’s voice and my hand immediately went toward the button switching the radio to the MLB station (Major League Baseball) but as I was switching channels I thought I heard individual 1 making the claim he’s got the power……. That’s what I heard so I quickly switched back to MSNBC and, sure enough, individual 1 was suggesting he’s got the power to ORDER the governors of the states to follow his directives. The thought which went immediately through my head was “has William Barr convinced him he’s got dictatorial powers?” He said the governors can’t do anything without “my permission.” And, he added, “The president can do whatever…….” there was a pause, and then, “whatever the president will do.” Not sure what that means, but i keep thinking “delusional.”

Another day has passed: Today, I listened to a brief summary of the “plan” the “White House” proposed which seemed to represent something a bit more reasonable. It was as if maybe even some republicans noticed he was threatening something representing a monarchy in total violation of his constitutional powers and, who knows, maybe even they didn’t like it – especially, with the election looming and democrats lining up behind Joe Biden in a way which is almost unrecognizable for the democratic party. I listened to a short summary of individual 1’s plan to “re-open the economy” and, actually, I thought it sounded a bit reasonable (although, the summary I heard came from Chuck Todd and, naturally, failed to refer to the lack of testing in the proposal). That being said, a friend called me and during our conversation I said, “Even if it’s a practical proposal, individual 1 won’t be able to abide by it. He’ll be undermining it within days due to his re-election anxiety.”

OK, well, it’s tomorrow – I’m not typing as fast as normal – it’s time to put in the garden along with other chores around the “place” and my “mature” hands are sore – Sure enough, the first things I saw when I awoke (after my shower – I’m old and it takes me a while to get going in the morning) was individual 1 attacking Governor Cuomo – who’s stealing our IMPEACHED so-called president’s “thunder” by – well – acting “presidential” – because, of course – why else – Governor Cuomo wasn’t appreciative enough of dear leader. OMG – what Cuomo was pointing out was that without massive testing we’re not going to get to a place where we can “re-open the economy” without putting ourselves right back in “quarantine.” Cuomo asked, “what do I have to do, send him flowers?” Of course, there’s a mounting call from right wing “republicans” to just “re-open” and take our chances.

I get emails daily from a newsletter published by “Newsmax” which apparently is a right wing outlet and, for some reason, I haven’t blocked them from my inbox. Some “dude” (using my son’s lingo) named “Dr. Oz” shows up often on the main links to this newsletter. I had no idea who “Dr. Oz” is, or if he’s some imaginary character until I actually saw a clip of him, naturally, on Fox “news.” And, he was suggesting schools re-open so parents could go back to work even though this would lead to “only” a 2% – 3% fatality rate from coronavirus. Well, even though I was only a sixth grade teacher I was a math major in college so my brain instantly went to work – let’s see 330 MILLION times – and, let’s take the lower prediction of 2% (x .02) and I came up with OMG 6.6 MILLION Americans would die using Dr. Oz’s “plan” – which didn’t generate any OMG’s from Sean Hannity, he seemed OK with that “trade-off.” Of course, the other end of the prediction would be around 10 MILLION Americans would die to “save the economy.”

Well, first of all, I’m not sure how that would save the economy – I doubt the mortuaries are set up to handle that much business – but…………….? So, there was that – where was I? – Oh yes, individual 1’s ability to stand by his “plan.” Well, evidently, there was NO plan as far as testing was concerned, so that appeared right off the top to be a problem – causing angry retorts from our IMPEACHED so-called president that he’s not getting enough praise – but, of course, there’s always MORE. So, while individual 1 was laying out his “plan” (essentially, giving the governors of the 50 states permission to follow his orders – should he ever give any) there were protests going on in at least three states which have democratic (and democratically elected) governors. Key swing states for the upcoming election.

