If you’ve been visiting this site you know I’ve been lamenting my own ability to NOT be able to stop writing lately as I witness an historic FAILURE of America’s leadership under individual 1. I just watched a video (one of MANY you can expect to see between now and November) of all the conflicting and ignorant comments coming from our IMPEACHED so-called president since this virus was percolating in China. Not only has individual 1 been saying one thing one day and almost the exact opposite the next, but so have many of his most ardent supporters. In the most recent video I watched there were people like none other than Sean Hannity reversing him/them selves in the space of one day, over and over. (I don’t remember the names of the others in the video) So, it was not surprising to hear that last night individual 1 was threatening to “quarantine” New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and, today, not so much.

Here’s the bottom line; our IMPEACHED so-called president has NO idea what he’s doing, he has NO idea how the government works, he’s making this crisis SO much worse than it should have been, and, of course as everyone but those in his cult know, he’s incapable of caring about anyone above himself. It’s really kind of sad, when you think about it and, honestly, despite how I come across on this site, I’m praying that he’d start acting with wisdom, but it appears to me that’s just not possible. As I’ve said many times here, my experience with pathological LIARS is that it’s a mental illness. And, that’s just part of the problem, as I see it, with our IMPEACHED so-called president.

I’ve been writing here for over 10 years about the NEED for “we the people” to vote the present day version of the republican party into the history books and, maybe, this Covid-19 will cause many Americans who’ve been republicans to think twice about supporting this incompetence. Even the “rescue” bill passed the other day was almost held up because a group of republican Senators just couldn’t stomach low income workers who’ve lost their jobs getting more than 100% of their (paltry) wages for the next few months. Of course, gifting large corporations who recently received an almost $2 TRILLION tax cut – of which MOST of their windfall has gone into stock buybacks – stock which is now worth far less than they re-purchased it for – is simply routine for republicans in the Senate.

The “slush fund” included in the rescue bill which will ultimately end up in corporate “coffers” dwarfed the money going to unemployed workers, but, just the same, republican Senators had issues with workers getting a bit of a “windfall.” They claim it would discourage them from going back to work – which, of course, would END the windfall because unemployment insurance ends if you turn down a comparable job to the one you originally lost – plus this benefit is for only four months – so their argument is just typical republican nonsense. Thankfully, for the next few months many of these workers will be able to pay their rent.

Republicans wanted NO restrictions on the $500 BILLION going to large corporations with Steve Mnuchin overseeing it with the help of individual 1. Well, that wasn’t going to work – I don’t know if you remember the TARP bailouts but this would be version 2.0 – and, back then, republicans pretended they didn’t like that bailout – but, of course, despite the FACT it was the “brainchild” of Bush/Cheney Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen republicans managed to convince their rank and file they could put the blame on President Obama. And, if you remember, they didn’t want any “stimulus” package back in 2009 either because, as usual, they were willing to tank the economy for – well, at least four years – because their “number one goal” at the time was that President Obama would “fail.” I’ll let you figure out why!? (It didn’t work – Obama handed off a surging economic “gift” which is now in the “tank”)

So, now, republicans were quick to propose a $1 TRILLION bailout package over this crisis which, as usual, was aimed at big business with, as I said, no “strings.” Democrats turned it into a “rescue” package with a focus on workers, hospitals, state governments, PPE for medical professionals, and massive help for Small Businesses at the expense of being forced to agree with this “slush fund.” However, democrats succeeded in putting some “strings” on the “slush fund” which, as he signed the bill, to no one’s surprise – at least not me, individual 1 suggested he’s going to ignore the “strings.” Do you wonder why he might suggest he would do that, despite the “strings” being written into law?

