BILL BARR IS NO SLOUCH

 you must admit that Barr knows how to play Trump like a fiddle.  At the same time that he does something fireable like telling the truth about the 2020 election, Barr throws Trump a fake bone, like a special counsel who will not outlast a new attorney general, for the President to blissfully gnaw at.

A MISUNDERSTOOD PLEBISCITE

When Trump was advised that he is the first President to fail to peacefully and seamlessly pass the reins of power, he replied, "that's why all 44 of the others were losers and I'm not".    His election to office, in 2016, was totally misconstrued by the American public in not realizing that the 2016 election was a plebiscite to completely alter the nature of the American Presidency to a hereditary monarchy.  Having won that plebiscite, his successor will be Donald, Jr. who will experience a smooth transition to power.

MOST SECURE ELECTION IN HISTORY

Trump's own officials say that 2020 was the most secure election in history.  Trump claims that this is prima facie evidence that the election was rigged against him. With foreign intervention prevented he was placed at an unfair disadvantage. 

GUEST POST-CLAUDE THOMAS

Concerns About A New Vaccine For Covid-19

Expert Author

Dr. Claudewell S. ThomasPsychiatrist

Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired. He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more

Get notified when Dr. Thomas makes new posts

Pfizer announced 90% effectiveness in raising protective antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in controlled trials. They have also refused funding that might lead to political claims. Some of the companies involved in Operation Warpspeed are also reporting similar 90%+ successes. Aside from distribution problems (worldwide as well as domestic), decision temperature; temperature maintenance in storage and transport - 470 degrees adding thereto, I have a sense that victory proclamations are premature.

Perhaps it is due to too much familiarity with Bergman's Seventh Seal but death is a formidable foe. All of the responsible experts choose masking and social distancing with avoidance of indoor small group intimacy over vaccination as the best way to slow infection and death. I do not pretend to be a virologist but I have seen pandemics of flu, meningococcemia, dengue, AIDS, and chickenpox. These were relatively benign when compared with Covid-19. The current vaccines target the spiky head of the virus, the usual agent of entry, and precipitant of the deadly inflammatory response which turns the body against itself. But what if the initial response is organ-specific and differs as the infective focus goes from organ to organ? Thus immunity may diminish or be lost as infection moves from organ to organ. In such a scenario, immunity may last only days or weeks, and the possibility of reinfection and/or worsening of an existing condition rises.

In the final analysis, I guess I believe in good and evil (thank you Mrs. Cummings and Mrs. F. Collins Thomas) and in this chess game between mankind and a microscopic fast-moving and infinitely rapidly reproducing nominally living particle for control of terra firma, we are not going to win control with a simple gambit. Climate change and authoritarian leadership around the world favor the virus with its new mutation, coinfective agent, and animal vector. 

ANYONE CAN BE PRESIDENT

When one can claim credit for someone's achievement, anywhere in the world, and at the same time, decline responsibility for any failure, it can truly be said, "Anyone can be President" 

TRUMP CLAIMS ELECTION IS STILL ONGOING

Trump claims that while the election is not yet over and he remains President, Biden is, nevertheless, henceforward, still responsible for all the COVID deaths. 

WHY THE URGENCY AND FIXATION?

For the life of me, I cannot explain the sense of urgency of the Trumpers to investigate whether China was responsible for the COVID 19 virus.  If so. would that absolve the U.S. of its obligation to the American people?  Would we yield sovereignty to China in order to mandate the wearing of masks as they did in controlling the outbreak in Wuhan?  Perhaps, all the Trumpers want is someone to blame, why not just blame Mexican rapists so we don't have to hate more than we are already burdened with.

WAR TIME PRESIDENT

Trump imagines himself as a wartime President. I imagine Trump as President in 1941 at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  I  cannot help envisioning that one of  Trump's first acts would have been to cede California, New York, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington to the Japanese because, after all, they are Blue States and resources for fighting a war, on their behalf, would be wasted. 

Six months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy crushed the Japanese fleet at Midway, halting Japanese expansion putting them into a defensive mode, thereafter.  Had the Japanese inflicted a quarter-million casualties on the U.S., without a single casualty in return,, who knows, maybe Roosevelt would have surrendered just as Trump has surrendered to the Covid virus?

