COVID

A Modest COVID Proposal


I have a modest proposal, an idea that’s so crazy that it just might be a good idea.

As you can see from the charts below, daily COVID cases have surged about 30% this month. Compile your own set of explainers for that; it won’t be difficult. The more interesting news is the confirmation of what you already know, that the rise in cases and the resultant hospitalizations are almost entirely of unvaccinated people.

So, read the charts below, then repeat out loud the text of the graphic on the right.

Click either chart for the story from STAT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The gigantic workload that has been dumped on our medical professionals has spanned nearly two years. That has burned them out and they “are quitting in droves.” And the enormous financial cost of all those hospitalizations has been dumped on all of us by our vaccine refusing citizens. That is to say, these people are knowingly refusing to do the simple, free thing that will prevent them from landing in the hospital, overburdening our medical professionals and running up a huge tab we all pay through our insurance premiums.

I’m going to take a guess that may be related to that. See if see if you agree.

Many of the people who are refusing to get vaccinated see themselves as fiercely independent. They balk, sometimes violently, at being told what to do and proudly announce that they’ll make their own decisions for themselves and will accept the consequences.

Frustratingly, it isn’t that simple.

According to Healthcare Finance, the average cost of hospital care for COVID-19 patients ranges from $51,000 – $78,000, depending on age. We hospitalize about 5,000 freshly ill Americans daily and the hospital case count hovers around 50,000 all the time.* If we use a mid-point cost of $65,000 per hospitalization and multiply that by 5,000 new hospitalizations per day, we find that our unvaccinated, fiercely independent citizens are costing us an additional $325,000,000 every day.

They are knowingly putting themselves at risk and are expecting us (through insurance) to pay their bills.

Is that fair? I don’t think so, so here’s my modest proposal.

Let’s tell all Americans that if they refuse to be vaccinated and then contract COVID-19 and require hospitalization that they will be ineligible for insurance coverage of their medical costs, whether through private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. They’ll be fiercely and independently on their own financially, just as they say they prefer.

Sure, we can make exceptions for those who are medically unable to be vaccinated. Perhaps there are some other reasons we should cut a few of the refusers some slack, but very few.

Here’s the best part of this plan: betcha that a lot of vaccine refusers will suddenly get vaccinated, which will protect both them and the rest of us, too.

Now, I understand how socially odious my idea is and how politically third rail it is. Still, Republican extremists should love the support this modest COVID proposal gives to their fierce independence.

Wait a second  .  .  .  are they the same people who carried right wing protest signs reading, “Keep government out of my Medicare?”

Session Questions

If you were to ask a vaccine refuser if healthcare is a right and not a privilege, à la Bernie Sanders,

A. Under normal circumstances, how would they answer?

B. If that same refuser were in the hospital for COVID-19 and about to have a breathing tube shoved down his/her throat, how would they answer then?

C. If the refuser referenced in B above were asked if COVID is a hoax, how would s/he answer? Hint: It’s common for refusers to be screaming about what a hoax the disease is until the moment that the breathing tube shuts them up. Yes, really.

D. How about if that refuser had just entered the hospital with acute COVID symptoms and the hospital told him/her to expect a bill of $65,000 that s/he will have to pay out of pocket. What would they say about their right to healthcare then and whether they should have been vaxxed?

This Just In (last Friday)

In case you thought our times couldn’t become crazier:

Rep. Greene introduces bill to award Congress’s highest honor to Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men
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No, that is not a headline from The Onion. It’s from the Washington Post and it’s real. Read the article and boggle your brain here or here.

Echoing Maureen Dowd, “Donnez-moi un break,” and “Prenez un grip,” Rep. Taylor-Greene.

Ahmaud Arbery, hunted for refusing to have a conversation with an angry White guy and then killed for the crime of running while Black

Lynching

Travis McMichael, his dad and a neighbor almost got away with lynching Ahmaud Arbery via shotgun. The first prosecutor, Jackie Johnson, conspired with McMichael to obstruct justice by telling McMichael to wash Arbery’s blood off himself and his clothing and then saying she wouldn’t press charges. That’s conspiracy to obstruct justice and perhaps some other crimes. Here’s the good news.

That first prosecutor has been indicted and stands a good chance of conviction, which will result in her reconnecting with felons she herself put in prison. I’m sure it will be a lovely reunion.

And a jury in Glynn County Georgia – 11 Whites and 1 Black – managed to figure out what really happened. They did their duty, sending all three men to prison for a really long time. With or without video evidence, that’s a very different outcome than might have been expected not so long ago. Is it possible we’re beginning to say, “No more lynchings” and really mean it?

Finally

President Biden’s poll numbers are quite bad. Is that because he disappointed Americans’ hopes for prosperity or mishandled our foreign affairs and put us at risk? Is he a failed first year president? Nope. Read this.

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* With the number at roughly 780,000, we have more Americans dead from COVID than the total population in each of 70 countries. We have more COVID dead than we had combat deaths from WW I, WW II, the Korean, Viet Nam, Civil, Revolutionary, War of 1812, Afghanistan and Mexican-American wars combined. And we did that in under 2 years. Worse, it seems that’s okay with a lot of Americans.

Now there’s a new COVID variant, B.1.1.529, named Omicron. It’s on the way from South Africa and Hong Kong and has already found its way into the U.K., Germany and Italy. It “has a big jump in evolution” and, “Scientists are still unclear on how effective existing vaccines will be against the new variant.” Right now we are climbing the winter spike in Delta and Omicron is on the way. OMG Omicron.

No telling what our refusers will do about this next assault, but this feels most ominous, like the next iteration of pandemic assault following Delta. It’s going to be very expensive. Who will pay?

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The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

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The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Winning, Part One: The Numbers, Rage and Yoda


This is just simple math.
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                                STATE                           POPULATION (millions)

Wyoming                                    0.58

Vermont                                      0.62

Alaska                                         0.73

North Dakota                              0.76

South Dakota                              0.88

Delaware                                     0.97

Rhode Island                               1.1

Montana                                       1.1

                TOTAL                         6.73

Those eight states have 16 senators representing them.

Indiana has as many people as all those states combined, but has only 2 senators to represent them. It’s about the same for Massachusetts, Tennessee, Missouri and Maryland.

New York has over 3 times as many citizens as the total of those eight states, but has only 2 senators to represent them.

California has 6.5 times as many citizens as the total above, yet Californians have only 2 senators.

All power to the low population states! Minority rule today! Minority rule tomorrow! Minority rule forever!*
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And it’s nuttier than that.

