Now that the details are starting to be released (Why is it that we have to pass this thing to know what’s really in it? Sound familiar?), I wanted to give my commentary on a few things I already disagree with. Before you shrug your shoulders and say “it’s just a right wing reaction by a right wing blog” hear me out.
This is a truly unprecedented situation. The leisure, restaurant, casino, and airline industries are on the verge of collapse. The stock market has given up all of the Trump gains since his election. The news media has whipped everyone into frenzy. Schools have closed indefinitely, restaurants have closed all dine-in operations, and movie theatres have closed. While I still feel this is a huge overreaction, as William has told me “once you ring the bell, how do you un-ring it?”
Now on to the Trump plan, it involves two $1,200 checks per person, for 2 months, with an extra $500 for children. The goal is that these checks to be out in a little over 2 weeks. My question is how? The Treasury/IRS has to have files upon files upon files, no chance this gets done in just a few months. (Last time the government did such payments under George W Bush, it took 3 months.) I have a feeling this will be left up to the individual states because at the end of the day, the federal government can’t move fast enough to be effective. (I’m assuming they want to be effective.) Instead, I think you may see the states distributing funds with the Treasury reimbursing. This means the $$$ will be going to non-citizens and likely people making far more than the intended income levels. Sorry folks, but we have voter registration roles that are out of whack, what makes you think they will get this right?
CEOs trolling for $$$
I also question bailing out corporations in return for equity, this I liken to a real life game of Shark Tank. I almost envision the CEO going into the smoke filled room asking for so many million/billion/trillion/gazillion in exchange for so much equity. It would literally be must see TV, almost the Apprentice in disguise! I guess if they like your pitch, equity stake can be negotiated. If they don’t like your pitch, well, you go the way of Lehman Brothers. I do not like this idea one bit, I understand the need for a lifeline, not a bailout. Even an equity stake doesn’t give the government enough downside protection, especially with the political risk of an election year!
In conclusion, the worst part is that I feel the GOP has once again been goaded by the Democrats into thinking this is a good idea. I see this ending horribly in November. All this talk of playing nice, ends with the Dems running TV ad, after TV ad of the party of the rich only gave you folks $1,200 X 2, we want to give you a living wage paid for by Uncle Sam each month! Shades of George W. Bush in 2007ish, it ended badly. They will have us over the barrel.
George W Bush signing legislation for tax rebate checks in 2008
These guys might all shake hands and bump fists in public, but they all know there is a lot at stake in November. All are trying to insure the re-election of themselves and their “fellow congressmen” while trying to pick off as many of the other side as possible. There is a reason we have 2 parties, I don’t think Pelosi and Schumer will be cutting re-election ads for Trump, and the GOP in November…..Just saying. Remember the last time things were TOO BIG TO FAIL!
After being closed for a good six or seven weeks, the Elk Grove Unified School District is hoping to roll-out another four or five weeks of instruction for this school year. Seems like it took a while to greenlight the concept (this is the third week since the shutdown) and now they are giving teachers an additional month to figure out how to implement the details. The goal is to have the district “go live” with online instruction for the last week of April with all instruction terminating by the end of May. All schedules year round to traditional are included in this new and truncated calendar.
Please note my son’s private school went live (K – 12) with full blown instruction in all classes on their third day following a shutdown. Ditto for many other public-school districts. Why Elk Grove is taking their ever lovin’ sweet time is a mystery. Why they need another month now that they have a plan of action is ridiculous.
Meanwhile, teachers have been given the green light to make suggestions to parents for online resources (which is good) but teachers are still forbidden to continue with any new material for their children (which is bad). I guess the lowest common denominator governs not just the student’s but the teacher’s instruction as well. Sad.
I’m left with many concerns and questions besides the ones I’ve already mentioned. Will the grades count? If so, will they be weighted the same? What about teachers that don’t even know how to check email? (This is not a rhetorical question because a bunch of teachers get stumped when asked to press the “Any Key.”) What about AP classes or special ed classes? Both extremes pose challenges. What if Johnny or his folks want the district to supply the computing device and/or internet access?
The District’s correspondence makes it clear that their relationship with the union comes before the children. No surprise to me. Had they let their principals take the lead, instruction would be happening for most children, but education is a top-down world. This experiment in “Distance Learning” will result in an uneven quality of education; limited by the abilities of the teachers. Hopefully it will encourage a few to either retire or up their tech skills.
Anyway, it looks like my pronouncement of no more school this year, may be proven wrong. Let’s just see what happens. Whether it can be called distance daycare, or entertainment, or education may be in the eye of the beholder.
We have all seen the ads and heard the hype, Wendy’s–for the octillionth time–is making a run at the breakfast crowd. Since we are under house arrest unless you are going to work, school, the grocery store, the pharmacy, getting alcohol, or getting take-out so I figured I would try Wendy’s. I checked online to peruse the options, and most of the items looked pretty good!
Ambiance: Well it was take-out only, so, it’s going to be a low score. Damn the Chinese and their BAT SOUP!!!!!!! But actually, the inside of this newly renovated Wendy’s was actually quite nice. We’re talking close to a Starbucks type vibe here. I could see myself…well not really hanging out here for a long length of time. Still 3.3/5, its actually pretty nice inside.
