As the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold I continue to be amazed at all of our “conservatives” in America not even blinking as we start to look like an almost totally socialist nation. As I usually do, today I logged into the Yahoo finance website and one of the main headlines was the “Fed” pumping ANOTHER $2.3 TRILLION into the stock market in their seemingly unlimited ability to BAIL OUT America’s business community to the point where investors are suggesting “it’s time to buy” again. If you’ve been around this site you know I’m a fan of “Main Street” and, not so much Wall Street. However, it’s never been more apparent how important Wall Street is to the moneyed interests in this nation.

I’m not sure if this $2.3 TRILLION is something which has to be approved by Congress – just a week or so ago they approved the so-called “Cares Act” which called for $2.2 TRILLION of which most was supposed to go to workers, but individual 1 has already FIRED the inspector general who was tasked with overseeing the proper dispersal of these funds. Now, another $2.3 TRILLION? I can say this, if this is money which needs congressional approval I certainly hope the democrats put even more stringent oversight on the dispersal of the money. I actually predicted individual 1 would be trying to get his “greedy paws” on part of the so-called $500 BILLION “slush fund” which specifically stated that would be a “no no.”

In other words, if individual 1 manages to dip into that “slush fund” he’ll be violating yet another law. Clearly, Congress doesn’t have the appetite to IMPEACH him once again, but if it was up to me I’d say if he violates the “rules” put on this funding it would be time for IMPEACHMENT #2. Of course, they’re not going to listen to me, but democrats had better show some backbone as Moscow Mitch and individual 1 are NOT going to let up on their assault on America. Just in one week, individual 1 FIRED three key inspector generals, not to mention the captain of one of America’s great Air Craft Carriers. We’re seeing no letup in autocracy 101 coming from individual 1. And, he’s got more misery for “we the people” up his sleeve.

If you saw the lines of people lined up to vote in Wisconsin this past week with masks on their faces while they endured rain and hail showers during their 2+ hours waiting to vote you understand to what degree republicans will go in order to “win” again. (In Milwaukee there were only 5 polling places instead of the usual 180) The reports in 2016 were that Wisconsin succeeded in disenfranchising 300,000 (likely democratic) voters while individual 1 “won” the state by about 50,000 votes. Clearly, that “plan” worked for them back then so do you actually think they’ll try to make sure anyone who wants to vote can in 2020? There’s a battle brewing over “vote by mail” and we’ll see how determined democrats are to make sure there won’t be any more “Wisconsin’s” this November by providing the resources for vote by mail in EVERY state. Of course, individual 1 believes it’s OK for him to “vote by mail” but the rest of us would “cheat.” When I heard that, all I could think was “Are you kidding me?” Coming from the mouth of the ultimate CHEATER!

Our IMPEACHED so-called president continues to lobby for the repealing of the payroll tax which is the life blood of the Social Security system that he pledged NOT to attack when he originally was running for office. Of course, like everything else which comes out of his mouth, you can’t believe ANY of it. And, you have to wonder what’s going through his head – does he even understand what a LIAR he is. I’ve pointed out here pathological LIARS actually believe their LIES as the words trickle off their tongues. Just the other day I chose to watch individual 1 in one of his press briefings (at the request of my friend who somehow continues to support him) and in the space of 16 minutes he said he was going to freeze America’s investment in the World Health Organization – which, by the way, is his latest bogeyman as he’s deflecting responsibility for his own shortcomings in this pandemic – and then, shortly thereafter, say he “never said that.” That’s correct, in 16 minutes time he CONTRADICTED himself.

Just the FACT he was attempting to deflect blame to the WHO was almost too much for me – I watched so I could tell my friend my “info” was coming direct from the source, and it was all I could do to stay tuned, because it was pure LYING. I vividly remember the head of the WHO increasing their alarm to this crisis specifically because countries like the U.S. and countries in Western Europe – like the U.K., Spain, and Italy, weren’t taking this seriously enough. This was about the time individual 1 was claiming there was nothing to worry about and we had no cases in America and “we’ve got it under control.” Well, again, after he contradicted himself about blocking funding to the WHO in just a matter of minutes, that was too much for me and, as I usually do when he begins his pandemic campaign rallies I turned off the TV.

Look, the people who support him are going to continue to support him – they’ve been brainwashed to believe if it’s not coming from Fox or people like Limbaugh it’s not “news.” They believe this virus is just another “liberal” attack on their IMPEACHED so-called president. They call themselves “conservatives” but I’ve yet to hear one of them complaining about the reality “we the people” will be coughing up about (up until right now) $8 TRILLION more in debt and, in essence, this is what liberals have said for years that “conservatives” only believe in Socialism when it’s required to bail out their “capitalist” businesses’ losses.

Of course I’m personally in favor of the money headed to all those who’ve lost their jobs during this pandemic and I believe supporting the small businesses which are closed deserve the support which would amount to grants if they keep their employees on the payroll and start up again once this is over – which very well could be next year. But, as I said the other day, I’m getting the impression those on Wall Street simply want a “V” curve to the apparent recession in order to get business back to “normal” ASAP. Personally, I believe if this crisis doesn’t get the attention of “we the people” to understand what Bernie Sanders has been talking about for years, well, it’s “on us.” I hope we NEVER go back to “business as usual.” Many of the people who are dying from this pandemic in America are people who weren’t healthy to begin with likely because they can’t afford health care – because almost 100 MILLION Americans are either uninsured or under-insured. Not surprisingly, African Americans make up a disproportionate number of the deaths due to Covid-19.

And, as I’ve said here numerously of late, if we can come up with almost $7 TRILLION to bail out Wall Street in the space of a few weeks we SHOULD be able to afford the things which would transform this nation for the better. We’re falling so far behind other countries – like, especially China – that recovery becomes more daunting by the day. We SHOULD have been rebuilding our infrastructure – to 21st century standards – years ago – but, republicans said it was too expensive (as they were complaining about the national debt during President Obama’s administration and working to block virtually every Obama initiative) but can they continue with that argument? College debt on our young people? Tuition free college as an investment in our young people? a $15 minimum wage? Providing food for the “least among us?” I could go on, but I have no doubt those who support individual 1 would see all this as something nefarious.