Well, I’ve got a pretty good idea which is going to lead me into making another of my “FAMOUS” bold predictions! (That was a joke) The bill included a provision that neither the individual 1 organization, any member of individual 1’s family, any member of Congress, nor any other member of the Executive branch of government may access ANY of these funds. Do you see where I’m going with this? Individual 1 has hotels all over the place and, like other hotels, they are likely in a bit of financial trouble. However, if he’s really worth $10 BILLION as he claims, he should be able to come through this just fine. Regardless, it’s a HUGE conflict of interest for government officials bailing themselves out with taxpayer dollars. He should be able to get a loan somewhere, wouldn’t you think? Well, if you’d read the book on Deutche Bank I just finished you probably know virtually NO banks will touch him because of his history of “stiffing” them for hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars. Honestly, that’s bad for your credit rating! I think he’s got his eyes on that “slush fund” if you know what I mean! (That’s the prediction)

True to form of late, I started this post a few days ago and things are changing rapidly – although, the one thing which doesn’t seem to change is individual 1’s inability to express any compassion as we’re all stuck in our homes attempting “ride out the storm” regarding this Covid-19 virus. Again, I don’t do “Twitter” but other outlets include examples of individual 1’s “tweets” and, of course, that’s our IMPEACHED so-called president’s way of communicating with his base. And, he just can’t stop trying to “pat himself on the back” as if he’s actually doing a good job when you’d have to be part of his CULT to believe that. Today, the “Tweet” I read suggested the “press briefings” were “being witnessed by numbers………..” I can’t remember what he compared it to, but it just was another way he shows that his interest is in his re-election instead of the crisis we’re all dealing with. It was as if he was suggesting the reason people were watching was because of him. Yikes!!!

In my latest posting I predicted individual 1 very well could end up using the predictions of Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans are going to die in this pandemic if “we do everything perfectly” in further attempts to deflect the accountability from ALL his FAILURES as this virus initially “hit” America. He’s already suggesting his great decision making will save MILLIONS of lives. (which is what we’d lose by doing nothing) I thought it would take a bit longer before he would resort to this DEPLORABLE “strategy.” Apparently, he still doesn’t understand how many people have recordings of all his comments like “This will be near zero soon,” or well, you get the point. I’m not sure what is more deplorable – his LYING or his hypocrisy! Personally, I’m hoping far less than 100,000 die – even if I have to listen to him say it’s because of his great actions!

It’s really interesting to me watching all the governors – who are being forced to actually bid against each other for the precious PPE and ventilators and tests pushing the costs UP – as they try to find ways to deal with individual 1’s incompetence. It’s like they have to say something nice to him in order for him to even consider providing help. He’s put off implementing the Defense Production Act “authority” that he has until (I hope) recently, but hopefully now he’s ORDERING America’s corporations to provide the necessary equipment and protective items needed by the front line doctors, nurses, and other essential personnel.

Watching all the people on “the front lines” is inspiring to me – and, of course, it ticks me off when I listen to individual 1 badmouth a governor or suggest people in hospitals are stealing the supplies which are needed in almost unbelievable amounts. Essentially, doctors, nurses, and anyone else working to help “covid” patients SHOULD change their protective equipment every time they leave a patient’s room and then enter the next one. My niece works in one of the University of Washington Medical Centers as an Occupational Therapist and, lately, from what my sister-in-law has told me her job is to help those seeing the “covid” patients put on and take off the “PPE.” You have to do it just right to avoid the contamination. These people, all across the nation, are incredible HEROES and they deserve to be treated as such.

I’ve grown tired of listening to individual 1’s supporters claiming this virus is some “scheme” by democrats to “impeach” our (already) IMPEACHED so-called president. What they’re talking about is this virus and his reaction to it may cause him to lose the election this fall. Personally, I didn’t think he was going to be re-elected anyway before he showed his incompetence – pretty much on a daily basis – during this crisis, but watching him and the republican Senate desperately attempting to protect the stock market as this virus started spreading across the nation was almost depressing. Of course, the focus SHOULD have always been on the well being of our people because the market is going to do what the market is going to do.

