Monthly Archives: April 2020

medical news

George W. Bush: pandemic visionary

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(Photo by Paul McErlane/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

If we’re candid about our own beliefs, we would acknowledge that we don’t usually think of President George W. Bush as a visionary politician.

Lo and behold, though, comes reporting that in the summer of 2005, while vacationing at his Central Texas ranch, President Bush was reading a book about the 1918 influenza pandemic, aka the Spanish Flu. He returned to Washington and told his top homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, about what he had read.

The book alarmed and alerted the president, who then told the nation that we needed to get and stay prepared to deal with the next pandemic, which he concluded occurs about every 100 years.

Hmm. Well, he was right. He wanted to re-double our efforts to fight a global pandemic.

President Bush left office in January 2009, handing the office over to Barack H. Obama, who would form a pandemic response team within the National Security Council.

Oh, but wait! President Obama turned the officer in January 2017 to Donald J. Trump. What did the new president do? He disbanded the NSC pandemic team.

So now we learn that Trump not only dismissed the efforts of his immediate predecessor but also of the man who preceded President Obama. Yes, it was George W. Bush who sounded the alarm that Donald Trump chose to ignore … until it was too late.

We’re caught now in the latest pandemic. The coronavirus crisis is killing thousands of human beings every day. The worst is still to come. Most of our states are reacting relatively quickly to the emergency. The feds? They are still trying to catch up. Heck, they’re still trying to get their message straight, which is a damn near impossible task, given Donald Trump’s inability to speak coherently, seriously and knowledgeably about the pandemic.

Do you feel safe now with Donald Trump in charge? You’re not alone. Neither do I.

national news

What? POTUS stays off the golf course?

Am I the only American who has noticed that Donald John Trump is staying close to the house, as in the White House, while we fight this coronavirus pandemic?

There have been no trips to Mar-a-Lago or to Bedminster or to anywhere outside of Washington, D.C., for this president.

Not while the rest of us are staying home, away from others — even extended family.

I just have to say that Trump’s outward attentiveness to the crisis at hand has not gone unnoticed.

medical news

Baffled by POTUS’s refusal to follow CDC guideline

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Donald John Trump can do damn near whatever he wants to do … or decline to do the same.

However, the president’s declaration that he won’t follow face-mask guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention baffles me.

CDC recommends that we all wear face masks when interacting with other human beings while we wage “war” with the invisible enemy, the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a voluntary measure.

Trump, the head of the executive branch of our government, undercut the CDC on Friday by stating he won’t wear the mask. The reason why is laughable, except that it ain’t funny.

He said he cannot meet with foreign dignitaries while sitting behind the “Resolute Desk” in the Oval Office as he wears a mask. The mask, he implied, would be, um, less than dignified. The president of the United States cannot wear a mask, or worse, be seen by the public wearing a mask.

Huh? As if that matters? As if anyone should care whether the POTUS is wearing a mask?

I would applaud Donald Trump for adhering to the CDC guideline. He would send a message to all Americans that the guidelines are to be taken seriously enough that even the president of the United States is following them!

What we’re getting instead from Donald Trump is just another example of a failure of presidential leadership in a time of crisis.

national news

Praying for and criticizing POTUS … we can do both!

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A goofy social media meme showed up overnight on my Facebook feed that demands we do something at the exclusion of another thing.

It says that “instead of criticizing” Donald Trump over his mishandling of the response to the coronavirus pandemic that we should “pray for him.”

Well … these are not mutually exclusive activities.

I am going to do both, actually. I will to continue to look critically at the way Trump has botched the federal government’s response to the pandemic. I also will pray that he finally gets his sh** together sufficiently to save lives.

I believe in the power of prayer, in that I also believe that God answers our prayers. The answer might not always be readily recognizable in the moment. Let’s face the fact that the Almighty doesn’t send emails to us telegraphing the answer.

However, God also gives us sufficient cognitive and intuitive ability to make up our own minds on whether we should criticize those among us wield power. Donald Trump wields power and, thus, we are entitled to demand that he do so with wisdom and discernment.

The president is our head of government and our head of state. He is the nation’s chief governmental executive. He once boasted that “I, alone” can fix what ails the nation. You know, it’s not unfair to hold him to that foolish, feckless and futile bit of braggadocio.

Therefore, I will do so … while at the same time praying that this goofball president finally gets it.

national news

Oregon governor makes me proud

The governor of the state of my birth has demonstrated a generous streak in a time of peril for another one of our 50 states.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is sending 140 ventilators to New York to help that state treat patients afflicted with COVID-19, the strain of coronavirus that has paralyzed the planet. China also is sending 1,000 ventilators to New York.