Even the HUGE reduction in the demand for oil due to all the cars which aren’t driving on our highways has made many of the largest cities around the world show significantly reduced levels of pollution in the air which is clearly noticeable even from satellites orbiting the earth. The lack of cars on the roads has caused a reduction in the movement of the “plates” under the surface of the earth (I’m sure I’m not explaining this correctly, I didn’t do well in geology class) so there will be a lot of data on things we COULD do as we build a NEW economy in the immediate future – what some in the democratic party (and Bernie) call the “Green New Deal.” Let’s just hope we don’t go back to “business as usual” – which is what those on Wall Street are eager for.

The latest book I’m reading addresses this issue: “WINNERS TAKE ALL The ELITE CHARADE of CHANGING the WORLD” by Anand Giridharadas. I’ve just started the book, but it appears the thesis of the book is that the “elite” members of our society, even when they’re pushing for “change,” it would amount to, basically, no change at all. That any “change” would be simply as part of the system we have in a way which simply perpetuates what has created their elitist place in society, to me, is NO change at all. I just finished Robert Reich’s book “The Common Good” and he writes about, to a degree, the same thing – that the corporate interests in America are focused on shareholders and executives – not on workers and the communities which have made their existence possible in the first place. If we’re going to actually change, now is the time to do it!

I’ve been in a running discussion with my son (who’s a “millennial”) about how this nation was when I was young versus what he’s dealing with today. He’s so cynical I don’t know if it’s possible to “fix” his thinking, even if somehow people in Washington DC would listen to Bernie (I wanted to say me :o). Bernie makes total sense to my son, but he believes what Bernie is proposing isn’t possible in America because the corporatocracy won’t let it happen. I tell him, during the 1950’s through 1970’s this was a much different country and, despite her obvious shortcomings, was much “healthier.” And, for some reason the wealthy elite who continue to spend BILLIONS in order to prevent America from becoming healthy again – from the bottom up – don’t understand things would be better even for them if it was better for “the least of these.” America has lost her moral compass and, as I watch this more closely I understand why many would suggest that “compass” has been MIA from the beginning.

While for my entire life America has been called a “nation of immigrants” it’s become apparent there’s a significant segment of our country which, despite being “immigrants,” seems to despise immigration. It’s as if it was OK for “us” to immigrate to America but it’s not OK for “them.” Our IMPEACHED so-called president is a second generation immigrant and he’s married to an immigrant whose parents came here via a program individual 1 wants to eliminate – hypocrisy? – and he can find creative ways to deflect blame for his shortcomings onto immigrants. So, I find it interesting that the Covid-19 crisis is exposing the issues in this nation with the African American community, the Latino community, and the Native American communities. This gets back to my wish that we DON’T go back to business as usual once this pandemic is in the history books (which is likely next year).

I certainly don’t want to suggest African Americans are “immigrants” because their “community” has been here longer than all but a few of the “European” immigrant families – which came here and then chose to “own” slaves. America has been a challenging place (to say the least) for those of African descent, for women, for anyone who falls into the “other” category – yet, as all these “categories” evolve America becomes better for it – because of “them.” Yet, Covid-19 is exposing how we’ve allowed our Middle Class to erode, how defacto segregation is reality, how the “poor” are vulnerable to virtually any “blip” on the “radar” let alone a pandemic of this magnitude. Yet, republicans CONTINUE their push to funnel the “bailout” money in these incredible “tranches” of funding they’re miraculously coming up with to their favored business interests. Moscow Mitch attempted to pull off an “I know best” charade last week where he would simply pile $250 BILLION onto a program which already has major issues. Yikes!!!

So, we all know Congress put restrictions on the money allocated to fight the coronavirus and individual 1 is doing everything he can to circumvent those restrictions. He’s fired the inspector general overseeing the funds, he wrote a “signing statement” suggesting he won’t follow the guidelines and, already, there are reports that Secretary Mnuchin is violating the “rules” in regards to the provisions for unemployment insurance in the legislation. I wrote previously about how several republicans objected right up until the bill was passed about how the unemployment provisions were “too friendly” for the workers – keep in mind, these are people who are near the bottom of America’s work force in regard to compensation – and Mnuchin is preventing money going to people for whom it was intended to provide temporary financial relief. We’ll find out if there really is an oversight committee???

Additionally, Mnuchin is “cheating” in regard to money going to the airline industry. It was specifically negotiated into the “Cares Act” that the airline industry would get “loans” designed to keep them “afloat” until they’re back operating and the “loans” would provide the money necessary for them to pay their employees and cover their basic expenses. What they couldn’t do if they took the money was buy back stock, provide bonuses to executives, etc. for a period of time. Once they were operating again, if they retained their workforce, the loans become grants. Well, apparently Mnuchin – and, of course, by extension individual 1 – and, maybe, the airlines themselves, decided to do things differently and the money going to the airlines will be in the form of the government buying an equity position in the carriers – and, the workers then get screwed out of the original agreement which was part of the bill. To me, just another individual 1 outrage. And, I know his cult members could care less – unless, of course, some of them work for the airline industry. Personally, I say let the airline industry go through bankruptcy if they don’t want to take care of their workforce as provided in the bill.

If democrats want a chance to win this November the FIGHT starts right now. There should be no more funding for this crisis until they get individual 1, Mnuchin, and anyone else with authority over the disbursement of the funds already allocated to be following the “letter of the law.” If our IMPEACHED so-called president is NOT going to follow the laws which are enacted “we the people” should not continue enacting them. If the “rescue” bills aren’t going to eliminate the long lines at the food banks then why pass the laws in the first place? I really have to wonder what is going on with all that money? Democrats MUST not allow the payroll tax to be repealed, even “for the rest of this year” – money “borrowed” from Social Security NEVER gets paid back – everyone knows that – and, additionally, democrats should agree to NOTHING unless there’s a provision funding “vote by mail” across the nation so we don’t see another “Wisconsin.” (Apparently, not only were voters forced to stand in long lines in the rain, but many absentee ballots were not being counted. Wisconsin republicans are, well, deplorable. Remember, Wisconsin was the home of the John Birch Society)

Final Thought: There was a saying which came out of what happened in Germany during the “Great Depression” back in the early 1930’s by Martin Niemoller, who spent 7 years in a concentration camp, which went as follows: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” As I observe individual 1 acting as if he can “do whatever I want” – with, of course, the backing of Moscow Mitch and republicans in Congress – I’m often reminded of that saying. Americans don’t believe it can happen here, but individual 1’s cult really reminds me of the cult which was created back then. And, we’re seeing in real time how competence is not a requirement of a demagogue. (I heard him say, again, how important “this holiday” – I still haven’t heard him call it Easter – but, of course, I’m tuning out his campaign press briefings – is to him. I’m still waiting to see how many times he’s been to church on Easter Sunday. I’m guessing it’s close to ZERO, unless, he’s in the “Christmas and Easter” sect of “Christianity”)