Yes, all the TRILLIONS at the “disposal” of the “Fed” is, right now, propping it up a bit, but I’m not sure how many “TRILLIONS” we can expect to throw at – well, whatever they’re throwing it at – because I certainly don’t understand things like “QE” (Quantitative Easing) which is a term I see floating around the Yahoo finance website which I frequent. Here’s the reality to me, the market is going to go down farther just based on the seriousness of this crisis and the reality the way to stop it is for significant portions of the economy to be, essentially, shut down. Personally, and it should surprise no one who’s been around here before, I support the government funneling money to the workers who have been furloughed to keep them “afloat” until the economy “opens” back up maybe sometime around June – if we all stay in our homes.

And, that’s the rub. There are still about 20 states which have governors who’ve refused to instigate “shelter in place” guidelines which very well could keep the rest of us inside much longer. I’ve mentioned Florida several times and, based on the data coming from Kinsa (look it up) I’ve been predicting Florida will be the next “hot spot.” In about 2 to 3 weeks Florida could be in a very bad way because their governor is simply refusing to do what MOST of the rest of us are doing – it’s really almost shocking to me as I watch it. I certainly don’t wish for a large number of Floridians to die, but it might already be too late to stop the pandemic from becoming overwhelming there. From what I’ve read, it takes about two weeks from when you think a lot of people may have been infected to actually seeing the coming of the “surge.”

And, there are other states where people are continuing to congregate in large gatherings – I think I just read about Oklahoma – where the leadership apparently believes “it can’t happen here.” Today, I heard there are people who believe this virus is just attacking “blue” states. To me, that’s just more of the absurd stuff that somehow makes it into the internet world. However, the longer those states do “business as usual” the longer the rest of us are going to be sequestered.

Another couple days has passed and I’m back – kind of with the same thoughts. This morning I listened to the governor of Georgia as he was FINALLY putting in a “shelter in place” order for his state. Listening to him was, to me, almost unbelievable. He was explaining why it took so long for him to take action. essentially, the only explanation for the words coming from his mouth was he was simply LYING in order to hide his own INCOMPETENCE. I live in the state of Washington where the FIRST case showed up and, according to the site ” https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ Georgia will soon pass up my state because of Georgia’s governor’s (Brian Kemp) inaction. He suggested he just learned that people without symptoms can pass this virus to others. I’ve KNOWN that for a number of weeks, at least!

To me, that was about as outrageous as it gets. Either that was an incredible LIE or it showed Mr. Kemp’s incompetence. As I said, even I knew weeks ago people without symptoms could spread this virus – that’s why, in Washington state – thanks to our governor Jay Inslee (who individual 1 called a “snake” – what’s the old saying? “The skunk smells his own hole first”) – we’ve been in a shelter in place order for weeks. This is the same Brian Kemp who, as Georgia’s Secretary of State while running for governor, managed to prevent thousands of Georgia’s likely democratic voters from voting. It got him “elected.” Kemp is among a bevvy of REPUBLICAN governors who have refused to instigate “shelter in place” orders in their states. There are still around 10 holdouts – and, in every instance – people in their states will DIE because of the inaction of their governor.

I’ve been predicting Florida was going to be a hot spot for almost two weeks now – and, things are getting very HOT there as I’m writing this. Of course, this doesn’t make me some kind of wizard – it was obvious to many as we watched Florida governor Ron DeSantis pretend things were OK as he continued to allow massive gatherings on their beaches and in their bars and restaurants. Keep in mind, about 20% of Florida’s population consists of the MOST at risk of death from this virus and yet DeSantis was not taking action. I watched a segment on MSNBC (Rachel Maddow) where a reporter for the NY Times (my apologies for forgetting his name) explained how the Kinsa thermometers work – they’re connected to your phone via blue tooth – the data from Kinsa, this was a few weeks ago, was suggesting Florida was the next place with a major problem because of an inordinate number of elevated temperatures.

It’s true the major problem RIGHT NOW is in New York and the surrounding areas, but when you look at various maps showing the places where the “social distancing” isn’t being practiced things look a bit tenuous in America’s South and parts of her “rust belt.” Of course, one of the common threads there is MOST of the states are under republican “rule.” Louisiana does have a democratic governor, I believe, but they relied on individual 1 and the comments coming from other’s in his administration to allow the Mardi Gras to take place in early March – now they’re paying the “price.” I’m sure, now, they wish they could have a “second chance.” Louisiana is rapidly moving up the “charts” of the states with the most infected citizens.