There are roughly 40 million more people in blue states than red states, yet senatorial representation is roughly equal, which means that 40 million blue state people are under-represented and discounted in the Senate. To be fair, that is due not just to our two-senators-per-state rule, but also because of voter suppression and gerrymandering that favors and keeps red states red. No way to paint a happy picture about that. It’s just what Republicans do.

In case you wonder why this mangled representation exists, read the explanation from Senate.gov.

What that explanation won’t tell you is that the Framers didn’t trust our mostly illiterate population to select well, so they created both the Electoral College and this presumably deliberative body, the Senate. Both were supposed to be safer when chosen by land-owning, literate white men.

Kyrsten Sinema

That assumption of the Framers has brought us presidents elected by a minority of voters (2 of the last 6 elections, plus some others and Republicans have lost the popular vote in every presidential election but one since 1988). It has also brought us a non-representative Senate. The primary present-day duty of the Republicans in the Senate is to obstruct progress for our country and to manipulate for their individual power – minority rule – which means they’re all about protecting and promoting the interests of big money donors. (See: Kyrsten Sinema receiving huge money from Big Pharma, then refusing prescription drug pricing reform. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.)

Red-Blue politics ebbs and flows (at least it used to), but common sense says that head count representation ought to be proportional in the Senate. It isn’t. That has substantive impact on the lunacy of our current politics and it’s related to our vaccine refusers in a very loud way.

The refusers are exhorted every day to refuse vaccines by breathtakingly false and destructive information coming from state and national leadership. They’re told to refuse the very thing that can save their lives and the lives of those they love. They surrender their facility for critical thinking and embrace only what stokes their rage.

They scream about the infringement of their freedoms. They proclaim entirely untrue propaganda, like that the vaccine will make them sterile, or that there are nanobots in the vaccine and Bill Gates will be able to track and control them, or that vaccines have killed more people than the disease or any of a hundred false claims from sick imaginations. And Americans continue to die at the rate of 1,400 per day.

The constant is the presence of  rage. It’s stoked every night by Tucker Carlson and during the day by Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott and the know-nothing TV and radio blabbers who rake in money from advertisers because our rage-ists tune in. And the refusers vote for red state politicians who tell them what they want to hear and who then go to Congress and state legislatures to fulfill the role of rage in minority rule. That’s the Senate-rage connection and the Republicans work it to perfection to win elections.

I think there’s something else going on and it fits hand-in-glove with rage. It’s fear. Fear of being controlled. Fear of being wrong. Fear of smart people. Fear of science. Fear of change. Fear of government. Fear of globalization. Fear of “others.” Fear of the future. Fear of needles. Fear of their own ignorance. Fear of complexity. Fear of everything they don’t understand. Fear of a world they can’t make sense of.

Keith Olbermann says it more flamboyantly than I do and I’m not crazy about the name calling parts of his post, but fundamentally, I think he has it right: our refusers are afraid. They won’t acknowledge that, because doing so wouldn’t be manly. It would pop their rage-puffery and they wouldn’t get to feel as powerful. Their refusal, though, doesn’t erase their fear or the tribalism it spawns. And their fear, stoked every day by Republicans, is causing more of us to die from the pandemic and is igniting violence around the country.

Perhaps you thought the dishonesty and hypocrisy of the Rs was the entire problem, but I tell you with certainty that it is not. Its matching bookend is wimpy Democrats enabling their anti-democracy, letting Republicans get away with that.

In 2002 Republican Senate candidate Saxby Chamliss cruelly attacked Viet Nam vet and triple-amputee Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA), who was slow and not aggressive in response. He lost his reelection bid.

In the 2004 presidential race John Kerry was attacked and called a coward by a Republican group that came to be known as the Swift Boaters. He kept silent about them, not wanting to give them credibility by responding to their their lies. When he at last did speak up it was too late and he lost the election.

Both of those Democrats were defensive and failed to attack. They failed to aggressively call out the lies. That’s how to lose an election, as both of them did. And I’m disgusted by Democrats who won’t do what’s necessary to win an election now.

Required homework assignment

Read Sheila Markin’s exceptionally clear, shocking and sadly accurate post. This will count for 50% of your Civics grade. The final will be on November 8, 2022.

Wisdom Wake-Up Call

From my Yoda-like friend, Ozzie (all italics mine):

“Reality always (and probably all ways) wins. Our only job is to get in touch with it.”

Enough with the illusions and wishful thinking.

“Or as the Little Prince shared: It is with the heart that one sees rightly. For what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Enduringly true. And there is plenty that is essential and easy to see with the eyes. Keep them open and see what is plainly before us.

“Or: If you want to live your dream: #)#_!%^ WAKE UP!!! (Screamed as loud as humanly possible).”

If your dream includes a healthy democracy that serves the people, sleep walking through life just won’t do. #)#_!%^ WAKE UP!!!

See Winning, Part Two on Sunday, November 14 to learn what to do about it.

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* Paraphrased from Gov. George Wallace’s (R-AL) inauguration speech, January 14, 1963. Even with the word swapping, my meaning is pretty much the same as his, except that I mean it as sarcasm. Wallace meant it as enduring hatred.

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The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

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The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

A Movie Message For . . .


Senate Republicans who hold hostage this nation and the world, solely for their own political benefit

The people who show up at school board meetings to be verbally abusive and hateful

Those who tear down mobile Covid test stations

Those who abuse healthcare workers

Those who shout down doctors and scientists

Those who refuse vaccines, regardless of their reasons

Those who attack others who wear a mask

Those who give credence to conspiracy spouters

Those who manipulate truth into lies solely to get viewers and clicks

Those who try to intimidate parents as they walk their kids to and from school

Those who seek to marginalize people, especially politicians crushing people’s rights

The screamers at town hall meetings

The political delusionists who explain away clearly illegal, immoral behavior with absurd fictions

Those who threaten and intimidate election officials and volunteers

Those who attempt to disrupt vaccination centers

Those who vote for politicians who act to take rights from others

Just get this: As you deny the reality that is right before you and as you hurt others, you’re hurting yourself. And your kids. And your parents and sisters and brothers and friends and neighbors from sea to shining sea.

The only people who benefit from your actions are people who don’t give a damn about you. They’re just using you to get what they want and would sell you out for a nickel.

They’ll never respect you until you respect yourself.

This message comes to you from the 1987 film Moonstruck. In the clip below, you are the Nicholas Cage character on the right. The rest of us are Cher’s character, speaking to you from the heart.

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Note: In composing this post it was dispiriting to recognize how easy it was to come up with the list above. Sadly, we see this stuff every day.