I “Googled” – although I’ve switched search engines to “DuckDuckGo” (it doesn’t bombard me with advertisements) “How many times has Trump gone to church?” (I had to use his surname) and, after reading the top 15 posts there was one example of someone seeing him in church over 30 years ago. There were three examples of people saying they’ve heard him say he hasn’t “asked for forgiveness” because he hasn’t done anything wrong. I’ve never heard him say that but I did hear him claim “2 Corinthians 3:17 as one of his favorite verses” when he was at Liberty University trying to convince a bunch of Christian students he’s “religious.” Most of the posts answered my question with the same answer: NEVER! (I actually think that’s not correct, but I’m guessing it’s CLOSE to correct)

Yesterday was “Good Friday” and in our home we did church “remotely.” It was, as Good Friday services usually are, a very moving service. Personally, in my Christian “walk” my focus is always on Jesus. He always gives me good advice – of course, I often have trouble following it because, well, I’m saddled with those troublesome human tendencies. I even question why I seem so focused on keeping up the “fight” against individual 1. I’m often reminded (by Him ie Jesus) “Judge not lest you be judged” and, I guess, I’m saying I’m willing to be judged. Clearly, I don’t understand how anyone who calls themselves a Christian could support individual 1. That’s what motivated me to write the previous paragraph about Niemoller – the similarities to what is going on with individual 1’s cult and 1930’s Germany are eerily similar. To me, “we the people” are simply adding another dark mark on America’s history – and, I hope and pray we “fix” this sooner rather than later. Suggested Reading: “BONHOEFFER Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxas! It’s an eye opener!

Wouldn’t it be great if “we the people” actually had competent leadership in charge as the coronavirus is ravaging our nation? Like, if there was actually someone who’s been put in charge as so many have suggested is necessary. So, why is this not happening? Well, I can guarantee you I have the answer. There’s no way individual 1 is going to give up his place in the center of the “stage” as he pushes out his pandemic response “team” day after day – to the absolute absurdity of the so-called “liberal media” he continually attacks; showing it – usually from start to painstaking finish. I’ve learned to turn off the TV as soon as the “two minute warning” is given – but, MSNBC curiously continues to show what are individual 1’s new campaign rallies EVERY day. It’s really hard to explain.

If you remember, MSNBC gave individual 1 MILLIONS in FREE advertising back in the 2016 campaign. I still remember them showing virtually entire speeches by our now IMPEACHED so-called president while hardly showing a sentence coming from Secretary Clinton. I complained back then and it didn’t do any good, so I’m guessing my complaints today won’t do any good either. My children watch CNN and I suppose I should check it out – although, for all I know, they’re falling for the same scam. While it’s good to see the blundering incompetence of our so-called “leader” it SHOULDN’T be at the expense of forcing onto “we the people” all this propaganda.

BTW – tonight I checked with the Kinsa thermometer map once again and, once again, it’s suggesting Florida is in for a continued spike in something which has to do with elevated temperatures – I’ll let you figure out what that means. Also, places like South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kansas – some of the ones I can remember have growing numbers of their residents showing elevated temperatures. Many of these states where their (republican) governors have refused to enact the “stay at home” orders are looking at the next “wave.” Apparently, they’ve been listening to individual 1 who’s going to have a heavy load on his shoulders when this is all said and done. (Of course, he’ll be oblivious to it!)

Another “BTW” – a few days ago I pointed out individual 1 FIRED the inspector general of the Intelligence Community – part of his “revenge tour” – he did it late on Friday expecting an action which SHOULD have been received with a wave of criticism to be buried in the Covid-19 focus of the media – which is bad enough for our IMPEACHED so-called president due to his incredibly incompetent leadership during this pandemic – but, sure enough, not a whimper in the news about him FIRING this inspector general for doing his job. Of course, he was an individual 1 appointee, but the FACT he did his job (which was to report the whistleblower complaint to the Intelligence Committee in the House) was too much for individual 1. Our IMPEACHED so-called president just can’t stomach people who actually tell the TRUTH – which, to him, is a constant threat.

It was reported today he’s also FIRING the people who are the inspector generals over the disbursement of the “Cares Act” – ie the 2+ TRILLION rescue package which specifically has prohibited individual 1 from getting his grubby fingers on any of the money. Of course, it also prevents ANYONE else in his family or in the executive branch or Congress from getting any of the money either – but, the one person “we the people” need to be watching like a “hawk” is our IMPEACHED so-called president – because, I personally, predicted several days ago he’s going to be lurking over all that money with the idea of getting his “fair share” – whatever he considers that to be. And, he’ll do what he needs to do to get that money. I’ve said this before but I don’t think there’s a limit on the number of times a (so-called) president can be IMPEACHED!

And, speaking of people being fired by our “dear leader” – how about the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the spectacular Air Craft Carrier now anchored in Guam because the Covid-19 somehow had invaded the ship. The captain of that ship apparently was having trouble getting the attention of the ACTING Secretary of the Navy so he sent a letter almost pleading for permission to get the affected sailors off the ship. These sailors are living in extremely close quarters which makes it a “petri dish” for this virus and their captain was FIGHTING for his sailors – what would you expect from an actual leader? Somehow, individual 1 considered him “weak” for sending this letter (naturally, someone leaked it) and the captain was FIRED. As he left the ship you could see what his crew thought of the order coming from the “commander in chief.” (Picture in your mind 4000 sailors cheering and chanting the captain’s name as he departed the ship! Individual 1 wouldn’t recognize a real leader if he bumped into him in the……………. you can fill in the blank)

To top it all off, the ACTING Secretary of the Navy flew all the way to Guam to get on the public address system of the ship and tell all these sailors, who are loyal to their recently FIRED captain, that the FIRED captain was “stupid.” I heard his comments and in the background you could hear one of the sailors yell out “What the F*@k?” Here’s what was “stupid:” The ACTING Secretary of the Navy flying thousands of miles to Guam (8000?) in order to tell these sailors, whose captain, who had sacrificed his career for them and was FIRED, that their beloved captain was “stupid.” Honestly, coming out of individual 1’s administration I see “stupid” all the time – this action was “right up there” among some of the MOST stupid things I’ve seen lately. I’m sure this ACTING Secretary of the Navy was acting on the directions of the Commander in Chief and he’ll be the “scapegoat” of this stupid action. Here’s where we can determine who’s “weak” in all of this. Anyone who would LIE about bone-spurs in order to avoid service, to me, would be “weak.”