NEW COVID TEST

There are reports circulating in So. Florida that a new Covid test, developed in conjunction with Trump University. will definitely not increase the number of cases of the disease.  The achievement has been heralded as an example of the progress in scientific research under the Trump Administration.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Donald J. Trump has made a meritorious contribution to the use of genteel expressions in the English language.  using the term "rounding the corner" instead of "dying", he has softened the hard edges of our pandemic.  No longer do we have to use expressions like "dropping like flies" when referring to the pandemic when a simple "rounding the corner" will do in its stead.

GUEST POST

1. Home
 
2. Expert
 
3. Claudewell S. Thomas
 
4. The Fly in the Ointment or The Fly Left the Wall for...

The Fly in the Ointment or The Fly Left the Wall for Deadening Unguents

Expert Author

Dr. Claudewell S. ThomasPsychiatrist

Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired. He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more

Get notified when Dr. Thomas makes new posts

Last night we were treated to a sorry spectacle of a debate between the two vice presidential candidates. They were each allotted two minutes to answer questions in 5 or 6 categories. The moderator was a woman journalist from USA Today. The first thing that was noteworthy was Pence overrunning his time and ignoring the moderator's attempts to rein him in. The second thing to be noted was Pence's interrupting Harris' commentary and time undeterred by female remonstrations. The third thing to be noted was the firmer control and ignoring of Harris' protests by the moderator.

The end result of this was an imbalance of speaking time in favor of Pence. This speaking time advantage did not result in an explanation of the disastrous non-handling of the Covid-19 pandemic with pure Covid-19 deaths heading toward 300,000 and infections in the USA toward 2 million. This may explain the peregrinations of the fly toward a natural environment of horse or bull or human puckey, carefully coiffured.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the number of White House intimates infected by the virus has reached 32 with 4 or 5 seriously ill and one or two possibly near death. This confirms muted expert concerns that the MOM aka POTUS rallies were and are super spreader events. The President (with dexamethasone, monoclonal antibody cocktails, and other drugs unaffordable by anyone else in his body) raves on about how coronavirus is not to be feared. The White House is now an epicenter for the virus. My son wonders if the migratory fly might not be right out of "The Omen". 

JOYRIDES IN A PANDEMIC

Some people think that Trump's puerile stunt of driving around while ill was to wave to supporters, I believe it was a sign to Putin to please not cut off his support.  It was the fear of  Putin  deciding not to throw good money after bad that led Trump to pull off a foolhardy caper that to show Putin that he, Trump, was still there and a valuable asset to Russia.

30 MINUTES AFTER

 Exactly a half-hour after Biden is inaugurated, Republican criticism of how long it is taking him to conquer the pandemic and fix the economy will begin.  So too will we be told that someone with business experience is needed to run the Government.  

HERD IMMUNITY OR HERD CULLING?

 If enough of the herd is killed off and enough of the population is thinned out, infection rates will drop even if immunity is not achieved.  So there is some merit in Trump's new policy.  During WW II, the Axis Powers developed some chemicals which like chlorine  bleach could be quite effective against the coronavirus.

JUST IMAGINE

 Just imagine the reaction of Republicans if Obama had proposed "herd immunity" as the way to deal with the Ebola pandemic.

NO TRUMPER I KNOW

 Trump says the reason he misled his people was so they wouldn't panic at being told the truth.  Frankly, while I can disagree, politically, with my Trumper friends, I can't imagine any single one of them panicking,   I think a lot more of my Trumper friends than Trump does. 

"EVIDENCE NO COURT WOULD ACCEPT"

 Trumper friends claim that none of the evidence being brought forward against Trump having said about our troops being losers for having been killed or maimed in Combat would be allowed in a court of law as it all is verbatim.  Somehow that doesn't sound right but hey! we live in another world now.

THE DURABILITY OF HOAXES

 It never ceases to amaze me how durable hoaxes have become.  Russia is still meddling in our election.  The pandemic continues to rage,  Putin still puts bounties on our troops. They sure don't make hoaxes like they did when I was a kid.

POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC

 His boyfriend, Kim Jong Un, has to admire him now that he has demonstrated his ability to command a cult to court death as well as anyone in History.  Now Putin will see him as a proper leader for his new colony and not withdraw his support.