Wendy’s Breakfast Baconator
Food: The menu had a nice selection; biscuits, sandwiches, a burrito (weird for a place headquartered in Ohio). After careful consideration, I settled on the Breakfast Baconator Combo, consisting of a burger bun, 6 strips of bacon, a sausage patty, 2 slices of cheese, an egg and Swiss cheese sauce. It came with potato wedges, coffee, and a free Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit. So, I get all 2,000 calories for breakfast, wow. Price point was a little high for my liking but that’s ok when you account for the free sandwich. The honey butter chicken biscuit was outstanding, like on par with Chick-fil-A. Actually, really good. Also, the potato wedges were seasoned perfect, again very good, coffee is coffee. The Breakfast Baconator though, was way too much, everything competed. The sausage was over seasoned, so it fought the bacon, and the egg, the burger bun was wild and out of place, and the Swiss cheese sauce was overkill. I would go 3.5 on the breakfast; I would order the biscuit and the wedges for sure.
Wendy’s Chicken Biscuit
Overall: It’s a fast food joint, so it’s graded on a lower end curve. The place was nice, the people were surprisingly friendly. The food came out way too quick for my liking, almost like it was sitting from earlier. (I was there at 6:45, I ordered to go from inside). I really liked that biscuit though. 3.4/5, I think the menu is here to stay, and it’s not bad.
China’s newest gift to the world, the dreaded Corona virus, has finally caused a level of disruption in my life. It started on Monday as I stopped at the Save Mart grocery store located near my office. I happen to get there most days about 6 AM which is when they open. I typically buy one beverage item on my way to work. This week, I have been greeted with hoarders each day. As the week goes on, their numbers have increased. I estimate that today there were 60 to 70 people there to greet me. All self-check-out lines were purposely down to keep people from breaking the hoarding rules which are enforced at the cash registers. Last week, when they opened, there were only two or three folks in line counting me. I’ve never seen grown humans so excited about toilet paper in my life.
Save Mart 6 AM line on west side of store 03/20/20
Also, in the last week, our church threw in the towel and cancelled all services. The church has many elderly members but good grief, this is ridiculous. They hope to hold services on Easter… like you better. Meanwhile, if you know a good set of catacombs anywhere, I’d be interested in going to their services. I thought we had faith not fear. See what happens when you get shaky on Predestination and Unconditional Election? Oh well, guess it wasn’t meant to be.
The last few days at work have taken a turn into the Twilight Zone. Note to self, don’t say, “it’s just a bad flu” in the presence of a room full of state workers that get their news from cable TV providers. It’s a most unpleasant feeling when they glare at you for trying to talk sense. Anyway, management is trying to implement “social distancing” by reducing the number of people in the office at any one time. Thus, they are having us work six hour shifts and then work from home for the remainder of our day. Please understand that logic and common sense take a back seat to this random directive. If you can imagine working in an accounting office with no access to your files or accounting program. We are given nothing to do at home but watch the email box for three hours at a time. No fears. We get a full check while all this going on.
The wife has it worse. Earlier this week her district cancelled school for the rest of the year. Today in a joint release, the district and their union not only told teachers that they can’t provide their children with learning opportunities—many of which are currently free on the Internet during this current social upheaval—but if any teacher knows of a fellow teacher that dares to try to help their students learn during this extended break, said teacher is to be reported by other teachers so the violator can be disciplined. Yep, we got it in writing. Teachers who try to continue teaching will be punished. Caring forbidden, conforming mandatory. Welcome to California. For those keeping tally, just another reason to leave the state.
Contrary to the instructions of the County of Sacramento and Governor, some of us boys met last night at a local “speak easy” to shoot the breeze. I think our group was below the current gathering size eligible for the automatic death penalty—currently set at ten individuals. The topics didn’t really matter, it’s just getting out of the house for our regularly scheduled gathering.
California bars closed, designated non-essential
Short of the governor declaring martial law or California falling into the sea, the family will be taking a road trip in the coming months. We will get to see if the rest of the country is as worked-up about this illness as are people here in California. I have heard mixed reports on whether this is the case in other parts of the country.
Folks my most immediate gripe has been the difficulty of finding eggs and bread in the pillaged grocery stores in this part of Sacramento County. We’re not greedy, we just want our usual breakfast on Saturday morning. Last night, after half a dozen trips to various places, I finally scored a dozen eggs. Thanks, Chief for your personal recommendation and direction in guiding my quest. I’ve purposely not hoarded anything but try to buy only what I need and live life as normally as possible.
Panic and worry are not on my radar over this Corona virus. I think thousands of people are walking around with it and have no symptoms. I base that on the number of celebrities, sports figures, and politicians that are getting it. They only know because they have doctors that can use their patient’s station in life to get a test. Those of us with McDonald’s medical plans (talkin’ about you Kaiser) are just fighting over scraps. I think most folks will never know that they had it and that’s probably for the best.
Frankly, unless you’re in a high-risk group, this whole thing is as overblown for most of us as Y2K. Lest you think I’m just saying crazy stuff, take a look at the Bloomberg news article about deaths in Italy. Over 99 percent of the people dying had preexisting conditions.
More than 99% of Italy’s coronavirus fatalities were people who suffered from previous medical conditions, according to a study by the country’s national health authority.