Today, the number of deaths as a result of the coronavirus in the United States will approach 2000 (for just today) and it’s going to get worse. People around individual 1 are frustrated by the FACT people are not FORGETTING the 70 (or so) days from when individual 1 was informed this virus presented an emerging CRISIS which could take the lives of hundreds of THOUSANDS of Americans to the point when he started to take this pandemic serious. But, worse than his FAILURES in dealing with this pandemic to begin with he continues with his CORRUPT behavior “across the board.” And, why would we expect anything different? I keep saying I’m tired of writing so much, but it’s my outlet, and I just have to keep going. Individual 1’s assault on this nation is relentless and, therefore, I’ve got to keep going relentlessly – just for my own sanity!

My GOOD friend I often write about who (somehow) continues to support individual 1 seems to think I should be watching these Coronavirus briefings from start to finish. The reality is, as I’ve shared multiple times here, when those briefings come on MSNBC I turn off MSNBC. These briefings are nothing more than individual 1’s substitute for his campaign rallies and you can tell even the experts, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, have to be careful in what they say because it’s often counter to what individual 1 just said and he’s a bit “touchy.” I’ve watched a few of the briefings and, as happened years ago when I actually watched Fox “news” for a while, my head tells me “why are you exposing yourself to this propaganda?” I’m actually concerned the two doctors are being manipulated in order to continue in their positions.

Succinctly put, individual 1 has NOT earned a “10,” he SHOULD accept responsibility for his decisions, and he’s NOT doing a great job! He can tell me otherwise over and over and, if I’m not in the cult, it’s just “poppycock.” It really is time for the networks (except, of course, Fox “news” ie individual 1 TV) to take the “oxygen out of the room” and stop covering these briefings live. On the rare occasion where something important is said, good or bad, report on that – but take the camera’s away from this IMPEACHED so-called president who, while showing his incompetence regarding government in this pandemic, clearly is an expert at manipulating the media outlets which he’s constantly disparaging. I guarantee you his temperature (figuratively) would go way up if they’d follow my advice!

I often wondered what would happen if/when individual 1 was faced with a crisis and, of course, we are watching it in real time. It almost looks to me as if his fake tan is melting off his face as this goes on. Of course, anyone who’s been paying attention knows he is chomping at the bit to get out on the campaign trail LYING to his cult in those gatherings which cement their cult-like support but does nothing to help him with the 55% of the American voting public who are committed to removing him from office this November. I actually believe the now infamous 70 days where he tried to convince America this virus was nothing to worry about was his opportunity to get himself re-elected. Of course, he would have needed to take this seriously, appoint an actual expert to be in charge, and be transparent all through the process – in other words act like a competent leader. You’re correct, that would be IMPOSSIBLE!

Naturally, he can’t go back and “fix” those disastrous 70 days – and, by the way, if you’re thinking it didn’t have much effect on the outcome of the virus, I’ll just remind you of a few things – First, the Mardi Gras. Those in charge in Louisiana decided to go ahead with that festival based on individual 1’s words suggesting this would be no problem at all – “down to zero in a few days.” Well, if you’ve seen what has happened to Louisiana since then you know it IS a problem. And, there were nearly a million people there from all over the world who have spread out since that time to other places likely taking the virus with them. And individual 1 isn’t the only member of his administration “with egg on their face” during the 70 days – Kelley Anne Conway and Larry Kudlow made public statements which, well, also fall in the absurd category and likely helped influence those in Louisiana!

And, let’s not forget Florida! Based on what I can figure out Florida is STILL on the “upswing” of the so-called curve and maybe two to three weeks from the “apex.” Florida is such a concern because about 20% of Floridians are in the category of being the most susceptible and that’s people like me – old people. Of course, now we’re finding out African Americans are maybe more susceptible to the worst part of this virus than anyone else, but older people are as well – and that’s when it attacks your lungs and ultimately causes death. Florida could soon be the “New New York.” As I’m saying way too often here, I hope I’m wrong. The sad reality is the Florida governor is a devotee of individual 1 and he has really had a hard time enacting a truly “shelter in place” order. I’m honestly still confused about whether or not he’s done so. If churches are still open doesn’t that pretty much negate the benefits of a shelter in place order?

Then there’s Brian Kemp in Georgia. He’s the guy who was the Secretary of State running the election where he was also the candidate for governor (nice work if you can get it) and he CHEATED in order to “win.” (Does that sound familiar to you? He’s a republican) Well, I suppose, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he, like the governor of Florida just couldn’t bring himself to enact a “shelter in place” order, despite the FACT the Covid-19 virus was spreading rapidly in his state, until just a few days ago when he decided to act. He said he waited so long because he had just found out asymptomatic people could be spreading the virus. Apparently, I knew that about a month before Mr. Kemp. But, of course, he decided Georgia’s beaches and churches are part of the “essential businesses.” So, picture this weekend as there will be (I don’t know how many thousands of) Georgians in church spreading the virus among one another. There’s lots of “stupid” going around lately wouldn’t you think?

These are all people who have been influenced in their decisionmaking by individual 1. You’d think by now people all around the country would be realizing it’s time for them to think for themselves – that when he was described as “unfit” for this office people knew what they were talking about. However, it’s not just the decision makers in Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana. There are several other states where their (republican) governor has yet to take action. Apparently, the fact lots of people aren’t yet dying of this disease in their state means it’s not a problem for them. It seems like they’ll just wait until it gets bad and then take action. Of course, that means the rest of us will be home bound longer and the economy will be puttering along much longer. Or, it will speed up the second “wave.” Take your choice!

I’m actually expecting individual 1 to attempt to “open” the economy back up too soon – so, combined with these governors this virus could be here through the summer, if not longer. Remember, as I’m writing this there’s no cure for it, no vaccine, and “we the people” don’t have a natural immunity to it. Of course, some do better than others, but just look at the statistics as to what is happening. All the experts are saying the way to get beyond this and to “open” up the economy again is via MASSIVE testing. I really don’t know why that’s not sinking in to individual 1, but, again, the “buck stops at the…..” resolute desk in the Oval Office.