And, true to form, these demonstrations were ugly. What I saw appeared to mirror the same crowd which marched on Charlottesville along with wives and children with a smattering of confederate flags interspersed with many individual 1 flags, and even American flags – in one protest there was a flatbed truck with some kind of “Individual 1 forever” sign painted on the side rails (Of course, they used the name I can’t bring myself to type) and, this one was in Michigan – one of the hardest hit states in the union – and they were demanding the “shelter in place” restriction by “lifted.” Of course, it didn’t seem to matter to them because they were violating that order and even individual 1’s social distancing “guidelines.” In at least one rally several of the protesters were brandishing AK 47’s and other weapons – for, well, who knows why – other than it likely makes them feel powerful. (I’ve often wondered what these people are going to do when individual 1 is swept out of office by the voters – I wonder if they actually believe their protests are gaining votes for him – although, maybe they believe voting will be outlawed by November – it’s really hard to fathom.

So, how did individual 1 respond to these protests? (They were obviously a segment of the white nationalist crowd we saw in Charlottesville) Our IMPEACHED so-called president said, “well, it appears they like me.” “It seems they like what I’m saying” or words to that effect. And, then this morning out come the “tweets” – like I said to my friend, “he just won’t be able to help himself – he’ll never stick to his plan.” Again, I don’t do “Twitter” so I just see the “tweets” when they’re published elsewhere – today he was tweeting to these protesters to “LIBERATE” their states! What on earth does that mean? Does that mean follow the “plan” just put in place yesterday which has three phases? And, the first phase doesn’t “kick in” until infections and deaths are significantly reduced. I forget the details – but, obviously, they’re already meaningless in the eyes of the “plan’s” author – assuming individual 1 was in agreement with the plan he, himself, laid out. Yikes!!! Things is going to get ugly! (OK, “uglier” and, for you English teachers I used the word “is” on purpose)

Individual 1 screwed the American response to this virus up, right from the start and he continues making America’s response worse. For whatever reason, he won’t listen to the doctors who are expert in this field, and he can’t resist the opportunity to get in front of the cameras every day and make a fool of himself – over and over. The “fact checkers” are working overtime every time he speaks and he truly believes there are enough “uneducated voters” in America for him to get re-elected based on these press briefings – which, by the way – if it was obvious long ago – should be handled by an actual press secretary. Neither standing in front of these cameras each day, nor (almost as incredible) putting his name on the checks going out to those without direct deposit info with the IRS is going to win voters for his re-election bid.

He actually had the opportunity to look like an actual president back in January when this virus began its attack on our shores – he should have been prepared much sooner (I knew about the virus in China at least in December) – but, certainly had he initiated a full throttled response emanating from the federal government in January which indicated his focus was on the well being of the American people instead of his re-election he very well could be a “shoe-in” at this moment in time and thousands of Americans would be alive today who have died and many of those still to die would maybe never have even contracted the virus in the first place. Individual 1’s mental illness prevents him from doing what is necessary to mitigate the DAMAGE caused by this Covid-19.

Well, I’d like to keep going, but it’s time for me to take my tired old bones out to the garden and get to work – and, trust me, what used to be pleasurable is now work – but when you’ve been blessed with the space to grow food this year – you should do it, You never know about things we’re still, to a large degree, taking for granted. BTW, I was happy to see the governor of California providing relief for the field workers in California – many who are undocumented – who are responsible for harvesting some of the beautiful crops coming from that amazing state. During one of my “lives” I operated a farm and I have a very soft place in my heart for America’s farmers and the people who work on their farms. It doesn’t take much to threaten the livelihood of farmers and this pandemic very well could cause many to go out of business. From my point of view, they should be right at the top of those who are receiving financial assistance. I’ve already seen videos of dairy farmers pouring out thousands of gallons of milk and other farmers plowing crops under which were growing beautifully because of market changes. That, to me, is really sad!

I’m back, I’m really tired, AND my garden is ready to plant – hopefully the rain will wait one more day! I mentioned I was a farmer (very small) at one point in my life and I was wiped out in a recession in the early 1980’s which caused the value of my crop (actually livestock) to drop in half in the period of one week. Farmers all across America’s heartland are looking at a similar disaster. There was no federal funding for “small farmers” back when I was farming but, hopefully, that is not the reality for farmers today – hopefully some of the rescue money will be aimed at farmers to keep them in business. I can attest from experience, most farmers can’t survive with one year’s crop “in the tank.” (Or, out of the tank and on to the ground, in the case of dairymen) We all need these farmers to survive and I can tell you it’s likely going to take at least a couple of years for them to do so – AFTER there’s a vaccine for Covid-19.