The new study could provide insight into why Italy’s death rate, at about 8% of total infected people, is higher than in other countries. The Rome-based institute has examined medical records of about 18% of the country’s coronavirus fatalities, finding that just three victims, or 0.8% of the total, had no previous pathology. Almost half of the victims suffered from at least three prior illnesses and about a fourth had either one or two previous conditions.
The average age of those who’ve died from the virus in Italy is 79.5. As of March 17, 17 people under 50 had died from the disease. All of Italy’s victims under 40 have been males with serious existing medical conditions.
Folks, people in Italy smoke like chimneys, so many had compromised respiratory systems. Italy is also the “Florida” of Europe. Many people choose to retire to this country. Italy has a climate similar in many respects to California.
Again, for the vast majority of us, this virus is just an inconvenience. I think we could have dealt with this without putting the economy on hold and citizens under house arrest.
Today, people at work were asking me if they should be afraid of the police stopping them and whether they risk going to jail just for being outside of their house or driving to and from work.
It doesn’t help when the guys on the radio during my morning commute were joking about being issued passes proving they work for an industry designated as critical in case police ask them for papers while commuting to work.
I woke up this morning to a sound of a baby crying, which is odd since I have no offspring that I’m aware of. Turns out it was a story sent to me by a friend of mine, from the blog of a man who no longer has many friends, Aaron F Park. I wish I could get back the five minutes of my life I spent reading that absolute abomination of a wannabe hit piece, but I would rather not bleach my eyeballs. In the piece, Aaron tried to lay out the case as to why his client, Supervisor Kirk Uhler lost re-election. He used classic Aaron Park lines from every campaign he had run…. “You took down my clients signs.” “She was funded by far left people” “Tried to use undue influence over the public.” Aaron these were all total and complete bunk, and you know it!
Photos of Aaron F Park per Microsoft Bing search engine
Editor’s Note: I tried searching for a recent photo of Aaron F Park on Bing for use in this post and the second image was a dumpster fire; ok, actually it was a row of porta-potties totally involved in flames but isn’t that actually worse?
I have spoken to about 8 folks in Placer, specifically about your political operations. All were less than impressed. All 8 live in Supervisor District four, home of your doomed client Mr. Uhler. None of them to a man could bring themselves to vote for Mr. Uhler. They described Uhler as being one of the most arrogant, condescending human beings they have ever met. Furthermore Mr. Park, no one had a good thing to say about you. Most questioned you even wanting to be in politics due to your extremely thin skin. When I brought up as your name as an insurance professional, they all became flat out irate. Seems like you are a failure at both lines of work…congrats!
Aaron let’s take a close look at some of the clients you helped usher into office…..for the low, low cost of just a couple hundred bucks a month blogging fee you charged!
Bill Brough
William “Bill” Brough, you piled on Anna Bryson, (congrats you successfully wiped those posts from your blog) and defended a womanizing, alcoholic, sexual assailant. You now claim you never knew, and blogged about his exploits in the Capitol, I consider you an accomplice.
Ted Gaines, this was classic Aaron. He was all in against Roger Niello, and according to Aaron, Gaines was the best thing since sliced bread. Almost right after the ink dried on the Gaines election, he became public enemy number 1. Don’t believe me? Check his blog, post after post about the Gaines family.
Ted Gaines
Beth Gaines, Aaron was all riled up that she ran and won her husband’s old seat. Aaron screamed she was unqualified, nepotism, etc. In most ways Aaron was right, but let’s take a look behind door #3 here….
Megan Dahle
Megan Dahle, wife of now State Senator Brian Dahle, check the blog again, Aaron had no issues with her being elected to follow her hubby under the same circumstances. Looks like she doesn’t exactly hold major qualifications either?????? Aaron…I’m hearing crickets from you?
In the 2015 special election you supported Don Wagner over John Moorloch, and I understand why, as I supported Wagner as well. However you referred to him as “Moloch” a pagan god of human sacrifice. This coming from a man who “claims he is a Christian first, and conservative second.” May I ask if you have ever actually read the Bible? That alone is horrific and the fact you wrote it over and over is astonishing.
pagan god Moloch
Have you ever read your own posts? Not to proof read but for the actual personal attacks? They all settle on womanizing, drinking, or not being ideologically pure enough. Newsflash you moron, people can have a drink and not be an alcoholic, I swear you AA graduates are the worst of the lot. As far as your womanizing attacks go, funny how you left Duane Dichara unscathed on that one, with you even going as far as calling him ethical! LOL As far as your ideological attacks, most of the time you are so far off base its laughable. These are literally his only attacks folks, he either lacks the mental capacity to think of other ones, or runs his life like he runs a campaign, same old box of tricks each year.
You complain and whine constantly about the lack of paid campaign jobs you have received lately….maybe because no one likes you. I heard you did great work re-electing Harmeet Dhillon as National Committeewomen to the CRP….oh wait, that’s right you were not allowed near it, probably because she wanted to win! I actually have it on record that you are a laughingstock inside the CAGOP headquarters, they have screen shots of your blog trashing Jessica Patterson, then going on an apology tour after she got elected chair. Your chances of a campaign consulting gig went from zero to piss off.