Governors in many of these Southern states will be attempting to explain (LIE) away the reality of what is happening in their states as this virus continues to spread. In my state, Washington, the effects of the “shelter in place” order from governor Inslee has, at least, appeared to slow down the spread of the virus – for the longest time, we were right next to New York on the list of the most “infected” states and, now, we’re close to falling out of the “top ten.”

It’s been a couple more days: I got sidetracked a bit because I got a comment and needed to respond. By the way, I’m fine with the comments – even the ones from people who think I’m a wack job – like the “Otto” who stopped by a couple times in the past week. It’s true there are still MILLIONS of Americans who believe individual 1 is doing a good job (the only explanation I would have for that is Fox “news”) but, like most of the people I know who support individual 1 finding a logical factual reason why seems to be almost impossible. I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings by writing what appears to me to be the undeniable TRUTH, but I invite anyone to challenge my thoughts. Should you choose to do that, please give me some kind of factual basis to your argument. Like I say here often, I have a good friend who supports individual 1 and, before this pandemic we would often meet for breakfast and “have at it.” We can disagree and still walk away good friends. I enjoy the banter.

Finally my Final Thought: I just finished a book written by the partners in Fusion GPS – the company who hired Christopher Steele to investigate individual 1’s connections to Russia. Mr. Steele had worked for years in British Intelligence investigating Russia – and, he still has a lot of sources there. About 70% of his so-called “dossier” has borne out to be accurate (despite all the “tweets” coming from individual 1) and the Fusion partners have a wealth of information on individual 1 which they “gleaned” from public documents – meaning it’s all verified. Putting it mildly, individual 1 has a “sordid” past and it has become ever more clear to me why I’ve been suggesting he’s acting like a mob boss the more I learn about him.

My nest post could very well be somewhat of a “book report” on that book. I highly recommend it to anyone who actually wants to learn about our IMPEACHED so-called president. The more I learn the more I realize how “wounded” this great country really is. To me, it all hit “high gear” (meaning the attack on our government) when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. That was when I started to feel the change from a “we” society to a “me” society. Well, we’re in a situation right now which SHOULD cause many Americans to realize the importance of government and to understand it is “we the people” responsible for electing our leaders. Voting is a great privilege that, in my view, too many of us have taken for granted – which is why we have individual 1 and this version of the republican party controlling this nation.

I don’t think I’m the only one who feels a bit helpless watching our IMPEACHED so-called president bungling his way through this incredible crisis. He’s simply cementing his place in a very dark part of the American history books – which, of course, are still to be written. However, the advantage historians have now is the ability to record virtually every word coming from the mouths of our leaders. Andrew Cuomo is going to come out of this with high marks, as is the governor of my state Jay Inslee, and many other governors around the country. And, of course, the ones who were unable to act decisively in the face of a virus which we KNEW needed the upmost respect to stop it will have to face accountability on the other side of this pandemic – whenever that might be.

There’s an election this November and I predicted individual 1 would try to move it back or ???? Democrats in their “rescue bill” made it clear that won’t be an option and they’re working on a provision for a national “vote by mail.” The other day I listened to individual 1 suggesting if “we the people” were allowed to vote by mail republicans would never win another election. Now, just let that sink in. Of course, he suggested, not only should voters have to vote in person at the polls but they should shoe their valid voter ID – whatever that is. In other words, he’s already working on a scheme (which WON’T work – I think he’s forgetting who controls the House) to continue the right wing voter suppression tactics which have been ongoing since the (right wing) Supreme Court “gutted” Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – a disgusting ruling. This coming election should be interesting even though the likely democratic nominee will be Joe Biden. If ever there was a “commercial” showing why Bernie Sanders’ thinking has been so prescient it would be what is happening right now in America. Even in the middle of this crisis individual 1 is making decisions which take health insurance away from people when we SHOULD be providing it for everyone. Stay tuned……………