My Final Thought was written a couple days ago: Today there were protests by pro individual 1 supporters in Michigan and one other Midwest state in support of “urging” the (democratic) governors to withdraw the “shelter in place” order so they could go back to “business as usual.” While, today in Michigan, there were over 1000 new cases of Covid-19 and over 150 deaths attributed to the virus. All in all, Michigan has over 28,000 people with the virus and, of course, their hospitals are already overrun by patients with needing ventilators – apparently of no concern to these protesters. I saw pictures of them and many were wearing the “stars and stripes” outfits which, apparently, they believe makes them patriots. And, I saw one sign which said “babies are important” – not sure what that meant?

I get a plethora of thoughts as I watch people who believe we should just go back to “business as usual” sooner rather than later. I mentioned in my last post I believe MOST of those who are urging we just “take our chances” with this pandemic would consider themselves “pro life” even though estimates of “opening the economy” at this point would lead to MILLIONS of Americans losing their lives. (Like using Dr. Oz’s plan – between 6 and 10 MILLION) Apparently these people don’t understand that before our economy can be safely “opened” back up we need a MASSIVE testing plan. However, thanks to their IMPEACHED so-called president, widespread testing is impossible in America right now. A month ago Vice President Pense promised “by the end of the week we’ll be producing 4 MILLION tests per week” which is just another LIE. Testing continues to be a problem. As I’ve said, these people make up the “pro-life” movement.

As I said above, I’m putting in a larger garden this year so I’ve been making some trips to Lowes – the local competition to Home Depot – a place to buy seeds and other supplies I need. The other day one of the workers at Lowes told me 40 of their workers were out with the “flu.” I said, “have they been tested for Covid-19?” And, the answer was, “no, they aren’t able to get tests – they’re not sick enough.” Everytime individual 1 is questioned about the lack of testing he claims “our testing is great, we’ve tested more than anyone” and then he says “it’s up to the governors to do the testing.” Well, obviously, Pense has been unable to get the MILLIONS of tests created which he promised. They are unable to even test the people who are already sick, let alone doing the MASSIVE testing necessary to figure out a plan to actually re-open the economy with some kind of chance where it doesn’t cause an immediate “spike” upward.

To me, just the FACT people who are sick are unable to get tests this far into the pandemic is just one more example of the incompetence of our IMPEACHED so-called president and his administration. I was shocked to hear Lowe’s had 40 people who were out sick and, because they couldn’t get a test, they needed to stay out for at least two weeks. Lowe’s is an “essential business” (and, I’m thankful they’re open) but I’m concerned some of the people they have who are out will be coming back while still being able to transmit the virus. It’s just unthinkable to me that we are still unable to get everyone tested.

Today individual 1 suggested “some states will be opening up real soon, likely before May 1st. Well, there are about 6 or 7 states which still haven’t been ordered to “shelter in place” by their republican governors, so I’m guessing those will be the states individual 1 “re-opens.” And, he’ll do this in one of his campaign “press briefings” which outlets like MSNBC and CNN will show live, his “base” will believe he’s opening the nation, and, in effect, the networks will have given him another few MILLION dollars worth of FREE campaign ads. I’m sure one of the states will be South Dakota where they are on the upswing of this virus and yet the governor is steadfast in saying there’s no reason for a “shelter in place” order.

This virus is exposing the weakness which exists in America right now with our IMPEACHED so-called president who is the result, at least partially, of the work of Vladimir Putin. We’ve seen bits of evidence showing his fealty to Putin during his three plus years in office and we’re likely to see more. Putin’s goal was to divide America by using our openness against us and he’s continuing to do so – why wouldn’t he, it’s working for Russia. But, I don’t see America “healing” until significant time has passed after individual 1 has been voted out of office. And, I’m saying it right here, it’s important for Biden to allow individual 1 to face up to all the legal challenges which will be waiting for him once he’s out of office. That will be the proof that, in America no one is above the law!