Harmeet Dhillon
Aaron you exhibit patterns of behavior that any medical professional would say are signs of a psychopath. You peaked when online blogging was invented as you can now make anonymous posts about any and every one with whom you have an axe to grind. However you lack the material or the state of mind to do so and make any impact. Also think about the high number of folks you have run out of your life on a rail over very small squabbles! Tom Hudson, and Charlie Schaupp are just two of them. Best friends you were, you even helped Charlie run for office, yet you attack them on personal matters so far out of bounds; you can’t even tell you’re turning other folks off to you. Also you seem to get the police/FBI called on you far more often than anyone I know…maybe find a new schtick? Or get a life outside of politics? Or find an actual hobby?
Charlie Schaupp
Aaron get some help and take a long hard look in the mirror. You are a dumpster fire in the worst possible way. Your attacks on Victor Behket were despicable. You trashed that man, who by the way was running for a local office not even a partisan one! You trashed Celeste Greig, and Karen England…all for what, simple political disagreements? You blame every campaign you’ve been against at stealing your candidate’s signs; however, I have first-hand knowledge that you have removed far more of your opponent’s signs over the years! Come on Aaron, it’s over.
Kirk had only one friend left, and he hired you to do his dirty work, congrats on failing spectacularly. Oh hat tip to you on the robo call from the Democrat operative in the area, while others say that reeked of desperation, you’re dumb enough to have thought it would work!
It’s not too late to remove all those old posts Aaron.
The Chief
PS who can ever forget you and your loser brother George sitting front row at a Jeb Bush event in Reno way back during the presidential primary…ouch, bad look for you two “conservative brothers!” Before you try to spin the tale, the only folks allowed to sit in the front row are large money donors.
Johnnie Does Johnnie Does has been left to run the office by himself. His boss is over 60 and is totally freaked-out after watching wall-to-wall coverage of the end of the world in real time. As a respite, his boss has decided to flee the office and seek refuge on the links of his favorite golf course; thus living life 18 holes at a time. His boss thinks this is his best chance to ride out the Corona Virus outbreak and remain married. The reason golf is a logical choice is that the foursomes have agreed to space their balls at least six feet from each other thus upholding social distancing while allowing commerce to be conducted as gentlemen should (less the handshake anyway). As a concession to the unwashed massed, players have agreed to celebrate the 19th hole away from the Club House.
Troll Troll is completely unaffected by the current crisis. He is a gamer living in his parent’s basement. Usually, his mom has three squares a day ready and waiting for him in the kitchen. When his folks are out of the house, Troll gets meals delivered to his doorstep. His mom does his laundry and takes care of him. His only chore is to dump the trash each week. Despite the Corona chaos being broadcast on television, Troll is as happy as a kitten in front of a fireplace on a cold winter’s day. Troll is looking forward to getting his $1,000 from PresidentAndrew YangDonald Trump and plans to spend it on his dream date with Hope Hicks. Troll is very patriotic and wants to do his part to stimulate the economy.
William By day, William is a nonessential government worker, and thus shows up dutifully to his Dilbert-like cubicle every day virtually unnoticed by management. During these times, he is comforted by the knowledge that the rest of his family is safely home surfing the Internet and watching Netflix. He is convinced that their Summer Vacation started really early this year, but as always, his routine continues unabated. The only downside is that the private school attended by Junior has suspended classes, but is still expecting the balance of tuition for the school year. Once home, William still enjoys walking the blog dog around the deserted park near his home and editing posts for our readers.
Chief The Chief is in his TP with extra T.P. and hand sanitizer. In addition, he is reportedly violating social distance requirements with a willing and lonely squaw (not related to Elizabeth Warren). Once the whites have been ravished by this plague, Chief is hoping for saner public discourse and a restoration of civil liberties for his people.
Jake the Snake Jake is bummed that the Church threw in the towel so easily on cancelling services. Jake figures they survived the Black Plague, Protestant Reformation, and Inquisition so what’s a few runny noses? Plus his favorite gym has bolted its doors and ESPN has resorted to calling Poker a sport. Oh what times we live in?
We trust that you and yours are safe and that by the dawn of Easter Sunday, we will see the end of this disruption to our way of life.
We take a break from the coronavirus meltdown to bring you one heck of a story out of Florida involving former Tallahassee Mayor and Governor nominee Andrew Gillum.
Andrew Gillum
Police swept the room and found 3 bags of crystal meth. Gillum was allowed to leave and return to his residence…I guess he pulled the “I’m a former governor candidate card” many of us can never use. Any other citizen gets bracelets put around their hands and escorted to the “blue roof inn”. But wait there is more….the man who was coked out of his mind on methamphetamines? He is a 30 year old gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that) male escort. He had a profile on Rentmen.com his name is Travis Dyson.
Andrew Gillum and male escort Travis Dyson
Here is where it gets far worse for Gillum. He released this statement Friday morning ““I was in Miami last night for a wedding celebration when first responders were called to assist one of my friends. While I had too much to drink, I want to be clear that I have never used methamphetamines,” he said. “I apologize to the people of Florida for the distraction this has caused our movement.”
However, this statement from his male escort friend says otherwise “Gillum was too drunk to speak to the police when they arrived at the scene,” documents say. Speaking to the Miami New Times, Dyson said that Gillum did not mention attending a wedding. In his statement, Gillum referred to Dyson as a “friend.” Dyson said that he and Gillum had been friends since last spring. Dyson told the website, “I personally was not celebrating a wedding. I don’t know if [Gillum] was in town for a wedding. He did not mention that.” I think most would kindly admit they were there for a wedding to the friends they “rented by the hour.”