Special January 6 Commission Q & A

Q: Is contempt of Congress a violation of the law?

A: Yes

Q: Is obstruction of justice a violation of the law?

A: Yes

Q: Is failing to produce records subpoenaed by Congress both contempt of Congress and obstruction of justice?

A: Yes

Q: Is there any reason not to refer Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino (wherever he’s hiding) and Kash Patel for criminal prosecution?

A: No

Q: Do the Democrats in Congress have the cojones to refer these miscreants for criminal prosecution?

A: Maybe

Q: Does the Justice Department have the cojones to prosecute these bums?

A: Maybe

Q: If the roles were reversed and Republicans were investigating an insurrection associated with the Democratic Party and 4 witnesses ignored their subpoenas, what would the Republicans do?

A: They would have those guys in jail so fast they’d have to do a perp run instead of a perp walk.

Q: Has the Democratic Party learned its lesson about failing to be bold and recognized that they must do what must be done?

A: Hope springs eternal, but it ain’ no strategy for success.

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The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up. Do something to make things better.

Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!)

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

It’s Very Personal


From the “This Didn’t Have To Happen” File

There are lots of Covid statistics. There are infection numbers and rates by state, by region, by country, by continent and worldwide. We get the same kind of breakdown for total deaths and for deaths based on whether the deceased were vaccinated. We get vaccination rates with all the same geographic breakdowns.

We get a tally by state of how many ICU beds we’re lacking. We get charts like the one below that shows what’s going on in Covid-infested Florida due to state governmental pigheadedness, intentional ignorance and leadership immorality.

We report things in statistics when the numbers get too big for us to take in any other way, but it’s hard to make full sense of the data. It all remains just numbers, unless one of those people is someone you know or love. Or it’s you.

If the EMTs have to show up at your house to slap an oxygen mask on your face, and if those brave, dedicated front-liners have no place to take the gasping body in their vehicle because the ERs, ICUs, all the patient room beds and even the gurneys in the hallways of the local hospital are occupied, then the numbers aren’t just statistics.

And your body isn’t just a statistic to the docs, nurses and techs who eventually will get to you. Instead, it’s yet more workload dumped onto their exhausted bodies, emotions and souls. That’s personal for all those people and that’s definitely personal for you, as you struggle to breathe.

For everyone directly involved, it’s always personal. It’s as personal as it gets.

A former colleague used to rail against any form of, “Don’t take this personally.” She would say that if you are a person, everything is personal. It’s pretty hard to argue with that. And all of the Covid cases – every single one of them – is personal to someone.

Over the past 547 days there have been over a million cases of Covid-19 and over 13,000 deaths from Covid just in Tennessee. The state has made the news repeatedly since the Delta variant became the predominant strain of this wildfire of a virus.

Tennessee’s doo-doo brain governor, Bill Lee, led the fight against vaccines and masks for kids. He even fired his State Department of Health expert on pandemics in the midst of a pandemic. Now thousands of Tennessee kids are quarantined and over 400 public school children have tested positive for Covid right there in The Volunteer State. I bet none of them volunteered for Covid. Nobody anywhere volunteers for Covid, but people get it anyway.

Worse, those sick kids have very little ability to avoid infecting others. But even with so many kids sick and having to stay home, Tennesseans somehow still aren’t getting the message.

That’s what a fully vaccinated couple discovered last weekend on a trip to Nashville. They had a fine time and were careful to be masked wherever they went. They dined in an elegant restaurant. And this was Nashville, so of course there was live music everywhere, but venues were packed with unmasked people, so they didn’t go in.

Nevertheless, they tested positive for Covid last Wednesday and feel like crap.

Covid got personal real fast and you wouldn’t believe the fear such a diagnosis can ignite instantly. Now it’s not about statistics or rates or numbers. Now it’s about themselves.

That’s how it is for every infected person and for their loved ones.

I’m furious about this and have been thinking about how and where to express my anger. It’s aimed at the governor, the state legislature and the people of Tennessee who refuse to deal with the lethal reality facing all of us. It’s aimed at the mask and vaccine refusers who think their right to absolute freedom is more important than whether others, like this couple, get sick from them or even die.

And my anger is aimed at Trump and his slimy, sycophantic suck-ups (yes, I know that’s redundant) who lied so terribly about this disease and caused it to spread when it could have been  contained. And I have suspicions aimed at people in airports and on airplanes who are sloppy in their Covid hygiene or who were knowingly sick but traveled anyway and perhaps sat next to others and coughed next to their faces.

And I’m mad as hell at the refusers who spread this awful disease.

You’re damn right that this didn’t have to happen. And you’re damn right that it’s personal.

Covid isn’t a statistic. It’s about people like you and your parents and siblings and your kids and their kids. It’s very personal.

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I couldn’t find this kind of chart for Nashville, but the Nashville story and chart would look pretty much the same and for the very same reasons. Be sure to read the text and especially the last sentence.

Click me for the full story

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Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!)

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Misplaced Political Power


Ghastly Governors

To the right is a graphic that helps to explain the Florida section of my post last week. The key is to understand that Gov. DeSantis is just the loudest horrible governor; there are many more horribles, some nearly as loud and destructive, although Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been a bit quieter since being diagnosed with Covid-19.

You can include any governor on a of horribles who does not actively promote vaccines and mask wearing. Also, if they refuse additional Medicaid money and expansion of services,* leaving poor people to continue to be without healthcare, those governors go on the list, too. And if they say anything that includes the word “bootstraps” when speaking to or about people who have no boots, put them on the list. Plus, if they encourage, promote or sign legislation that undermines our democracy in any way, especially with regard to voting rights, those names go on the top of the list of horribles.

“I see soon-to-be-dead people.”**

With his ban on face mask and vaccine mandates DeSantis is an accessory to the death of thousands of Floridians and he vows to prevent private businesses from requiring vaccines of employees and patrons, too. Obviously, his view is that your dying is better than your avoiding disease. He seems to think that it’s his choice as the Florida Hiyu Muck-a-muck to make that decision for you.

Gov. Abbott is similarly an accessory to the death of thousands of Texans. Gov. Noem in South Dakota is just like those guys and there are yet more governors just as sure they should dictate your safety on the perilous side. (Why is it that Republican governors don’t care about our school children, our teachers  and the rest of us?)

Invoking the attitude of the MAGA “love-to-intimidate-others” crowd, “Governor DeSantis, we know who you are and we know where you live. We’re coming for you – in your next election. That will be fitting, because, clearly, you are a case of misplaced political power.”