NEW PRECEDENTS

Now that Trump has established precedents respecting the use of the White House for political campaigns, and other assets of the Federal government, I can hardly wait to hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth when President Kamala Harris makes a political speech from the lawn of the White House or AmbassadorSusan Rice flies to some exotic destination, at taxpayer expense, to call into a Presidential Convention.   

ONLY TRUMP IS CLUMSY ENOUGH TO HAVE DREAMT THIS UP

Only Donald Trump would be clumsy enough to alienate his strongest support group, rural America, by going after the Postal Service, with a meat cleaver.  

SHHH DON'T ANYONE TELL DONALD

If Trump succeeds in stopping the election and there is no newly elected Pesident ready to be sworn in on January 20, 2021, the election goes to the House of Representatives, where Nancy Pelosi is expected to have a majority of the votes.  President Pelosi has a nice alliterative ring to it.

EMBERS OF DEATH

There probably is no truth to the rumor that Trump will award a posthumous Medal of Freedom to any schoolchild that succumbs to those easily extinguished embers of coronavirus.  The medal will be awarded for their sacrifice to the re-election of Trump. 

WHO WILL BECOME THE NEXT HEGEMON?

The ineptness with which the U.S. has coped with the COVID 19 pandemic, as compared to the other major powers, has probably caused us to concede the status of world hegemon to another power.  At this point in time, the two most likely candidates are Russia and  China.  Because they share a border, to avoid devastation to their own neighborhood, they may decide to fight proxy wars over the carcass of the old hegemon.

NOT TO WORRY

Not to worry, Donald.  No need to concern yourself about individuals taking the knee.  In short order, all America will be on its knees.

KARMA

The concept of "karma", the effect of human actions on future events, is thought to be a precept of oriental philosophies but is also a solid principle in the Abrahamic religions.  Our Bible is full of examples where a righteous God rains calamities upon a people for their transgressions.  I wonder what all of our, so-called, pious Persons think about what God would do to a people who would cage children seeking refuge in their land?  You think he might visit plagues and pestilence on our land?

WHY WE NEED A BLACK PRESIDENT

 When I think back to the terms, in office, of our black President, I feel that for the well-being of our country, we require a black President, of whom we, the people, can be critical and who will be responsive. In those days, we didn't allow the black President to even explain the origin of his problems without admonishing him that he was "responsible for anything that occurred under his watch".  With our current white President, nothing is his responsibility and the people supinely accept it.  We Americans were all nervous and jittery when we suffered the loss of 2 lives, during the Ebola pandemic yet under the white President 130,000 lives and counting is just a statistic. A hugely popular program providing health insurance to millions, namely "Obamacare" was almost scrapped because a newly fabricated web site, for the program, was not 100% satisfactory, from day one.  Now the failure of government programs is routinely accepted. 

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

Now the same bleeding-heart liberals who would restrict our second amendment rights in order to protect their children from being gunned down in school. are attempting to restrict our Constitutional rights to other stupid actions by preventing us from opening our Public Schools, without adequate protective gear, in a time of a pandemic,  It takes a Liberal to think that Public Safety somehow trumps our Constitutional rights..

SHORT AND LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES OFSUPREME COURT RULINGS

Short term consequences, for Donald Trump, resulting from the Supreme Court decisions are positive for him, in that any inspection of his tax returns will be deferred until after the elections, in November.  The long term looks bleaker than ever for him.  Even if he wins election to a second term, he faces almost certain bad news when he litigates whether a DOJ ruling is sufficient to bar a criminal indictment.

REALITY OF LIFE

By providing the Personal Protection Equipment, that would protect our Hospital workers from contagion from coronavirus to our school children, we could safely open our schools.  That, however, might require our wealthy to forgo another tax cut which, of course, would not be feasible.  Instead. children should be introduced to the reality of life in the U.S.  as early as possible.

NO MATCH

Donald J. Trump has proven that the Constitution of the United States in no match for a person of low degree.

THE HOAX OF HOAXES

Students of the Trump era will be struck by how often Trump's use of the word "hoax" was a hoax in itself.  Would that what he described as  "hoax" would have been the figment of someone's imagination rather than the actual human tragedy that it was.