Ok…so the troll has been wound up…. GET HIM!!!!!!!!
One thing I know about this guy, he did it for the entire world to see. He confirmed it. It’s a fact. It’s not subjective. He cannot argue it…Andrew Gillum BLOWS! When you ran for Governor, you lectured us in our ear….while you were taking it in the rear!!!! Is it bad that the first thing I thought of when I saw this story was I hoped it included Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon (his 2 CNN co-workers) in hope this was like some perverse love Oreo? Democrat politicians have a checkered and long record with threesomes, just Google Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy; their favorite “sandwich” was them plus a random waitress in between them, usually after closing time.
US Senators Teddy Kennedy and Christopher Dodd
Somewhere former DC Mayor Marion Berry is smiling in heaven.
Convicted criminal and Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry
God, what a liar you are Gillum, saying the meth wasn’t yours. 3 men, 3 bags…. oh wait, that’s not Common Core math, never mind. How come you didn’t use the excuse it was sugar? And you needed to add it to your Cuban Roast Coffee? Don’t worry young Andrew, a similar situation happened to failed candidate Stacy Abrams in Georgia…. oh wait, that was Crisco and Pixie Sticks!
Stacy Abrams proves Undeniable Truth of Life #24: Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.
We interrupt this transmission to bring you a coronavirus update…. WAIT WHAT? Get the **** outta here with your update! I’ve got a case of Corona too, it’s in my fridge!!!!!!!
Andrew Gillum welcome to the big leagues; however, in today’s media you must prove your innocence, just like Trump colluded with Russia, you colluded with a homosexual male escort. Sorry one of those things is true. Ok, Ok I will cut him some slack, people have gone to jail for drugs when it was actually just donut glaze or bird droppings, I say we give it a day or two. Can you just see it? Three gay men in an orgy eating donut glaze…. oh God I’m going to puke. Asking for a friend though, could this be a new Two and a Half Men show rebirth?????
UPDATE: Marion Berry just put down his crack pipe in heaven, even he is in awe.
How ironic would it have been for Florida to have a meth head governor, along with a first lady, and first “side piece?” Even better, Meth…. hotel…. Florida…. multiple dudes, the new Democrat Party has a few soldiers on the front lines. Even better wait….Is this guy the Black Ed Buck? (Two African-American men have been discovered dead in Buck’s West Hollywood home since 2017 due to drug overdoses. Several reports indicated that Buck had a history of bringing African-American men to his house, where he would reportedly inject them with crystal methamphetamine for sexual gratification. In January 2019, a coalition of 50 civil rights organizations called for law enforcement to investigate the matter. On September 17, 2019, Buck was arrested and charged with three counts of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug house. Buck is a white major Democrat donor in California, where the above arrests are barely considered illegal by the way.
Ed Buck on the way to lock up
I do actually feel bad; if only Andrew was elected governor he could afford the pure stuff not the knock off crystal meth. Frankly a politician should have at least splurged for some cocaine. Here is a photo of Gillum with Obama, Obama is famous for doing blow and bragging about it….fear not Mayor Gillum you are also famous for doing a different kind of blow! It’s funny, I looked up a photo of your “friend” and wow talk about toxic masculinity…. how will you ever recover from this one? I can only imagine what Radical Madcow and Fidel O’Donnell on MSNBC will think of you now. Gillum if I was you, I would get out in front of this news ASAP, because I don’t think you want it to stay behind you too long…or am I wrong?????
Andrew Gillum with Barack Obama– blow brothers
Actually Andrew, on second thought, I think Joe Biden should name you Secretary of the Drug Enforcement Agency, looking at your record you seem to be an obvious choice! Folks let’s not worry about his wife too much, rumor has it she was in a room 2 doors down with a bottle of champagne, some cocaine, and her own male escort! Guess the family that stays together, plays together, or at least enjoys the same recreational activities.
Folks in a bit of seriousness, Gillum is your typical hypocrite, telling you what to do and what is right whilst living a second life. Gillum is married, and has 3 children. Gillum likely can say goodbye to any political career for a while.
A couple other trolls got in on the fun as well. Tweets are below. Definitely no Hope for this guy…. but maybe there is still HOPE for me????
You may now resume panicking as you continue watching the 24/7 coverage of the Toilet Paper Apocalypse…
President Trump declared Sunday March 15, 2020 as a National Day of Prayer. While people like me were happy about the announcement, some folks were just “triggered” by the news.
As usual, Trump made the announcement on Twitter.
It is my great honor to declare Sunday, March 15th as a National Day of Prayer. We are a Country that, throughout our history, has looked to God for protection and strength in times like these… No matter where you may be, I encourage you to turn towards prayer in an act of faith. Together, we will easily PREVAIL!
…Trump has previously given other days the designation during emergencies.
At lunch on Friday, I tried to have a factual discussion with a coworker about Obama’s response the H1N1 v Trump on Corona. (It was at our lunch hour that day when the President was going to declare Corona a national emergency.) Like most people, he never knew anything about H1N1 even being a problem but because of the 24/7 coverage, he thinks everyone that gets Corona will die.
I tried to give him the three dates, first US case, declaration of public health emergency, and declaration of national emergency. The question that I was building up top was this, if Trump is so evil then why did he declare a national emergency when there are less than 50 deaths while Obama waited until over one thousand had died? (For those of you lacking math skills, the interval for Obama was six months and about six weeks for Trump.)