What People Love

Governors who maliciously prevent mask mandates in schools and vaccine requirements for teachers love their political power more than they love our kids and teachers.

The Senators who block voting rights legislation love their white supremacy and minority rule more than they love the Constitution and our democracy.

White supremacists who spew racial hatred love their power rush more than they love America and Americans.

The people who wail about their individual freedom from mask wearing and vaccines love their temper tantrums more than they love their friends and families.

The state legislators who voted for themselves the right to overturn the will of We The People love their power more than they love their integrity or the Constitution or the people.

Bible thumpers who support White supremacy, cheating, lying and stealing love their hypocrisy more than they love Jesus.

The Covid and climate deniers love their ignorance and their arrogance-of-denial more than they love survival – anyone’s.

If you want to know what people love, pay no attention to their words. Watch what they do, because that will tell you what they truly value – and what they don’t value. Sadly, we have a lot of misplaced political power.

An Afghanistan Chat With a Trumpy Blabber
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Click me for the story

Trumpy Blabber

Biden is completely incompetent. He agreed to run from the Taliban with his tail between his legs. He’s a coward and he’s embarrassed us before the world and is teaching our kids to be weenies.

JA

70% of Americans have wanted that awful, unwinnable war to end for over 10 years. Trump wanted to end that war, so he negotiated with the Taliban and dissed the Afghan government completely. That guaranteed a rapid disappearance of the government and the unavoidable Taliban take over of the country.

Biden had only two options: to honor the withdrawal agreement or commit more troops to more years of war. He chose for us to keep our word. You agree that keeping our word so that others trust us and so that we have integrity is the right thing to do, right? And that’s what we should be teaching our kids, right?

TB

Biden dragged feet on arranging safe passage for the Afghan allies to whom we promised protection and evacuation. Plus, he made our troops leave a gazillion dollars worth of our military hardware behind – planes, tanks and all sorts of stuff. He just gave it to the Taliban.

JA

That military hardware was left for the Afghan government to use to maintain control of their country. It appears that nobody envisioned the Afghan government dissolving in just days, leaving the weapons for the Taliban to just walk up and grab. We’re going to need an explanation for why the likelihood of that governmental collapse wasn’t foreseen. If it was seen as a strong possibility, we’ll need to know why those weapons weren’t removed from Afghanistan before they could fall into the hands of the Taliban.

That same speed thing accounts for our bumbling the job of getting our friends out of that country. We need to know why Trump didn’t begin doing that a year-and-a-half ago, immediately after his capitulation to the Taliban. And we need to know why the Biden administration didn’t get planes loaded with Americans and Afghans moving out of that country months ago.

TB

I’m still eyeballing our betrayal of our allies.

We need to get over 100,000 Afghan helpers and their families – maybe twice that number – plus all Americans out of Afghanistan. We’ve moved about 70,000, but a lot of people can’t even get to Kabul from the provinces because of Taliban check points and now the Taliban refuses to let Afghans get into the Kabul airport. Are we waiting for the Taliban to start the killings?

JA

The evacuation began on August 14. In the time since then, just 11 days, roughly 1,100 Americans have died of gunshot wounds and about 7,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, 95% of whom had refused to be vaccinated. All of those deaths happened right here in the USA. Do you have the same concern for them?

Meanwhile, not even one American has died in Afghanistan in over 18 months. One or two Afghans have been killed trying to get into the Kabul airport and we don’t know the circumstances, other than that there was gunfire by the shooter, the Taliban and some Marines.

The airlift is moving thousands of people every day on a scale never seen before. And U.S. air carriers have been pressed into service to enable us to move even more evacuees. It isn’t pretty, but it’s getting better.

This is the big, stinking pile of dog poo that the Great Negotiator
– Only he could do this! –
left us.
.

I strongly suggest waiting until we know the facts. When you feel up to it, check the news from other than Fox. OAN, NewsMax and online alt-right feeds. And completely avoid FaceBook’s news feed that’s poisoned by the Russians and QAnon.

There will be plenty of opportunities for finger pointing and armchair quarterbacking when the Afghanistan dust clears.

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* From Paul Krugman’s column, How Not to Create Jobs (or download the PDF here):

” .  . . what’s clear is that some politicians just dislike helping the poor and near-poor, never mind the economics.”

** From Thom Hartmann’s post, It’s Time For Our Freedom Passports!

“Those of us who did the right thing and got vaccinated are sick and tired of living a half-life because of all the covidiots out there who refuse to get vaccinated. Let them ‘stand on the outside’ of American business and society ‘looking in’ for a change.

“No shoes, no shirt, no vaccine passport, no service.”

“Covidiots.” Has a nice ring to it.

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Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!)

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

President Biden’s Address to the Nation on Covid (I Wish)


It’s time for some straight talk. It’s time for us to put it on the line – no political weasel words. So, here it is.

We have an epidemic in this country that isn’t going away. In fact, it’s rapidly getting worse. Last year it killed a lot of seniors, but our surviving elderly got vaccinated. Now it’s killing younger people. It’s killing babies.

This virus doesn’t care about the color of your state, although the more red your state is the more likely it is that you’ve put out the welcome mat for the enormously infectious Delta variant.

That’s why so many hospitals are full to overflowing. That’s why a child with appendicitis and pregnant women aren’t getting medical care when they need it. That’s why the University of Mississippi Medical Center is constructing a field hospital in a parking garage. But they and we have a problem. They’re so short of doctors, nurses and techs that the federal government has had to send in staff who have been borrowed from other hospitals, leaving them short of help. The entire Mississippi state health system is on the edge of failure. And that story is being replicated in other states, too.

While that’s going on some of our governors are preventing mask mandates in schools, in municipalities and they’re even trying to stop private businesses from requiring masks. In an effort to promote themselves, they’re standing in the way of their citizens being protected. They stood in the way of protecting the 4  Broward County, FL teachers who all died in one day last week from Covid. They’re standing in the way of prevention from this disease for millions of Americans. That will guarantee more and more people will become infected, more will clog our hospitals and more of our people will die.

At the same time we have citizens threatening violence because they think their freedom to not wear a mask is more important than whether they infect others, who then die.

Last week we saw some toughs threatening a man leaving a meeting of the Williamson County Board of Education in Tennessee. That man supports masks in schools and he had just attended a meeting focused on that question. Those toughs yelled at him with vicious rage and told him that they know who he is and they know where he lives. Their intent to do violence to him couldn’t have been more obvious. Yet strangely, in their self-righteous anger and threats of violence, these toughs believe themselves to be patriots, so I’ll speak to them directly.