AT THAT TIME

I was born into a world with dangerous pandemics.  Not only did we have viral pandemics but bacterial ones as well and, in an age before antibiotics, even more, terrifying than those caused by viruses.  We survived them but we had something none of you have, a strong Board of Health, a Public Health entity free of politicization that could order the quarantining, in place, of infected individuals,  It dispensed mandatory vaccines. free of charge. Public Health was a serious matter and no President could have used it as a toy, at that time.

rge. 

LET 'EM EAT CAKE!

A concerned Republican friend confides that he fears that Trump had a "Marie Antoinette moment when he instructed his administration to sue to invalidate the ACA,  To attempt to take away healthcare at the same time as the nation has fallen into recession while in the midst of a pandemic, is an invitation for a pitchfork reaction or equivalent.  It is tantamount to pumping gasoline on a fire to control it.

SYMBOLOIC OF THE ADMININISTRATION

Today's news that the Trump Administration will, once again, try to get the Supreme Court to invalidate Obamacare, is symbolic of an administration which would take money from the poor to provide for the rich, in the form of tax cuts, and which would again take from the poor, in a time of plague, the means for paying for health care.

OF TESTS AND INVESTIGATIONS

When it comes to the damage that tests can do, Trumps knows whereof what he speaks.  For Trump, tests are analogous to investigations.  and just as,  more tests reveal more disease of the flesh, more investigations reveal more corruption of the body politic.

AT THE END OF HIS ROPE?

As a kid, a whining "why do you hate me so much/' signified that I had just won an argument with a narcissist who had run out of any further justification to maintain his position. I hear the same whine in Trump's self-pitying query about his likeability before the  Supreme Court. Could it be that Trump is at the end of his rope?

THE GREAT KLUTZ

By trying to ban Bolton's book  Trump has again demonstrated his inept clumsiness in dealing with matters that he finds embarrassing, using a howitzer where a scalpel was indicated.  Not only has Trump assured that Bolton's book will be a best-seller but a world classic as well.  If not published in the U.S. it will be published elsewhere in the world and will become a resource in our Universities, yet.

NOTHING SPEAKS TO THE INNATE SUPERIORITY

Nothing speaks to the innate superiority of the capitalistic form of economy than the fact that communist China, six months into a pandemic, has not been able to supply us with sufficient Personal Protective Equipment for our first responders. 

OUR ARMED FORCES CONFRONT REALITY

A large number of the National Guard troops who Trump brought to Washington so he could "cut through them like butter" were black.  Few, if any, were proud to tell their relatives that they had participated in the particular duty and which now may be a factor in low enlistments.

Our  Armed Forces no longer rely on a civilian draft for manpower and probably would rather jettison Donald Trump rather than go back to a draft.

This may account for the fact that for the very first time in my life, I have heard the head of the Joint Chiefs issue a verbal apology for appearing with the Commander-in-Chief in a photo op.

HONORING OUR ADVERSARIES

My, so-called, " Conservative" friends are all in a dither because liberals want to destroy or dishonor their history and /or culture by renaming military camps and bases.  Perhaps they have a point.  After all, we have not honored Gen. Cornwallis of Revolutionary War fame, proving our lack of culture.  There is not a single monument to Benedict Arnold,  another American general who violated his oath to the Union,

Perhaps the greatest victim of our not honoring our adversaries could be our future culture, if we do not honor those 12 Russians who were indicted by Robert Mueller for interfering ith an election that may have brought us the very first monarch of the Trump Dynasty.  What a sacrilege if we failed to honor those martyrs!

'NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BE WRONG"

Some 70 years ago, I audited some courses at a small Law School located in Lower Manhattan.  Although I have long forgotten his name, a phrase from one of the lectures of a professor has remained in my head all these years, "No one has the right to be wrong".

Perhaps our society today would have that professor shaking his head because we now live in a society in turmoil because certain groups, in that society, have been given the right to be wrong, with impunity.

ALMOST 5 YEARS LATER

In September of 2015, a year before Trump was elected President. I  posted an article to this blog which was not a prediction but rather an observation on a subject I know.  From time to time, I enjoy reprinting it.

http://pitcherinthewry.blogspot.com/2015/09/bleak-have-been-reigns.html

▲

 

GUEST POST FROM DR. THOMAS

Covid-19 & Police Violence

Expert Author

Dr. Claudewell S. ThomasPsychiatrist

Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired. He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more

Get notified when Dr. Thomas makes new posts

Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, with the Iron Cross, the Swastika, the KKK Cross, and the twisted cross of MOM (aka POTUS) going on before, as SARS-CoV-2 looks on and licks its chops. The image of the warrior cop has been brutally exploited. The civil servant whose primary responsibility is to serve and protect has disappeared under images of SWAT overlapping the SEAL team and calls for military equipment to take on bad guys who are portrayed as heavily armed by cartels. 