He kept interrupting me as I built up to my question and informed me that Trump was purposely withholding testing and medical treatment from Americans. Furthermore, he said Trump did not care and Trump was willing to let regular Americans die just to promote himself. He also was demanding that everyone — sick or healthy—be tested today. I explained the medical protocols used and that testing is only done for high risk people or if the results will affect a patient’s treatment and recovery, quoting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention amongst others. It was an exercise in futility.
(As you continue reading this account, I’m sure the biblical phrase of “casting pearls” will come to your minds too.)
For those of you living outside of California, sadly this is the predominant view of way too many people living on the Left Coast. Is it any wonder that Bernie Sanders easily won the Democrat Primary here?
In an effort to show him the compassionate side of Trump, later that night, I sent a copy of Trump’s Twitter message declaring a National Day of Prayer on 03/15/20 with the this note “This is one reason that we like Trump.”
I’m trying to give him concrete and unfiltered examples of what is happening before he is told by whoever he listens to (which clearly is not me) how to feel about it. The fact that Obama never once in his 8 years as President declared a national emergency as a cause for prayer would never occur to this guy.
After a short time, this was his response.
Yep, when I think of a Christian heart, soul and behavior trump is first person to come to mind. The last time he prayed was the last time I dated a super model.
Then he responded with a screen capture of Trump praying with Terrance Williams and some others in the Oval Office of the White House with his caption of “This is one reason why I hate him.”
Oh, I looked up Michael Steel, the guy that retweeted the post and made a snarky comment, on Wikipedia. He is some NeverTrumper guy on MSNBC. Seems like his page has been scrubbed of anything about him since he left politics, or he hasn’t done anything worthwhile since then.
I then got some even crazier stuff from Mr. Trigger about Trump being “Our Jesus replacement.” Again, where do you get this crap, I have no idea. It just makes me even gladder that I cut the cord many years ago.
FYI: Mr. Trigger makes no claim of any religious affiliation and gets to church only at weddings and funerals, if he is forced to, but he is always telling me what God thinks about Trump. He calls people that support Trump cultists. He also says Trump lies every day. I often get asked how can I support a guy that has lied over 18,000 times since taking office? Of course, he offers zero evidence or a single example… even when challenged. I guess he thinks that what he is saying is such common knowledge that everybody just knows it. Weird.
The irony is that Trump is the most honest guy to run for office. He does what he says and says what he does. There is no duplicity in him, especial when compared to the political class in Washington.
After three years of this, I finally got frustrated and fired this off to him.
Have you ever thought maybe Trump is telling the truth and CNN is not? All I get from you is “he lies” yet when I bring you facts, even from Democrat sources, somehow instead of looking at it, you go off on Trump thinks he’s God, Jesus Christ and king of the world, etc. I get a rant from you and not a discussion. Oh, and you often tell me what God thinks about it or how can I be a Christian if… As I keep trying to tell you, I believe people should be held to the same standard regardless of party or income. When I try to point out inconsistencies in how he is treated, you dismiss them out of hand and don’t care to look at the evidence. Today is only the latest example. Today you even accused Trump of purposely trying to kill Americans to benefit himself. You constantly argue feelings and don’t care about facts; especially if they might just prove you wrong. Dialogues are based on facts not feelings. Today when I showed you that your assumptions were wrong you just attacked Trump all the more. When he asks for prayer, which he has done several times before, again you opine on God. Its not a partisan request, it’s a patriot one. Sadly, you can’t ever consider that it might be a genuine act.
I realize the guy is spiritually dead but the “eyes that don’t see” and “ears that can’t hear” describes Mr. Trigger to a T. He has no awareness of the world around him. He is a most unhappy and miserable creature. He is imprisoned and bound in his own closed mind more surely than anyone in a forgotten gulag in Siberia. This guy spends his spare time searching for more chains to bind himself even further.
Watching his behavior makes me think of a C.S. Lewis book I read many years ago about people in hell taking a holiday in heaven and finding it so unpleasant that they were not able to get back to hell fast enough. Unless God kicks his mental and spiritual doors down and shines His light on this dude, he will stay lost.
When I talk with him about anything of substance—except himself—sooner or later he closes his mental eyes, covers his ears, and starts screaming, “La. La. La. La. I can’t hear you” and tries really hard to change the subject. I’ve had my fill of his folly. Sadly, I live in a State of 36 million most of whom are just like him.
Yesterday, President Trump declared the Corona virus a national emergency. Now, Mr. Hannity you may properly compare Obama waiting six months from the time he declared a public health emergency on H1N1 to the time he declared a national emergency (April 26, 2009 and October 26, 2009 respectively) versus Trump doing it about six week later (January 31, 2020 to March 13, 200 respectively).
Folks, what’s bothered me is why did Trump do it? After consulting with my wife, I decided that its because Trump wants to solve this, get it behind us, and move on. He doesn’t want to leave this lingering but has chosen what basketball calls a “full court press.”
Knowing that I keep calling Corona “just the flu” (which it is) and saying I think these precautions are overblown, my liberal buddy wanted to know if I thought the declaration for a national emergency was right or wrong. My answer, in his eyes, was evasive. I said, some decisions are clearly right or wrong and sometimes we need some time to lapse to know if it was the right call. I said in this case, I think the decision is in the latter category. Trump made the call and that’s why he gets the big bucks. Let’s just wait and see.