I know who you are and I know where you’re going, tough guy. You’re headed to the ICU, so it won’t be hard to find you and you won’t look so tough then. Maybe they’ll even have a bed and a ventilator for you. Maybe.

Just get this: Threatening my people – the American people – isn’t okay and it isn’t what patriots do. Threatening people with contracting Covid and with physical violence is as unpatriotic as it gets. You tough guys running around threatening people and you governors and legislators refusing to do your duty to protect your people aren’t patriots. But you could be.

All it will take is for you to get beyond yourself, to stop thinking of yourself as the center of the universe, to stop imagining that your absolute freedom is more important than anyone or anything else. Here’s what you need to learn:

Your freedom stops at the tip of the next person’s nose and you don’t have a right to infect that person or threaten them with harm.

If you’re to be a patriot you have to see the plain truth, that it’s time for us to sacrifice for one another. That’s what true patriots do and it’s way past time for you to show up and do your part.

You want to be a patriot? Here’s the deal.

Take your temper tantrum someplace else. There’s no room and no time for it now, because we – all of us – are in a crisis. Either lead, follow or get the hell out of the way. It’s time for real patriots to answer the call of duty.

– Get vaccinated.

– Wear a mask indoors in public.

– Teach your children how to avoid bringing this virus home and infecting Granny.

Patriot wannabe, we know who you are. And we’ll know if you stand to be counted when the bugle blows. It’s blowing right now.

————————————

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The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

What We Need From the House Select Committee


Ed. note: Read through to the end and click the link for a stunning piece you must read.

The House Select Committee has a tough job. They are tasked with getting to the bottom of the traitorous terrorist insurrection that has come to be known simply as January 6. Notable is that this committee is operating in the presence of a well coordinated campaign of denial, obfuscation, fraud and attempts to discredit the committee itself and everything it does, and that’s just from elected members of Congress. In addition are the blabbers, bloggers and blowhards in the hot air media bubble hoping to defeat democracy.

Did you hear the gut wrenching testimony of the four police officers who presented to the committee on the 27th? Their testimony stands as both declaration of their own experience and as a placeholder for the horrific ordeals of so many Capitol and DC Metro Police officers that day. Here’s the thing to bear in mind:

These cops were protecting the Capitol Building and all those within it. As they were being beaten, maimed, tortured, race-hated and killed, there were insurrectionists proudly and hypocritically parading both inside and outside the Capitol Building with Blue Lives Matter flags.

That, of course, pairs perfectly with the hypocrites who carried various versions of American flags as they broke American laws, disrupted the proceedings of The Congress of the United States and attempted to kill Nancy Pelosi, Mike Pence and any other members of Congress they could get their hands on. These people smeared excrement in the Capitol Building and vandalized whatever they got their hands on. They declared they were the true patriots, as they attempted to destroy democracy, but these people are today’s Nazis.

The Washington Post had this take on questions the House Select Committee should answer:

Top of the list is precisely what then-President Donald Trump did before, during and after the attack. How did he prepare his speech preceding the insurrection, in which he told the crowd to fight? What did he anticipate his audience’s reaction would be? When did he know the pro-Trump mob was threatening the Capitol? Why did he offer only mild statements long after the danger was clear? Did Trump-affiliated rally organizers coordinate with extremist groups?

Investigators should hear from extremist-group leaders at the center of the violence. How did they prepare? What was their goal? The committee should hear also from Justice Department and Capitol Police officials who failed to anticipate the riot. Why did intelligence officials across the government seem unaware of warnings that were all over social media? To what extent did law enforcement discount or ignore warning signs about right-wing extremists because federal and local officers did not want to cross Mr. Trump and other Republicans? Why did the National Guard take so long to arrive?

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) sits on the House Select Committee and did so with tears in his eyes listening to the words of the four cops who gave testimony. Here’s what he wants the committee to answer:

“How did this happen? Why? Who spurred this effort? Was it organized? When did our government leaders know of the impending attacks and what were their responses? What level of preparation or warnings did our law enforcement have? Was there coordination between the rioters and any members of Congress, or with staff?

“We need answers and we need accountability, and the only way to get that is a full investigation and understanding of what happened to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Such an investigation should include a serious look at the misinformation campaigns and their origins, the lies being perpetuated by leaders — including by former President Donald Trump — and what impact such false narratives had on the events leading up to and following Jan. 6. We need to be fearless about understanding the motivations of our fellow Americans, even if it makes us uncomfortable about the truth of who they are and the truth of who played what role in inspiring them.”

There are many people to be held to account; however, people at the top commonly get away with their wrongdoing. Think: Ronald Reagan and his Iran-Contra crimes, even as some of his underlings went to prison; and Richard Nixon and his Watergate cover up, even as his underlings went to prison. The underlings must be held to account, to be sure, and it’s imperative that we hold accountable everyone at the top, too. If we fail to do that we will be inviting the next insurrection fueled by lies and an atmosphere of impunity.

Here’s what Liz Cheney (R-WY) had to say to start the committee’s work:

“Until January 6th, we were proof positive for the world that a nation conceived in liberty could long endure. But now, January 6th threatens our most sacred legacy. The question for every one of us who serves in Congress, for every elected official across this great nation, indeed, for every American is this: Will we adhere to the rule of law? Will we respect the rulings of our courts? Will we preserve the peaceful transition of power? Or will we be so blinded by partisanship that we throw away the miracle of America? Do we hate our political adversaries more than we love our country and revere our Constitution?”

This committee is about identifying whether we will adhere to the rule of law and whether “we hate our political adversaries more than we love our country and revere our Constitution.” That’s why we must have answers to our questions, especially in the face of the maddening, lying opposition to truth and to democracy.

———————–

Notable and Quotable

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) spoke to the mob at the Ellipse shortly before the terrorists headed up Constitution Avenue to ransack the Capitol Building and kill whomever they found there, saying,

“[W]e are not going to let the Socialists rip the heart out of our country. We are not going to let them continue to corrupt our elections, and steal from us our God-given right to control our nation’s destiny.”

“Today Republican Senators and Congressmen will either vote to turn America into a godless, amoral, dictatorial, oppressed, and socialist nation on the decline or they will join us and they will fight and vote against voter fraud and election theft, and vote for keeping America great.”

“[T]oday is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!” He asked if they were willing to give their lives to preserve “an America that is the greatest nation in world history.”

“Will you fight for America?”

That’s the quotable part. Here’s the notable part.