The week ago murder of George Floyd by a vicious Minneapolis cop named Dauvin with the assistance of four fellow cops, under cover of office filmed by a courageous outraged teenager. Without their cell phone coverage, the entire episode would have gone into the books as resisting arrest and death due to preexisting health problems. With the opening up of shops, personal services, restaurants, beaches, hiking trails, and public parks despite warnings and concern for prematureness, protesters poured into the streets mostly peaceful and wearing masks.

The confinement due to Covid-19 may have predisposed to the psychology of reinforcement of restriction on the part of most cops vs a "damn the torpedoes" psychology on the part of marchers anyway with the help of troublemakers tear gas, rubber bullets, military phalanx clearances appeared across the country. One church was set afire in Washington D.C., allowing Trump and his Attorney General to assert military leadership and martial law threat in defense of religious freedom. Thus standing in front of a fire-damaged St. John's church and holding a sullied prayer book our President declared his intent to use Federal military might over the objection of weak, mostly democrat governors, mayors and congressmen, and women to save America.

The pretense of weekly informational press conferences to keep Americans informed about Covid-19 has been given up again despite alleged reinstatement because of its popularity. For over three weeks, Dr. Fauci has had no meetings with Trump or Pence nor has Dr. Birx. The politicization of mask-wearing and self-isolation has weakened those measures and false advertising of hydroxychloroquine, bleach and bogus vaccines has endangered lives. The SARS-CoV-2 virus will reassert itself in the next few weeks, we have 2 years before assured vaccines are available. Civil unrest with fascistic oppression can only help the virus's cause.

DOMINATING THE CITIES

I hate to puncture the dreams of Trumpers about the domination of American cities by superior military force but an objective view of the size of the protest movements shows every sign of growing with time.  When National Guard units have to start targeting their own relatives, it might be risky, for Trump, to assume that the venture would have a happy ending.  Also, he might want to consult with his own Pentagon on the losses Hitler suffered  fighting in the bombed-out rubble of cities in the Soviet Union  where whole German armies were lost.

SHEDDING THE ENTERPRISE?

The frustration of Trump's boss, in the failure of tactics, so successful in the Motherland,  like sending mounted Cossacks against peaceful demonstrators, is having an adverse effect here in the U.S., has become palpable.  He is said to be considering withdrawing his support and washing his hands of the whole enterprise.

REAPING THE WHIRLWIND

When Donald J. Trump encouraged disobedience to common sense Public Health guidelines that his own government promulgated, he may have been seeding the wind that will blow this nation away.

WITHOUT LET OR HINDRANCE

 President Trump is, supposedly, ready to sign an executive order, which would, for the very first time in our history, order that the Chief Executive of the nation be allowed to prevaricate without let or hindrance on so-called social platforms.  It is said that he feels that the First Amendment of the constitution is applicable only to Congress and not to the Executive branch since it only prohibits Congress from regulating the Press.

MY CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS BECOME VERY DEFENSIVE...

My conservative friends become very defensive when I criticize white policemen for killing unarmed black civilians, especially when they are handcuffed and unable to resist.  Their last resort in any argument on this topic is to refer to the number of deaths of black civilians, by black CRIMINALS in Chicago.  How these criminal acts can then justify, and exonerate, police officers, murdering black citizens is a stretch too far, but then it is usually followed by silence on the part of most conservative, at least those that recognize the absurdity of their position.

A SPANISH PROVERB

So Trump has paid $1 Billion to a Big Pharma company to produce a vaccine before the election.  I am reminded of a Spanish adage, "Son pagado, mal tocado" which roughly translated would be "A song paid for in advanced will be poorly played".  I hope the result will turn out better than other medicinals that Donald has touted.

THINK WHAT YOU WILL

Think what you will about Trump, he has altered history by raising the status of the 43d President, George W. Bush and is about to raise that of Herbert Hoover the 31st.