This virus is going to be here for the foreseeable future, it’s worse than it should have been, and compounding all that with more poor decisionmaking is just harming more people. The captain of the Aircraft carrier who put the well being of his crew ahead of his own was someone showing true leadership. Individual 1 called him weak and FIRED him. That’s what you’d expect from someone who resembles a mob boss. I’m constantly reminded lately of the saying “The skunk smells his own hole first.” (And, by the way, the captain of the USS Roosevelt is now down with Covid-19 – talk about taking one for the team)

I’ll finish by saying individual 1 and his economic advisers are desperately hoping for what they call the “V” curve economic recovery to all this – I’m sure with our IMPEACHED so-called president hoping the stock market will be right back up to record territory by November. Well, while I don’t think even that would save him (it would be a miracle) it doesn’t appear to me that’s what lies ahead. This economy is going to take a huge “hit” from this pandemic. Not every small business (or maybe even large one) will come out of this whole, if they come out of it at all. I’m not sure how much money we can print to try saving things but there’s already been $6 TRILLION allocated to the Fed to keep Wall Street “afloat” and it’s, basically, treading water. I’m no expert, but I don’t see how it doesn’t have another period where it takes a dive.

It looks to me as if the speculators are “ruling the day” right now and the market will be, as I’ve said, going up and down like a yo yo – but, in the end, it seems likely it has to go down. If we’re truly headed to depression territory I don’t see how they can keep the market propped up. I heard an economist tonight explaining each week our economy is shut down like this costs the economy up to $400 BILLION of “GDP.” Again, I’m no economist, but that sounds really bad, Just as the captain of the USS Roosevelt lamented the most important cargo on that ship is the sailors. I believe, ultimately, government leaders, including (maybe) some republicans, will realize the most important asset of this nation is her people and that’s where the “rescue” money should be aimed. Maybe the result of this pandemic will be the long overdue “remodeling” of our nation – not only in our infrastructure, but in the way we view our people. Democrats forced republicans to include in the rescue bill funding for workers in various ways, but you can see individual 1 is looking for ways around that by scuttling the inspector generals already. I really hope Congress is paying close attention.

The price tag for the “rescue” part of that bill WAS a bit over $1.5 TRILLION (remember, it included the so-called $500 BILLION “slush fund” – money intended for businesses and which individual 1 is likely targeting by removing the oversight) and it was always considered too expensive by republicans. (As opposed to the $6 TRILLION for Wall Street?) About a half dozen republicans balked at the provisions in the bill aimed at unemployed workers right up to the point where the vote took place. Their words were, well, DISGUSTING. (They were led by Lindsey Graham – someone who’s become one of the most DISGUSTING members of the U.S. Senate – come on South Carolina, you can VOTE him out come November) So, we see there seems to be an endless supply of money once Wall Street is teetering, how about……?

How about a Medicare for All bill – which actually would save money, but based on all the money we’ve managed to come up with to bail out Wall Street in a matter of two weeks, it’s hard for me to envision the argument providing health insurance for All Americans as being “too expensive.” How about tuition free college? How about an actual infrastructure bill aimed at roads, BRIDGES, and high speed rail along with unthrottled internet access? The list could go on and on, but I’m sitting here thinking the main thing which I hope comes out of this crisis is we DON’T go back to “business as usual.” In many ways, the worst thing which could happen would be that “V” curve recovery. Would that mean, then, “we the people” are willing to wait for Miami and Los Angeles to be under water before we worry about the Climate Crisis? That seems it would be the “republican way!” Stay tuned…………………

Final Thought: Today, there are people in Wisconsin standing in long lines to VOTE because the republican party doesn’t seem to understand “social distancing” – despite the hollow words in these “press briefings.” Republicans showed their “true colors” by refusing to allow this primary election to be postponed until it’s safer for the people to vote and, additionally, refusing to allow additional days for Wisconsinites to get mail in ballots which they could turn in a week or so later. Wisconsin’s (democratic) governor attempted to put the primary off for a couple months until the worse of this virus is (hopefully – see above) behind us, but both the State Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court blocked the attempts to prevent today’s long lines. No matter how they’re voting I say “we the people” need to “give it up” (That means applaud, if you live under a rock) for the VOTERS of Wisconsin who are standing in those long lines in order to cast their ballots today. Risking their lives to vote – the last time I saw that it was in Iraq!

Not only are Wisconsinites being forced to vote today in the face of this pandemic, but the number of polling places was reduced from 180 to 5 based on what I’ve heard – obviously, making the lines even longer, causing people to congregate for even longer periods of time, and exposing MORE people (evidently, they’re mostly democrats, so…….. I’ll let you speculate) potentially to the virus, and further sending a message to the American people what is important to republicans. (Which is they’ll do whatever they can to PREVENT people from voting) I expect another BLUE wave come November whether it’s vote by mail or voters being forced to stand in long lines. Enough already with this autocratic, corrupt, greedy version of a government. God Bless all these Wisconsinites who braved those lines today demonstrating they appreciate the privilege we have in this country to VOTE – no matter who they voted for! I”m sure many were republicans.

Oh Yes, why am I not surprised. Today, individual 1 accused Wisconsin’s governor of wanting to change the date of today’s primary election “Only because I endorsed the (right wing) candidate for the State Supreme Court.” OMG – does he ever stop? As I’ve said, narcissism is a mental disorder! Earth to individual 1; there’s a world wide pandemic going on. Did it ever cross your mind Wisconsin’s governor maybe is concerned for the citizens of Wisconsin? You know, like in their health? I’m proud of those Wisconsinites who braved the long lines to vote, I’m just wondering if there’s something nefarious going on here? I don’t know what the affiliation of the voters who braved this injustice were, I just hope they’re able to vote again in November. Do you think they’re all democrats so it’s OK if they get the virus? I just hope they remember who made them do this and, also, those disrespectful words aimed at their governor. And, I hope all of us who witnessed this from afar realize it could happen to us and we should be planning accordingly RIGHT NOW! BTW – I believe it was a judge in Wisconsin who individual 1 referred to as a “so-called” judge back in 2016 when his fraudulent “university” was found guilty and fined $25 MILLION! (If anyone’s wondering where all my “so-called’s” came from)

I have to add: And, I hope I’m right on this one. I believe the 100,000 to 240,000 number given as the expected death toll by Dr. Birx last week “If everything goes perfect” very well may have been a “set-up” in order to make individual 1 look better when this is all over. Maybe if this drags on for 18 months as some suggest that will be the number, but I really do hope that’s not how many Americans will perish in the crisis. I’m watching the numbers closely and if that’s correct then we really do have a rough couple of weeks (maybe months) ahead of us. The number which will be the most significant will be the number as we approach November – there are a lot of gullible voters in America who are susceptible to individual 1’s LIES. I question whether our health care workers can be humanly expected to have the endurance to withstand that much of an assault on our system. They have responded unbelievably to this point! We’re at between 12 and 13 thousand deaths as I’m writing this and New York is supposedly nearing its “apex.” 240,000? I hope we haven’t, once again, allowed ourselves to be “played” by the master manipulator of the media, individual 1. OK, call me a skeptic…………………………..