First & second paragraphs: Absolutely everything he said or implied is false. A lie. All of it. That’s been the through line of Republican speech for decades. They hurl such a flood of fecal matter that it’s next to impossible to refute it. Plus, this is incitement to riot.

Third & fourth paragraphs: This is both an incitement to riot and a direct, blatant call to mob violence. Can’t wait to see the dance Brooks does before the House Select Committee and also when he attempts to defend himself in the lawsuit brought by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

What are we to do about such people? In the words of Aaron Sorkin from the movie The American President:

.

It’s time to speak up.

———————–

Congratulations to the 55,373 new cases and 266 deaths from Covid on Thursday, nearly all of whom were NOT VACCINATED.

Click me – and read the comments

Be sure to watch the walk of the defiantly maskless Congressional representatives who had just been instructed to mask up because of the horrifically increasing number of cases of Delta variant Covid. They were on their way to infect the Senate. Click the pic to the right.

I long held the belief that as people became older they matured and stopped acting like playground brats. I was wrong.

———————–

Late Addition

Attorney Joseph Welch put the first nail into the coffin of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s reign of cruelty and abuse. Perhaps the siblings of a cruel and dishonest member of Congress can do the same. This is a must read. Many thanks to MZ for the pointer.

————————————

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And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA

Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Willful Ignorance


Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in a congressional hearing as he berates and attempts to humiliate Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Dear Mrs. Jordan,

It is with regret that I write to tell you about your son, Jim.

He lies so very often, like repeating Donald Trump’s Big Lie. He lies about the attack on our Capitol Building. He lies by promoting conspiracy craziness. He says mean things about Democrats and liberals with almost every breath. His behavior is so bad that now Nancy Pelosi has had to shoo him from the committee investigating the insurrection because of his pugnacious attitude toward democracy. He just doesn’t play well with others.

I told him that if he kept on being so mean and dishonest that I’d tell his mom on him, but he said he didn’t care (sorry if that’s hurtful). Then he said some really horrible things about Dr. Fauci in a committee hearing. That’s the kind of thing he does all the time and it’s why I’m writing to you now.

It appears Jim knows the difference between right and wrong, so his bad behavior isn’t caused by accidental ignorance. Still, he chooses to do wrong. Is that how he behaved when he was a wrestler and a wrestling coach?

I’m sorry to send him back to you, Mrs. Jordan, but it seems he hasn’t grown up at all and needs discipline from his mom and dad. Surely, you didn’t raise him to be so mean and dishonest and I’m guessing he’ll be in loads of trouble now that you know about his bad behavior.

If there is ever anything I can do to help you to administer his punishments, please let me know. Actually, there are a lot of us who will be glad to help.

Sincerely,

Jack

————————-

From the New York Times – On Politics newsletter of July 17, 2021:

After Sherri Tenpenny, a Cleveland-area doctor, falsely suggested during a hearing last month in the Ohio House of Representatives that Covid vaccines leave people “magnetized” and can “interface” with 5G cellular towers, Republican lawmakers thanked her for her “enlightening” testimony.

During her testimony Dr. Tenpenny told Ohio lawmakers that vaccinated people, ” .  .  .  can put a key on their foreheads. It sticks.” Download a PDF of a recent report on the FaceBook Dirty Dozen spreading anti-vaxx propaganda and self-serving lies here – there’s something in it for Dr. Tenpenny to spout this idiocy. And read The Markin Report here.

People magnetized?

Do you remember your 5th grade science class when you were taught that only iron and some of its alloys respond to magnets? Apparently, this doctor doesn’t remember her science class. She says – with a very serious look on her face – that a few cc’s of vaccine can produce strong magnetism in iron-free humans.

Nope. Not on this planet Earth. Maybe on hers. Plus, most keys are made of some version of brass and are non-magnetic under any circumstances. So, if there are any keys sticking to the forehead of Dr. Tenpenny or others, I suggest they make a date with some soap and warm water.

And interfacing with 5G cellular towers?

Can we vaccinated ones really listen to YouTube videos via the fillings in our molars? Will Bill Gates make us update Windows? Will we be able to use our noses as divining rods to find water in the desert? Puleeze!

Here is a critical alarm we should be ringing: That nut bag, Dr. Tenpenny – quite a few pennies short of a dollar – is providing medical care to Clevelanders. Woe be unto them because of her disdain for science and her willful ignorance.

Far worse than that, Republicans are taking her seriously and enthusiastically embracing yet more ignorance. That’s what passes for a political party representing Ohioans and Republicans across the nation.

Please, please DO NOT give me false equivalences or “both sides” blabbering. There are no Democrats or Independents saying such idiotic things. They are instead trying to ensure voting rights for all Americans, beat this pandemic, rebuild our infrastructure and – who knows? – maybe do something to stop the insanity of unchecked global warming.

The old saying is that there is no cure for stupid. I think that remains true. More important now, though, is a question about a variation on that sentiment: Is there a cure for willful ignorance? Because we have an epidemic of willful ignorance in our country and it is destroying lives, driving people to take up arms against fellow citizens, to attack our democracy itself and even more.

There is a virus going around that lodges in lungs. It has killed over 626,000 of us, yet people willfully deny its existence. Instead of taking the proven protection against the pandemic, they refuse it, claiming that the disease is a hoax. 99.5% of such people make up our current dead victims list, which is increasing by over 260 per day. There is a price for willful ignorance and sometimes it’s the ultimate price.

The willfully ignorant are also denying the crisis that is destroying this planet. In the face of the obvious reality of massive storms, droughts, fires and hurricanes they say things like, “Global warming is a hoax.” As far as I know, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is still doing a dance about the reality of global warming, even as the ocean level rises to engulf his state.

But you can ask anyone in our incinerating west or anybody in the devastating floods in Germany or in coastal and even central China right now if, unlike magnetizing vaccines, global warming is a real thing. They’re quite clear that it is, but the willfully ignorant still deny it. For some crazy reason, our willfully ignorant don’t seem willing to connect the dots, even as they see that both the sun and the moon are now red all across the nation due to smoke from our western fires. Once again, there is a price for willful ignorance and sometimes it’s the ultimate price.

“The Stone Age was once the future,” said my 15-year-old grandson. Our task today is to keep the accuracy of his statement in the past tense. It’s on us to make damn sure we fix global warming because – and I say this without any keys stuck to my forehead – global warming is coming for us unless we take bold action to stop it. It’s the same with the pandemic.

So, here’s my question for your comments: What is it that drives otherwise sensible people to embrace willful ignorance and consequently imperil all of us?

————————————

Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

A Love Letter . . .