WHO HAS TO APOLOGIZE?

For more than a century, a Flu that killed millions was attributed to  Spain. It is now being attributed to the state of Kansas in the good old U.S. of  A.  What if investigators, in the future, track down the origin s of the "Chinese" to a meatpacking plant in Nebraska or Iowa, who gets to apologize to whom?

THINGS TRUMP COULD HAVE LEARNED FROM OBAMA

Had Trump followed an old American tradition of learning from the experiences of former President he might have learned the following about pandemics, 

 1. Don't get into pissing contests with leaders of countries that are needed to supply the ventilators, and PPEs that are needed to protect your first responders.

2. Don't cut off funding to the international organizations that you need to go into the countries that originate viruses but with whose leaders you are engaged with pissing contests

GUEST POST

All out assaults on the SARS-COV2 virus

Expert Author

Dr. Claudewell S. ThomasPsychiatrist

Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired. He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more

Get notified when Dr. Thomas makes new posts

World infections from Covid-19 causative agent have soared past three million and related deaths past 230 thousand. The USA contributing about 1/3 to each category. Suicide, homicide, child and elder abuse as well as domestic violence's old standby partner (usually wife, but not always) abuse is climbing along with drug abuse and alcoholism. The COV2 pandemic social isolation seems at fault. I have found my recliner a place to read, write, watch TV, and handle phone calls. However, the number of excursions on my elliptical has dropped, my stationary bike is seldom used as are other devices. A chair like the bed can weaken you. We are lucky to have a decent-sized backyard with a view of Saddleback Mountain and the channel to the sea.

We can roam masked or unmasked noting the takeover of birds, an occasional raccoon, skunk, or coyote. The front is a cul de sac with occasional car or truck travel and a neighbor or trespasser interaction thus calling for a mask at all times. We have pretty good computer capability and get assistance from children and grandchildren, we do not hoard so the occasional ordering via phone or internet is sufficient and usually handled by the third of four grandsons. There are those without backyards or frontcourts, grandchildren who are computer savvy, pensions, and cellphones, who lack food, jobs, and healthcare. Richard D Wolff's article, "Capitalism Can't be repaired-Coronavirus Shows Its Huge Weaknesses", presents capitalism as Moreso a political than an economic system. These are the folks being savaged by the virus and whose slim protection by Medicare, Obamacare, Medical equivalents, etc.

All-out attacks on the SARS-COV2 disease are embraced by POTUS as polls indicate real trouble come November 2020. I do not believe that quick results are possible. My expectations have been laid out before. Remdesivir appears to have an effect or patients already on ventilation or intubated. It is believed but not known that the drug can block a needed enzyme, my speculation is that it is affecting the RNA body of the virus, the DNA crowns having already gained entry into the body and successfully stacked an organ. Remdesivir has been given intravenously, I am not at all sure of its pill form efficacy. This Ebola drug was given only a 25-30% effectiveness rating in China.
Drugs dealing with the hyperinflammatory response, antibody immunization, etc, are in the works worldwide, collaborating world medical universities with big pharma connections that don't hamper collaboration is the best bet, but the time frame is 2 to 4 years if unhampered by stupid political gamesmanship designed to confuse and misinform.

LOST CAUSE

The fact that Trump is disbanding the coronavirus task force signals that he has given up on attempting to solve the problem, and no longer wants to have the Trump brand associated with the entire matter.  From now on, his comments will be made from the sidelines as a spectator and not a participant.  After all, the presidency of the U.S.A. should not be associated with a lost cause.

WHAT MANNER OF LAND?

What manner of land would suffer the loss of 70,000  of its citizens, in little over a month, without even a single citizen demonstrating in the streets questioning the actions of its government?

WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY

The ancient Greeks taught us "whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad"  What they didn't teach us is that in the ensuing insane asylum, the inmates would run the place. Obviously, they didn't often suffer through pandemics or armed militias with cabin fever. 

POWERS OF THE PRESIDENCY

We should all bear in mind that Trump needs to win the presidency at all costs, desperately.  Prosecution, under Federal law, is not yet time-barred, and will only become so,  ifTrump can win a second term.  Prosecution under New York State law is still a possibility but also may become moot if he can win another term.