However many die from this pandemic, it SHOULD have been far fewer!

It’s hard for me to think in any terms other than attempting to expose, at least in my own mind because I have no idea who manages to find this site, the reality we in America have an IMPEACHED so-called president who has no idea what he’s doing, and more dangerously, fanatically is attempting to convince “we the people” otherwise. And, of course, because he’s the demagogue to a “rabid” base who believe anything he says, all of his LYING is dangerous. I can only hope a few people might find this site and decide it’s important for them to VOTE against individual 1 and the republicans who support him in November.

Often, I don’t do a good enough job of actually systematically laying out the FAILURES of individual 1 which have turned the Covid-19 crisis into well more than it should have been. We COULD have done so much better, but the reality, despite his claims to the contrary, the federal government SHOULD be in charge of the effort to defeat this pandemic – NOT, 50 states bidding against each other for the equipment needed in the hospitals and NOT the states being required to develop their own testing. It’s been a monumental FAILURE on individual 1’s part as someone who’s SUPPOSED to be our leader, but sure as I’m writing this he’ll continue his attempt to LIE his way out of responsibility. So, the other day I was reading a post in the “Daily Kos” and the author said what I’m trying to say much better than I’m able. Here’s a “snipit:”

“The number of warnings that President Donald Trump our IMPEACHED so-called president missed in order to make the United States home to a quarter of all COVID-19 cases on the planet seems almost as endless as the supply of virus. There was the simulation that was set up for Trump’s individual 1’s team by the Obama administration during the transition, which included specific warnings about shortages of ventilators and protective gear. There was a 2016 Pandemic Playbook that emphasized the need for a unified central response and the perils of having states fight for scarce resources. There was Operation Crimson Contagion just last fall, in which Trump’s individual 1’s team flunked every possible stage of preparation and response. And there was the annual DHS simulation that should have taken place … except that Trump individual 1 canceled that annual review. Just like he destroyed the pandemic response team within the National Security Council, ignored the warnings of the rear admiral in charge of preventing pandemics and biological attacks, and, most amazingly, canceled a program designed to find potential viral threats that was working specifically with labs in Wuhan, China on issues with novel coronavirus.

If Donald Trump’s individual 1’s actual intention was to knock down every barrier to infection, paint a giant welcome sign above the country, and declare America host to Virus-con 2020, he could not have done a better—meaning worse—job. But as it turns out, that’s not all. Because Trump individual 1 was still ignoring the information on the coming pandemic, even when that pandemic was already underway.”

Forgive me, I needed to make a few substitutions – it’s a personal problem. But, hopefully, you get the idea. So, the issue with individual 1 is a serious problem which “we the people” have the opportunity to resolve this November – those of us who are left. But, the issue which is driving America toward third world status goes well beyond individual 1. I’ve tried to say here, many times, he’s a symptom of the larger problem – and, we’re seeing that problem playing out right before our unsuspecting eyes. As I usually do, this morning I checked the stock market via Yahoo’s finance page and, sure enough, as yesterday’s futures market suggested the market is up. Which, if it was “real” would be a good sign for all of us. But, as I’ve suggested, this stock market is like a house built on sand. Personally, I think it’s got a significant downward pressure in its not too distant future.

Of course, as I always say here, (another day has passed) I’m not an economist (although I’m taking an online class from Paul Krugman – my favorite economist who’s actually an economist) but when I read some of the articles on Yahoo’s page today my mind tells me many are still in the category of “wishful thinkers.” I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see this pandemic subsiding for several more months. For example, I REALLY hope there’s a baseball season, but I’m skeptical. Is the NBA season going to conclude? In my mind, not likely. Is the school year going to restart? Again, in my mind, not likely. Why would we fight this virus for two or three months and then loosen things back up while it’s still raging.

And, as many “experts” have said, we have to defeat this virus EVERYWHERE in order to defeat it anywhere. So, once it’s under control in New York, for example, it’s likely to be raging elsewhere. And, amazingly, there are still entire states who haven’t enacted “shelter in place” orders, so we could be waiting on them for a couple of months. Clearly, this is not just another “flu” as so many would like us to believe – including individual 1 in the beginning. Then, there’s another issue which seems to be in the “wishful thinking” category to me – and, again, I hope I’m wrong.

Today there was an article suggesting once we get beyond this virus – whenever that is – the economy will just “shoot up” again, just like the opposite of how it “shot down.” Suggesting a “V” curve in the recession people are assuming is “here.” That would be great, but it appears to me the possibility of a severe recession or maybe even depression (I really don’t know how to define that, I’m just regurgitating something I’ve read somewhere – I’ve got so much time to read right now I can’t remember where it’s all coming from) is very possible if not likely. What we’re seeing here is the reflexive continuation of what I’ve considered to be the force (I don’t know if that’s the right word) which has been undermining this nation for the past 40+ years. It’s reflexive and “we the people” don’t seem to know any better. Which is why, I suppose, Bernie Sanders is considered such a radical – which, to me, is an absurd characterization of what he stands for.

If ever we’re going to “see the light” it should be now. Just the issue with so many people without health insurance SHOULD be a wake-up call to ALL Americans – but, even our so-called “liberal media” seems complicit in keeping the status quo. Of course, you also have individual 1 making things even worse than they should be with his gross incompetence in dealing with this crisis – but, to those who would have something closer to NO government than what was there when individual 1 took office I’m sure they think he’s doing just fine. He’s been leading the “deconstruction” of pretty much every institution “we the people” have relied on for the past 75 years and doing it while we’re all “chasing our tails” trying to keep up with all his scandalous behavior. The latest, of course, was firing the inspector general of the Intelligence community this past Friday late in the news cycle so hardly anyone would notice – and, the scheme worked. There’s likely to be no push-back from the latest part of his “revenge tour” dating to the IMPEACHMENT.