.  .  .  To Our Vaccine Refusers

The rest of the world is hoping for, scrambling for, begging for vaccines, while in the good ol’ US of A we’re bribing people to get vaccinated and still they’re refusing.

Question: Why is it possible for me to write that sentence and know it’s accurate?

—————————-

Okay, anti-vaxxers, we know you have your reasons – ten are listed in red below. Be sure to let me know if I’ve missed any biggies.

1. The vaccines aren’t fully vetted. I’ll wait until they are so I know they’re safe.

The FDA has done everything but the last bit of paper review. Besides, 67% of all eligible Americans have taken at least one dose, and 58% are fully vaccinated. There have been no deaths from vaccines, next to no deaths from Covid among the vaccinated and almost no hospitalizations among them, either.

Right now 99.5% of Covid deaths are of un-vaccinated people. That means the vaccines are working. Efficacy and safety, baby. You want proof? You got it. Go get vaccinated.

2. The government damn well can’t tell me what to do. This is a free country and I’m free. Plus, I like that my refusing the vaccine pisses off the libs.

Got it, cowboy. But this isn’t all about you. You want to get sick and die, go ahead. But the thing is that once you’re infected you won’t have any symptoms at first and you’ll still be hanging out with your family, your BFF, your co-workers and whoever is sitting next to you at the movies or the ball game and you’ll be infecting every one of them. Get past yourself and do something for others. Get vaccinated so that you don’t spread the disease and kill people.

Plus, the government of We The People can tell you what to do. We tell you to stop at stop signs. We tell you that you can’t murder people or steal their stuff. We tell you that your kids have to be immunized against measles before they can enter public school and there is a lot more do/don’t stuff. There are good reasons for all of those things. So, we really can tell you and all of us what to do and we have to do it. Get over your obstinance. You’ll still be free. And vaccinated.

I can’t do anything to help you about your mania to “piss off the libs.” You might want to try an anger management program.

3. I’m young and unlikely to get sick. Besides, even if I do catch Covid the case will be mild.

Okay, young ‘un. Re-read the first paragraph of #2 above – the one to the cowboys. Then give a thought to your grandmother who, being old, is far more likely to die if she gets Covid from you. So is your obese Uncle Fred and your little sister who has diabetes. This Covid thing isn’t just about you.

So, same deal: Get past yourself and do something for others. Get vaccinated so that you don’t spread the disease and kill the people you love. Get vaccinated because your case of Covid might not be mild. It might kill you.

4. Covid is a hoax. Everybody knows it, so there’s no point in me getting vaccinated.

This is too stupid for me to waste time on, so just go to the ER of your local hospital and ask a few questions. Maybe they’ll shove a ventilator tube down your throat so you can experience what their dying Covid patients endure. You could even ask one of those patients about that, but they won’t be able to answer. You know why.

5. Fauci lied and so did the CDC. We can’t trust anything they say.

Fauci changed his narrative and his recommendations as new information was available and clear. What do you do when you get better information?

The CDC was under enormous pressure to downplay the disease, this from the prior occupant of the White House. They could have and should have pushed back harder against hydroxychloroquine, injecting Lysol, Clorox and UV lights, mask refusal and the rest. Gotta give you partial credit for that one.

Regardless, what we know now is that vaccines save lives, like yours, and that getting infected without having been vaccinated is extremely hazardous to your ability to continue to breathe.

Are you seeing the pattern? 80% of new cases and 99.5% of the deaths now are due to the Delta variant. It’s way more contagious than anything we’ve seen so far. And the vaccines are very effective at preventing Delta infection.

6. Bill Gates has infused the vaccines with nanobots that will enable our tyrannical government to monitor and control me. I’ll never be free again.

Nice detective work, Sherlock, but there’s a flaw in your investigation.

Said Sherlock Holmes, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” For you what remains is this: There are no nanobots in vaccines. READ THIS AND WATCH THE VIDEOS. You’ll see that people you trusted lied to you over and over.

Even if Gates or the government wanted to implant nanobots in you, they couldn’t get them through the vaccination needle. You can doubt that, but it does not change the accuracy of the statement. It’s a measurement thing. End of mystery. Go get vaccinated.

If it makes you feel better, drink a toast to Bill Gates and flip him off at the same time, but get vaccinated. In contrast, if you want to be chipped like your dog, see your vet.

7. It’s a Democrat conspiracy to enslave us. They’re already running child sex rings and drinking children’s blood. No way I trust them.

This is way above my pay grade. Seek professional help immediately.

8. Donald Trump said it isn’t manly to wear a mask, so it isn’t manly to get a vaccine, either. Besides, Trump never got vaccinated.

All the Trumps got vaccinated quietly in the White House after he recovered from nearly dying from the disease. And he would have died had he not been administered expensive, heroic medical treatment that probably isn’t available to you unless you’re the president – and you’re not! So if you get Covid, especially the Delta Variant that accounts for nearly all new cases, you’re going to die from it.

As for Trump having said that wearing a mask isn’t manly, true enough. He did say that. But a ventilator hose down your throat as you wear a hospital gown with your ass hanging out isn’t real manly, either. Get vaccinated so that you can continue to be manly.

9. I’m Black, Brown or Hispanic and I know about the Tuskegee syphilis betrayals and others, the con jobs that ruined lives and ended them terribly. I don’t trust the government or the medical blabbers.

Got it. Or at least I get it as much as anyone not on the screwee list might. Let’s fairly say that I appreciate and care.

AND let’s consider that this time might be different. After all, people of all races, religions, ancestry and all the rest of the ways we foolishly divide ourselves are getting vaccinated and suffering no ill effects. And they aren’t getting sick and dying, nor are they infecting the people they love. This is the perfect time to take a chance: go get vaccinated. Live. Breathe. Love.

10. I’m a patriot and I don’t do sissy crap that blue state elites blab on and on about.

Okay, you want to play the red, white and blue card? You better be ready for this:

The most patriotic thing you can do, by far, is to sacrifice a little of your defiance in order to protect your fellow citizens.

Protect yourself so that nurses, doctors, techs and the brave people who clean up whatever mess you’ll leave in your hospital bed, instead won’t have to encounter you.

Do it for the selfless EMTs so that they won’t have to haul your miserable, sorry ass to the hospital. Act as though their lives matter every bit as much as your own. They’re heroes defying death every day for others while you’re out infecting people. Grab your fierce independence and get fiercely, independently vaccinated for them. Do it for your country. Be a patriot.

Aw, hell, I’m sick of trying to talk sense into you. If you want to get infected and die, knock yourself out. Hack, wheeze, gasp and croak.