There remains the possibility that if Trump sees there is no way out he will resign and allow Pence to succeed to the office, on condition of his pardoning Trump.  Even if he can't make a deal with Cuomo for a State pardon, he could rely on New York's double jeopardy laws to challenge prosecution in that State.

Under a worst-case scenario, the man can blow up the world.

CASTING PEARLS BEFORE US SWINE

Trump has called further coronavirus briefings to be a waste of time and energy.  His opinion of the value of daily briefings has deteriorated since he has encountered ridicule for his cogent advice that researchers look into the use of disinfectants in treating coronavirus.  Instead of properly investigating, his critics have heaped opprobrium rather than praise for coming up with what could be the single best solution to effecting social distancing, a proven remedy for the virus.

IS IT ANY WONDER?

Is it any wonder that Southern  Governors, now that it has been fairly well established that blacks are differentially more adversely affected by coronavirus,  are hurrying to lift restrictions on social grouping?

MENE, MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN

MENE, MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN, weighed, weighed in the balance and found wanting, the words that foretold the doom of the kingdom of Belshazzar might be applicable to this generation of Americans.  For the life of me, having grown up in what has been called, perhaps mistakenly, "the Greatest Generation", I cannot imagine a group of my peers protesting the rigors of having to sit in an underground bomb shelter  for the duration of of an air raid.

DIMINISHED IN RANK

If, as Donald Trump has claimed, COVID19 is a Chinese biological weapon that escaped their laboratory in Wunan, then it has revealed how robust their defenses are, as ours are so vulnerable that they knocked out one of our nuclear aircraft carriers.  China did not have to buy all of their equipment, needed to combat the virus, from the U.S.whereas we are dependent on Chinese supplies of ventilators, PPEs, etc.  Despite all his tough rhetoric, our military has been diminished in rank during Trump's watch.

WILL THE CONSERVATIVES AMONG US BE AS INDIFFERENT?

I wonder if the conservatives among us will be as indifferent if the coronavirus begins to kill our children in a public school prematurely opened as they are school children murdered by school shootings.  They probably will shrug it off as long as they don't have to attend the funeral.  They will offer, however, "thoughts and prayers".

WHICH DO YOU DISLIKE LEAST?

It is rumored that the  G.O.P. will begin polling voters as to which of Trump's tactics they dislike least? The smoke or the mirrors?

THE MOST PRESCIENT BOOK TITLEOF ALL TIMES?

A book, first published in August 2018, by a Republican strategist, named Rick Wilson, called "Everything Trump Touches Dies" may  turn out to be the most prescient book title of all time when we consider the possible future of these once United States.

THE IMMACULATE DECEPTION

During the Obama administration, Repugs adamantly insisted that everything adverse that happened, even if it originated during the Bush administration, was Obama's fault, because it happened on Obama's watch.  On the other hand, if it happened on Trump's watch, it was the fault of the Chinese,  Pelosi, the impeachment, etc.  To the Repug, Trump is infallible ex-cathedra as a matter of faith.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

I wonder if Evangelicals ever entertained the possibility that God invented a new plague, namely coronavirus, to inflict on mankind because locusts have been so depleted by man's poisonous chemicals?

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Now that their businesses have closed because of the economy, my Trumper friends are bragging about having their taxes reduced to zero!

REPUBLICANS MISS OBAMA

Republican Senators will freely tell you, privately, how much they miss having Obama in the Oval Office.  That way they would have ample justification for denying the trillion-dollar bailouts for the coronavirus situation.

GUEST POST

With thanks to Dr. Claude Thomas:

New post on The Octogenarians

The Imperial Presidency and covid-19 by daedal2207 The gang who couldn"t shoot straight took dead aim at the coronavirus pandemic and tried to reverse course on the pathway of stupidity and lies that characterized their public health behavior over the last three years and in particular the last six months.They fired with son in law Kushner priming the musket and MOM aka POTUS pulling the trigger.Moscow Mitch shut down the senate on a crucial weekend thereby applying his Kentucky windage in the galestorm of the pandemic.They were months behind the coronavirus but did sink the Dow Jones Index and unmistakably heralded in a bear market and economic recession. Truth tellers must concede that the OBAMA bull market was coming to an end anyway after 11 years and this administration's identification with the surge was spurious to begin with.Ultra truth seekers will testify to the inapplicability of the stock market indices to the lives of the hoi polio and to the ruthlessness of this administration's pursuit of a 15 per cent return to the rich by destroying the Affordable Care Act,cutting Medicare ,applying a means test and a workability index to MEDICAID mostly eliminating it.Taking 700,000 people off food stamp eligibility was slated for April first but the epidemic and NANCY Pelosi with republican cooperation blocked it. With the exception of those still being lied to on FOX news(LESS DISASTROUSLY NOW) the public now has access to the danger to which it is exposed by the covid-19 pandemic and the meaning of the declaration of a NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY. For those who might like more of my views on infectious illness and public health concerns go to findatopdoc.com daedal2207 | 17 Mar 2020 at 1:21 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: https://wp.me/p4Gt4f-1ab

TAINT OVER TIL PUTIN SAYS IT'S OVER!

All you people who say Trump's presidency is over should just remember, t'aint over til Putin says it's over!

OTHER PRESIDENTS HAVE DEALT WITH PANDEMICS

The Bush Administration had to deal with a pandemic caused by a coronavirus and Obama had two different viruses to contend with but comparing them to how Trump is handling the present pandemic is unfair.  After all, both Bush and Obama started with a fully funded CDC, whereas Trump had the constraint of funding a tax cut for needy billionaires.

DEAR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS

Dear Friends & Neighbors

If I should succumb to the coronavirus, my epitaph should read: "Killed by a Democratic hoax.

OLD WHINE IN NEW BATTLES

Despite having a Supreme Court with a solid majority of Justices nominated by Republican Presidents, Trump is complaining of unfairness because, as a body, they don't do what he wants, ignoring the fact that he is, after all, the President.   He has started to do battle with yet another branch of our government, for treating him, unjustly.  

THE NEW MAIN STREET OF THE DEEP STATE

Now that share prices are dropping,  traders have little doubt that  the Dow, Jones Averages will be declared "Fake News" and  that Wall Street will  become the new Main Street of  .the Deep State.

CITIZENS UNITED

I suspect that if Bloomberg actually succeeds in winning the Presidency, Republicans will join with Democrats in clamoring for an amendment to the Constitution to overturn Citizens United, or at least allow unlimited contributions only to the Republican Party.

PELOSI'S UNWARRANTED HOSTILITY

Considering where his hand probably had been, Donald Trump. in a kind and gallant gesture, refused to shake Nancy Pelosi's hand at his State of the Union speech.  Pelosi thereupon, rudely and in an unwarranted fashion,  tore up Trump's speech,  Pelosi met Trump's kindness and consideration with hostility. 

BIG DEAL!

Big deal!  So, Trump just changed ownership of Kansas City from Missouri to Kansas, so what? If Putin can change ownership of Crimea from Ukraine to Russia, what's to stop the most powerful man in the world from ceding Kansas City to Kansas?

PATHOLOGICALLY UNABLE

My take on the impeachment, of Trump, is that the Republicans will acquit him without allowing witnesses thereby forever owning responsibility for not having gotten rid of him when they had the opportunity.  Trump is enamored of his clever but unwise schemes and probably will be pathologically unable to resist another one between now and the election.

THE TRIAL OF HUNTER BIDEN?

The Republican-majority in the Senate can call any witness they want, including Hunter Biden in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, or any hearing whatsoever,  The question is why hasn't he been called before.  Why hasn't he been investigated by Bill Barr's Justice Department?  Could it be that he already has been investigated and found that he has not violated any U.S. law? There is no law prohibiting any American citizen from working for a Ukrainian company in Ukraine.  There is no U.S. law limiting the amount of money that an American citizen can earn abroad.  Could they arrest him for tax evasion?  They would run into the same laws that are protecting Donal Trump from disclosing his tax returns, wouldn't they?  Perhaps Trump would be happy with the testimony of Hunter Biden but will the Republicans?

A GRAMMAR LESSON FOR CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS

Some of my Conservative friends have been demonstrating a deficiency in their knowledge of the use of the possessive apostrophe in the English language and in the interest of their proper usage would like to clue them in.  The proper meaning of the acronym, "TDS" is Trump's Derangement Syndrome.  Failure to use the apostrophe not only is inaccurate but does nothing to cure the condition.