The reality is America was headed toward individual 1 or someone else just as bad since the 1970’s when Lewis Powell wrote his (not so) famous “memo” to the Chamber of Commerce urging corporate America to take the offensive politically with the plan to neutralize workers and advance the power of corporations and their officers. Of course, this plan was put on steroids by Ronald Reagan with the initial “trickle down” scam – which keeps getting repeated because “we the people” allow it to be repeated – and has created this massive issue of wealth inequality in America. From watching the stock market and the government reaction to its drop I, sadly, don’t see an end to the corporatocracy issue which continues to thin out America’s once strong Middle Class.

Individual 1’s demagoguery was aimed right at the workers (mostly white) who are disenchanted by a system they believe has “left them behind.” And, of course, they’re correct – the system HAS left them behind. But the solution doesn’t lie in what individual 1 is doing – he’s making things MUCH worse – the solution lies somewhere in the neighborhood of what Bernie Sanders believes in – along with intellectual minds like Elizabeth Warren, AOC, and many of the young democrats who are, hopefully, going to transform Congress. Personally, my hope is the emergence of a large group of younger (30 – 50 ish) progressive leaders who understand the values which emerged during the 1930’s with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and those progressives who put together the “New Deal.”

If we emerge from this Covid-19 crisis with the attitude let’s go back to what got us here – business as usual – well, we deserve the consequences. Based on the unlikely chance maybe one individual 1 supporter might read this posting – let me remind you, he filled EVERY top department position in his government with a lobbyist or a crony. Drain the swamp? Nonsense! The first thought that comes to mind (with someone who’s still there) is Wilbur Ross as the head of the Commerce department. He was the joint owner of a bank in Cyprus with a Russian Oligarch – a bank which was alleged to have been key to Russians laundering their “ill gotten” gains out of Russia turning them into dollars – in many instances once out of Cypress by purchasing Real Estate from individual 1 in America.

There was Rick Perry who had campaigned on disbanding the Energy Department when he was running against individual 1 in the primaries being selected to be the head of, you guessed it, the Energy Department. And, Betsy DeVos, who has a history of opposing public education being put in charge of, yep, public education. Individual 1’s original Secretary of State, according to reports I’ve read, was actually chosen by Vladimir Putin – Rex Tillerson who had made a multi-BILLION dollar deal with Putin to teach the Russians how to drill in the Arctic. I’m sure Putin was expecting the sanctions President Obama put on Russia which are, to this day, preventing Exxon Mobile from showing the Russians how to do that drilling, to have been lifted long ago with individual 1 in office. Even individual 1 realizes what would happen if he started relieving Sanctions on the Russians while they’re still invading Ukraine and holding Crimea. Tillerson was fired shortly after criticizing Putin’s poisoning of the Skripal’s in Britain.

One institution after another has been decimated since individual 1 took office. Untold numbers of committed, patriotic, qualified diplomats have left office in the past three years because they can’t handle what’s going on (or have been fired because of their competence). This has been a right wing wish for years – the Ayn Rand cult. But, the reality is, for the vast majority of Americans, this is a bad “look.” And, we’re seeing it playing out right before our eyes – and, yet, I have to wonder how many Americans won’t see what’s happening. We have an administration full of people who say they believe in “free markets” (well, yes, individual 1 believes in tariffs for some strange reason) and, just as in 2008 we’ve been watching all these “free market” devotees with their hands out in the front of the line looking for taxpayer bailouts. Thankfully, in this instance, republicans were forced to actually agree to legislation – in the first REAL rescue package, the $2 TRILLION one – which included a “bailout” of workers. Of course, there was a group of Senate republicans, led by Lindsey Graham (attention South Carolina) objecting right up to the vote because the bill was too generous to workers!

What many people didn’t notice was the ADDITIONAL $4 TRILLION appropriated for the Fed to use where they deem necessary in order to continue propping up the Stock Market. Are you beginning to see why I compare it to a “house built on sand.” This stock market is FULL of people who tout the “free market” (even though, under any terms, that’s a joke – but, I’ll get to that) and not only profess their unbending belief in capitalism but also their disdain for “socialism.” Well, how would you define the $6.2 TRILLION our Congress just appropriated in the “battle” against this pandemic? Would you call that capitalism? Would you call that the result of the “free market?” (And, Oh, by the way, the Fed had ALREADY coughed up a couple TRILLION before this legislation was passed – and, universal health care is too expensive???)

Here’s a dirty little secret most of us don’t understand and, likely, won’t understand long after this present crisis is in the rear view mirror. Our markets are not now, not then, not never have they been “free markets.” People on Wall Street complain about regulations they don’t like as they push for the ones they do like. The reality there is, there has been, and there will always be regulations on the Market and on the rest of society. That’s how societies are built – laws and regulations – this should be nothing new. It’s just that the people on Wall Street very cleverly led America to believe we have a “free market” system – which, to them, simply means the regulations are put in place which act to their benefit. They like to make their own rules as they gamble with everyone else’s money. A nice gig if you can get it.

And, of course, they’re eager to get back to “business as usual.” They’re making multiples in the MILLIONS! Why would they not?! If this crisis doesn’t demonstrate to “we the people” that it’s time to “change the rules” as I’ve said, we deserve what we end up with. Not only is individual 1 completely incompetent in dealing with this pandemic he’s shown he’d be a danger in ANY emergency. He’s also clearly demonstrated his main focus is on, well, himself – a sad state of affairs at a time like this. And, who did he lean on to help him out of this “fix?” None other than Jared Kushner – who ALSO has no idea what he’s doing in regard to fighting a nationwide pandemic. Between the two of them, every time they open their mouths something stupid comes out.