But until you do, just keep the hell away from the rest of us who don’t want to die because of your defiant attitude, like those few still alive in Springfield, MO. And stop waving all your chest thumper flags – they won’t protect you from the Delta variant. Better yet, take your flags off your vehicle and give it to me. I’m due for new wheels and you won’t be needing yours anymore.

————————————

Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.

Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  3. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Numbers


The Election

The electors have voted, the election vote totals are in and they are final.

The good folks at Quinnipiac have a detailed breakdown of this information, so have a look if you’re interested. Plus, updated vote totals can also be seen here. For our purposes, what’s important is in red, because it begs the question:

How can we govern ourselves when almost 60 million Americans prefer to believe lies and don’t trust what is in front of their eyes?

I’ll phrase that in another way, this time addressing the 60 million:

You’ve been fed lies for decades from elected officials, Fox News, conspiracy nutballs*, propagandists, Breitbart, and more. For the last 4 years (plus the campaign year of 2015) the President of the United States has stuffed your head with fantastical lies, lies claiming his greatness, lies demonizing hundreds of people who he didn’t think were sufficiently loyal to him (although their job was to be loyal to the Constitution), lies slandering millions of people, lies citing false statistics and made up facts. The President lied to you over 17 times per day for over 4 years – over 25,000 lies. Here’s your question:

How do you feel about being played for a sucker?

Perhaps you’ll hear it better this way:

How do you like being lied to?

Note that if you don’t care about being played for a sucker and you don’t mind being lied to, there’s nothing you need to do. Just go along as before, being fed lies that stoke your fear, that fire your anger, that make you distrust your neighbors and hate anyone who isn’t exactly like you. No need for that E Pluribus Unum stuff.

On the other hand, if you’re sick of being played for a sucker and you’ve had it with being lied to, welcome to Planet Earth #1. Glad to have you aboard.

Regardless of Trump’s vacuous claims, even his attorney general couldn’t find any evidence of voting fraud. The same is true for the guy who protected our election from cyber hackers. There isn’t even one state election official who could find illegal voting activities – that includes all 50 states. The election was clean. Joe Biden won fair and square. The number of frauds committed in the election is zero.

To be clear, there was cheating. There were tens of thousands of voters purged from voting roles when they should not have been. Polling places were closed, making voting difficult for many thousands of voters. There were dirty tricks to confuse voters into not voting. But all of that was done by Republican operatives for the benefit of Trump. There is no “both sides” argument. There is no room for whataboutism. That number is zero, too.

Back to the original question: How can we govern ourselves when 60 million Americans prefer to believe lies and don’t trust what is in front of their eyes? Those 60 million people are largely angry, resentful, certain theirs is a just cause, believe they are the true patriots and oh, by the way, they own most of the guns in private hands. Did I mention that they’re angry? Plus, their elected representatives in both Congress and the state houses are terrified of them, so the number of Republican legislators those folks both listen to and who will provide leadership in the direction of the aforementioned E Pluribus Unum is zero.

Those are the numbers. President Biden, how will you govern?

The Pandemic

Here is how this killer pandemic stacks up against events we have universally called tragedies, monstrous killers and national disasters. The charts below are from December 10.

 

 

 

 

 

Those are, indeed, awful numbers. Day after day, week after week we’re given nothing from any of our Republican national leadership (the President and those in Congress) to indicate even a little concern over our massive suffering and death. Instead, we get over 50% of Republican House members signing onto the gigantically stupid lawsuit filed by the pardon-seeking attorney general of Texas, seeking to invalidate the votes of millions of citizens of four states in order to give the election to Trump. That was their focus, instead of the suffering of the American people.

Thanks, Melania, for explaining this administration and the Republicans in Congress.

As for how we’re doing relative to other countries, we already know that we’re just 4% of world population and but we have 19% of worldwide Covid deaths. It’s noteworthy that densely populated India has the second highest number of Covid deaths. Their number is 38% fewer deaths from Covid than the U.S., yet India has over 4 times as many citizens. This is not a good way for the U.S. to be number one.

Now vaccines are beginning to be available, but at least 25% of Americans are either skeptical of them or outright hostile to them. If you have reservations about taking a vaccine, given the manipulation, lying and grandstanding of the President about vaccines, given the pressure he’s put on the FDA to approve vaccines without any reasonable review, even for an Emergency Use Authorization, there is some hope.

It comes in the form of a clear explanation of what’s gone on to make it possible to develop a vaccine so quickly. It wasn’t done by cutting corners or succumbing to political pressure. It was done by years of hard work borne of developing vaccines for other pandemics, like Ebola, MERS and SARS. For some confidence building and satisfaction of your curiosity, read this piece from the BBC News. It explains the good things that happen when we trust facts, knowledge and science, instead of populist rage and manipulation.

As for interim relief for Americans suffering from personal economic devastation, Republican leadership in the Senate continues to refuse to help We the People. We have the means to alleviate much suffering, but Republicans, who couldn’t wait to give $1.5 trillion to rich people and corporations, are suddenly horrified that we might run up some debt feeding our hungry and protecting our soon-to-be-homeless people. Help was created over half a year ago, but these programs all go away within a few weeks. There are rumors that McConnell has come out of his shell and that there may be a little relief coming. But right now those are just rumors. If you have a Republican senator, be sure to lean on him/her to refuse to be stingy and instead take proper action to relieve suffering. Even if you’re doing okay, millions of others are not.

Finally, that swelling of passion you feel when you see vaccines being delivered to our heroically courageous front line healthcare workers is testament to how gut wrenching this pandemic has been. Still, the number of available vaccine doses is small and it will be months before you and the people you love will be able to be vaccinated. So, boring as it may sound at this point, keep that mask on, socially distance, wash your hands, avoid all but small gatherings and sanitize everything. We’re starting the last lap of this marathon race. This isn’t the time to stop running.

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*No, there wasn’t a child trafficking scheme operated by Hillary in the basement of a pizza parlor in DC. The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School did happen. There is no plot for Jews to control the world. The Denver International Airport does not sit above an underground city housing The New World Order. The moon landing wasn’t faked. There is no evidence to support the notion that Jesus and Mary had offspring, many generations of which have been hidden in Europe. George Soros doesn’t fund Antifa and it is not a single far-left militant group. Democrats aren’t molesting and selling children. Global warming is real. The Israelis don’t use animals to spy or attack. Fluoride in our drinking water isn’t a communist plot to poison us. The earth is not flat. Elvis and JFK really are dead and are expected to stay that way for a while.

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Countdown to Inauguration Day 2021Countdown

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Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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