A Whole New World
What I marvel at is the widespread shutdown of our way of life because of this virus. As I keep saying, its not Ebola. We have cancelled more air travel than during the 9/11 attacks. Stopped cruise ships, shutdown churches, concerts, baseball, football, soccer, basketball, hockey, golf, conventions, movie theaters, schools, etc. This decision has impacted a huge number of businesses and people’s lives. Those parts of society that have not shutdown have changed how they do business. We look with suspicion on strangers and are prone to avoid interacting with people.
If Trump had declared Martial Law and suspended, elections, Congress, and the Courts, would it look much different?Yet he not only has the support of Congress but the Courts and all 50 States. How did we get here? What really bothers me is how easy and willing we were to allow all this. Trading freedom for perceived safety is the stock and trade of Liberals.
The great irony in this disruption is that Trump is being praised by the very Democrats that have been fearmongering that he would suspend liberties and become the ultimate ruler, dictator, monarch, etc. In the last few days, Trump has been praised in glowing terms by California Governor Garvin Newsom and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Heretofore, both men have been adversaries of the Trump Administration on almost every issue.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
So too, local and State governments and their agencies are looking eagerly to the Federal government for aid and leadership. They have set aside partisanship and are praising the federal response.
I guess when the niceties are over, you know that the crisis has passed.
Vaccine News
Meanwhile, yesterday Johnnie Does sent me word that one company says they have a vaccine for Corona ready to start testing.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ +1.3%) unit Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies is collaborating with Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on the development of a preventative vaccine against COVID-19.
Preclinical testing is underway. The parties expect to identify a candidate by month-end and commence a Phase 1 study by year-end.
The vaccine will be based on Janssen’s AdVac and PER.C6 technologies.
In addition, another company has announced a possible vaccine.
March 12, 2020 /CNW/ – Medicago, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City , announced today that they have successfully produced a Virus-Like Particle (VLP) of the coronavirus just 20 days after obtaining the SARS-CoV-2 (virus causing the COVID-19 disease) gene. Production of the VLP is the first step in developing a vaccine for COVID-19 which will now undergo preclinical testing for safety and efficacy. Once this is completed, Medicago expects to discuss with the appropriate health agencies to initiate human trials of the vaccine by summer (July/August) 2020.
Also, yesterday, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma said he is donating 500,000 Corona test kits and 1,000,000 face masks to the United States.
Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma said he will donate 500,000 coronavirus testing kits and 1 million masks to the United States and urged international cooperation to fight the health crisis.
In addition, Ma has made an even larger donation to the EU.
Testing… Testing… 1… 2… 3…
Lastly, I’m wondering what effect the declaration of a national emergency is having on FDA protocols and vaccine approval. One of the dumber things that our civilized nations do is not recognize each other’s testing methods of drugs and medical procedures. Here in the US, our FDA will not respect any testing done by the EU nations and vice versa. Ditto for other nations. I think that we need an international body, treaty, something, that allows a testing regime that is respected by everyone. It would also need some sort of patent and liability protection too. Curing people should not be so dependent on which country that you live in.
Also, it is clear that too many of our pharmaceutical eggs are in the Chinese basket and the Corona crisis is another opportunity to illustrate this.
Eighty percent of active ingredients in America’s pharmaceutical and OTC drugs — you know, the stuff that actually makes your medicine work — come from China and India, according to Rosemary Gibson and Janardan Prasad Singh, authors of the new book China RX: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine.
Many of the drugs that Americans depend upon, including birth control pills, antibiotics like penicillin, vitamin C and even cancer drugs, are made in China with little regulation.
… Gary Cohn, then chief economic advisor to President Trump, argued against a trade war with China by invoking a Department of Commerce study that found that 97 percent of all antibiotics in the United States came from China.
While the Department of Defense only purchases a small quantity of finished pharmaceuticals from China, about 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to make drugs in the United States are said to come from China and other countries like India.
In order to address the growing security and safety concerns about Chinese-made pharmaceuticals, some suggest that the United States switch to India as an alternative API supplier. However, doing so would be no different from rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It is true that many Indian pharmaceutical firms are leading API manufacturers but India depends on China for sourcing nearly three quarters of APIs in generic drug formulations. The disruption in the supply chain notwithstanding, switching to India for the supply of APIs would only make the drugs sold in the United States more expensive: APIs and chemical intermediates from China are 35 to 40 percent cheaper than Indian ones.
Final Thoughts
Besides Disney which owns ESPN, theme parks, and 40 percent of Hollywood movies, the person getting most hurt by the Corona crisis is Bernie Sanders. States are moving or considering cancelling primary elections and cancelling further debates with he and Joe Biden. Bernie just can’t catch a break.
The biggest winner in all this besides the President is the Babylon Bee. They have done parodies of banning all travel to California and what will parents do if the government won’t raise their kids for them. Both of which are legit news stories this week. Is it any wonder that Snopes gets mad when people think their stuff is real news?
Schools are closing their doors across the area sending a seismic shockwave for parents scrambling to find child care for the next few weeks.
Sacramento County public schools have a quarter-million students and 400 schools. Even if only half of those parents would have to stay home, you could see how it would impact our economy.