Now, I do have to say, as my new friend “Otto” who stops by here occasionally has pointed out, there were over 60 MILLION (unsuspecting, OK that’s me, Otto wouldn’t say that) voters who chose him over the as despised Hillary Clinton in the 2016 “election” (Of course, with the Russians and James Comey helping individual 1 and he still got 3 MILLION less votes than Mrs. Clinton) and most of them still support our IMPEACHED so-called president. I actually listened to one of them last night, who called from California to talk to my wife (a fellow teacher). She was pointing out what a great job California’s governor, Gavin Newsome, is doing during this crisis – and, what caught my attention was when she said, “He understands to be nice to individual 1.” (Of course, she used his surname)

People are dying faster than the morgues can handle all the bodies and if you want federal help the most important thing to remember is to be nice to the “commander in chief.” Apparently, his skin isn’t very thick. Our governor, Jay Inslee is also doing an excellent job but, according to individual 1 he’s a “snake,” along with others of his Middle School name calling tendencies – which, if he was in my 6th grade class would lead to a “call home.” So, if you don’t kiss individual 1’s ass (I just can’t imagine that) he’s going to allow people to die in your state and he’ll find a way to blame it on President Obama! These are just the times we live in! But, as usual, I digress…………….

I’m presently reading (another) book by Robert Reich – who, in my estimation is a great writer and author – titled “The Common Good.” He lays it out very well in this book how we got to this place of incredible inequality and I hope more people will read it. People are desperate to just pay their bills while they wait for the bailout which, them being in that place, is a focus of Reich’s book. I’m going to quote a part of the book where he summarizes what he believes “got us to this place:”

“Three exploitations of trust set off chain reactions that have undermined the common good: Whatever it takes to win politics disregarded what had been the unwritten rules of good government, based on equal political rights – enabling the most powerful players to extract all political gains. Whatever it takes to maximize profits rejected what had been the unwritten rules of corporate responsibility, based on obligations to all stakeholders – allowing CEO’s, Wall Street, and investors to extract all financial gains. Whatever it takes to rig the economy dismissed what had been the unwritten rule that the “free market” should work for everyone – permitting the most powerful economic actors to extract almost all economic gains. As a result, the key political and economic institutions of our society – political parties, corporations, and the free market – have abandoned their commitment to the common good.”

That paragraph is simply a summation of a significant part of the book, up to that point, where Reich points out BOTH political parties have been part of the problem (although, clearly the republicans are like “men against boys” in comparison to their affect on what has got us here) and he’s the third author I’ve read who mentioned Powell’s memo – which has played a significant role in the demise of the America I knew as a kid. I even read a book titled “Who Stole the American Dream” (by Hedrick Smith – you can get it used for about $4 – I recommend it) which is where I first read about Powell’s memo and the damage it’s done to America’s Middle Class. (Of course, Powell ultimately became a Supreme Court Justice – that should help explain a lot)

My point is if this coronavirus attack on our nation (and the world, of course) isn’t enough to tell “we the people” it’s time to change course the next crisis could be much worse. Of course, the Climate Crisis is right on the horizon (if it’s not already here and close to too late) and we have a group of “climate deniers” in charge of our country. That SHOULD be enough to get young people to the polls in November in large numbers to “clean house” of individual 1, his republican sycophants and any democrats who are putting corporate interests ahead of the interests of “we the people” so that we can change this nation back to a nation whose government works from the bottom up. I’ve always said there are democrats “feeding from the same trough” as the republicans, they’re just getting the “seed pods.”

A nation where we refuse to accept MILLIONS of our brothers and sisters living in their cars or worse should be unacceptable. A nation where MILLIONS of people without basic health insurance shouldn’t cut it. A nation where you have to be wealthy or willing to be saddled with massive debt to gain a higher education also SHOULDN’T cut it. A nation where we the people continue to look the other way to the plight of our fellow citizens in the inner cities should no longer be acceptable. A nation where we no longer allow the “free markets” to be rigged for Wall Street at the expense of Main Street SHOULD be our goal coming out of this crisis as we approach the November election. There’s so much that needs to change and, if not now, when? It reminds me of the IMPEACHMENT of individual 1 who brazenly, right after (and, we’re talking a couple days) William Barr succeeded in deflecting the reality of the Mueller investigation and his collusion with Russia in the LAST election away from public attention attempted to “collude” with Ukraine for the NEXT election. That brazen disregard for our system of laws was like, in regard to IMPEACHMENT – “if not now, when?”

Up until this Covid-19 pandemic, the focus on individual 1’s incompetence and his scandalous behavior was just causing people like me to speculate what would happen should an actual crisis happen. Well, now we know. Of course, I was thinking more in line with some kind of military crisis – some kind of attack on our nation’s interests or one of our allies – and, lamenting what would happen. Of course, that’s because I’m clearly in the “camp” who believes individual 1 is in “way over his head” and, no matter the crisis, will FUMBLE it because of this severe narcissism. It’s always gong to be about individual 1 in his mind. And, of course, we’re seeing that incompetence played out every day there’s a “daily briefing.”

In the face of all this, we have the stock market desperately wanting this so-called “V” curve to happen sooner rather than later. So, today, there’s been another big jump forward as if we’re through the worst of all this – while the experts are warning “we the people” it’s about to get a lot worse – so, from my perspective, the “roller coaster” will continue. Obviously, it would be much better for those who have retirement accounts connected to the stock market if it would stabilize – my intuition just tells me it’s a bit too soon. And, while “conservatives” likely will not ever accept this, the REASON that “V” curve recovery doesn’t happen, if it doesn’t , will be because of individual 1′ s refusal to lead when he was advised in early January this crisis was on its way. As I’ve said, it will be impossible to quantify the number of lives which would have been saved had our IMPEACHED so-called president listened to the intelligence community in January. Whatever the number who end up dead, it’s WAY too many!

Final Thought: MANY years ago, in the early 1960’s when I was playing basketball in high school I had a wonderful coach and one of the most significant things I remember from him was when he would say, “One mistake leads to another.” Well, we’re seeing that play out in “spades” from our IMPEACHED so-called president as this coronavirus pandemic plays out. Individual 1, in his attempt to deflect the blame he deserves as our “commander in chief” (Instead of saying “the buck stops here”) continues to pile one mistake on top of another. When this is over there will be plenty of time to analyze what happened, I just think individual 1 is facing a mountain of criticism – above what he’s getting now – when there’s time to actually analyze what has happened.

Great Britain’s leader Boris Johnson took a similarly cavalier attitude to this crisis as did individual 1 and now Johnson is in intensive care with this virus. Despite the claim of many “conservatives” this is not “just another flu!”

Again, my apologies, I’m posting this without re-reading it.

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……………

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!