William put me on assignment last night to watch cable news reaction to all things coronavirus, so I pirated a neighbors signal and binge watched. It quickly became clear to me after about 10 minutes why we, as a people, are so riled up by this virus. Notable to me was the rant by Tucker Carlson.
Tucker was on a tear about how the government is lying to us, this is going to get way worse, and China is cutting off all pharmaceutical drugs and surgical masks to the USA.I switched over to CNN and basically got the same thing, but with the caveat that it was all Trump’s fault.MSNBC? The same. Americans are perishing left and right. They sounded like they were live streaming the invasion of the body snatchers redux. The cable channels all had a “running ticker” showing all the sports leagues and colleges who had cancelled games or classes.
I switched to the local news, and one could argue that was worse. The big news was a “ninety year old” woman that died in our hometown….check that, the person was 97, with a myriad of health issues. Also a student at an elementary school had tested positive for this virus, in a sense validating the decision days earlier to cancel school this week. Literally the corona virus was wall to wall coverage on each network. This morning (Thursday), the stock market dropped 10%. Yet these same folks are shocked? In the last 24 hours, we went from sports only being allowed to play in an empty gym, to tournaments and professional leagues suspending or cancelling play. Again….stock market drops….and these same folks are questioning why the panic?
So being a real journalist, I went out and asked a few people I interact with in the medical field what their thoughts were on this.
First a paramedic: He had this to say, If you are under 70, and have no health issues, there is a very good chance you won’t even know you had it. You would chalk it up to a regular cold/flu bout. He added, just take a day or two off work, drink lots of vitamin C, and in a couple days you will be fine. The media influenced this freak out, and it’s been devastating to watch.
Randolph Mantooth Emergency (1972 – 1979)
Second, an ER nurse: She had this to say: Crisis overblown, by epic proportions.She told me they get about 200 folks a day walking into her ER saying they think they have corona virus because they coughed a few times. As such, none under the age of 60 get tested, for obvious reasons. Like she says, now every jabroni comes in here looking for a free test, and after about 5 hours of waiting they leave. Because we have limited test kits and quite frankly we have to ration them for the most likely to test positive. Overall she said it’s not a big deal unless you are older, and have a bunch of health issues.
Julie London Emergency (1972 – 1979)
Now contrast that to events that took place in our hometown last 5 days. School cancelled on a Saturday for this week. Oh, but you can come by and grab your students free meal program…I’m not sure how this is any different from holding class as far as exposure goes. Then the district cancelled athletics, leaving perennial power Sheldon High out of the NorCal basketball finals. Then there was a change of heart on Tuesday, the game was played, on the road, Sheldon winning. Fast forward to Thursday, CIF State Executive of High School Athletics Ron Nocetti decided to be the white knight and cancel all basketball playoffs. Yeah, what a blunder. The only thing that changed over 48 hours was the NBA cancelling their season.
Ron Nocetti
I know Nocetti. He was AD at Jesuit when I went there. This is very typical for an empty suit like him. He doesn’t want to be wrong, so he just jumped on the pile, following the lead of his other “peers.” It’s a total disaster, and yet those same people don’t get why the stocks are down?
Folks let me tell you what this is really about, it’s not about the kids, or healthcare, or politics. It’s about media ratings and lawsuits. This story keeps your eyes glued to the cable news shows, who turn around and sell ad time based on your eyeballs. Ratings drive the news, that’s why its stock losses, shootings, and corona virus. Secondly, these cancellations (Disney just announced by the way) are all about not being sued. Imagine they keep the park open, you take the family and someone gets this disease, and happen to visit grandma in the nursing home…grandma expires, and coronavirus is to blame…lawsuit. NO one wants that…look the NCAA forfeiting 100’s of millions cancelling March Madness, look at Disney, High School Athletics, what about all the pro sports leagues….again….lawsuits, the deep pockets are playing CYA. Why else would they be so quick to cancel? A bunch of colleges have kicked the students out of the dorms until further notice…essentially saying you can grab a couple items….then GIT!
John Edwards–former trial lawyer and failed presidential candidate
Think about this for a minute, you cancel classes for the kid’s, the adults didn’t have work cancelled, so junior went to hang out with all his school buddies….likely transferring this virus! A college who cancelled classes, the students had a drunken modern Woodstock on frat row…again likely a good place to transfer this virus….so may I ask, why are we cancelling class and these games again? Folks we live in an era where social media tells us get out and go out with friends….not stay at home and avoid this thing, the virus is going to keep spreading.
I’m not scared, and I’m not changing my lifestyle. I am in perfect shape and am very active. I also work a public facing job. I practice good hygiene, and eat a balanced diet consisting of mostly meat, fruit and veggies. You only live once and why should I change my life to fit a narrative being parroted by the media?
Fit and fearless just like Johnnie Does
Also, regarding the stock market, while you were panic selling these last 10 days, I’ve been scooping the shares up at a discount. I believe Buffett and his ilk are doing the same, laughing all the way to the bank and counting their earnings. The economy is strong, still chugging along, it’s a sell induced panic that’s all, try to remember that. Big blue chip companies don’t go out of business, you know who does during these times? Elon Musk, and weak tech companies like Facebook.
Johnnie Does
PS The same people who call the millennials a bunch of snowflakes are the ones who are pretty woke right now…just saying… Most of us aren’t worried about this virus. The flu this calendar year alone has killed 18,000 people…this virus….41.