It doesn’t sound like much of a help, given the huge number of patients who need treatment. But the very idea that one of our state governors would reach out in such a fashion speaks well of the generous spirit among Americans.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo thanked Gov. Brown publicly today and pledged to return the gesture in the event Oregon suffers the kind of surge in coronavirus cases that has fallen on New York.

And get a load of this: Donald Trump and Mike Pence both congratulated Gov. Brown for the gesture she extended to Gov. Cuomo. How about that?

This is a case of crisis bringing out the best in this great country.

Well done, Gov. Brown.

medical news

When will POTUS shut … up?

I reached my saturation point a long time ago but the coronavirus pandemic and Donald Trump’s constant presence in front of the nation in recent times is sending me damn near to the breaking point.

I don’t usually watch the president’s “briefings” about the pandemic response team’s work. I prefer to listen to the experts he has recruited to work on the nuts and bolts of the response.

News reports and the snippets I do see tell me that he is continuing to spew out confusion, chaos and mixed messages at a time when we need clarity, coherence and calm.

Donald Trump is not advancing anything constructive with his rants against Democratic governors, against the media for asking him “nasty” questions. He calls himself a “wartime president,” but cannot, will not deliver the kind of message that wartime presidents by definition are supposed to deliver.

This guy can’t unify anyone. He prefers to talk only to his base when he should be speaking directly to all Americans, even his critics. Were he to speak like a normal president operating during these abnormal times, well, I would listen to him.

Instead, he takes aim at imaginary adversaries, blaming them for playing politics while at the same time doing the very thing he accuses others of doing.

Worst of all, he continues to lie. He denies saying things that the whole world heard him say. The initial downplaying of the coronavirus threat has been recorded for the rest of history … but Donald Trump says he took the threat seriously from the very beginning. No! He did not!

I can’t stand it!

This guy needs to be booted out of the White House!

environmental news, medical news

Does this pandemic have a positive impact on anything? Well, yes

One can run a terrible risk of shortchanging the tragedy that comes from crises while looking for any positive outcomes.

With that said, I want to offer this item, understanding that some might think I am seeking to minimize the sadness being played out all over the world.

The coronavirus pandemic could possibly result in the most dramatic reduction in carbon emissions since World War II.

Reuters News Service reports: “I wouldn’t be shocked to see a 5 percent or more drop in carbon dioxide emissions this year, something not seen since the end of World War II,”  (Rob) Jackson, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University in California, told Reuters in an email.

The cause of such a decline isn’t hard to figure out. Motor vehicle traffic is way down. Everywhere on Earth. China, where the pandemic originated and where air pollution has become almost legendary, reports remarkably clean air over major urban centers. The same is being said in India and in major European cities.

I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and I am quite certain that carbon emissions here are registering historic lows as millions of us around here are obeying stay at home directives issued by Gov. Greg Abbott.

As Reuters points out: But the improvements are for all the wrong reasons, tied to a world-shaking global health emergency that has infected more than 950,000 people — while shuttering factories, grounding airlines and forcing hundreds of millions of people to stay at home to slow the contagion. 

Just a side note: The number of infected human beings has zoomed well past a million people since this article was published.

I am left now to wonder whether this result might persuade some notorious climate-change deniers to rethink their environmental idiocy. If we are seeing this singular positive result from this pandemic, it well might be a reduction in carbon emissions that — according to scientific research — contributes to the other existential threat to humanity: worldwide climate change.

local news, medical news

Does this guy have a political future? Yeah, I think so

Crises occasionally give birth to political superstars and I am starting to see some signs of superstardom emerging among the ranks of local political figures in Texas and around the country.

The crisis of the moment is a big one: the coronavirus pandemic.

A Texas Tribune feature singles out a fellow who just might be among the superstars emerging from the wreckage that the pandemic is likely to create.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, according to the Tribune article, has been far from “timid” in his response to the pandemic. He jumped right away on calls for shelter in place, then for r. esidents of the nation’s eighth most populous county to stay at home. He has spearheaded the installation of temporary hospital rooms and issued calls to action among city officials and those who govern neighboring counties.

Jenkins even has chided other county judges — such as Chris Hill in Collin County — to step up their efforts to battle the onset of the coronavirus. The Tribune also notes that after ordering bars and restaurants closed, he egged Gov. Greg Abbott on to follow suit statewide.

So, is a star being born? Hmm. Maybe.

Jenkins is a Democrat, elected to the county judgeship in 2010. I don’t know much about Jenkins, other than what I’ve seen from my perch in Collin County, where we have lived for the past year or so.

Whether he’s able to capitalize appropriately on the leadership he is exhibiting depends on whether the judge sees a higher political office in his future. It well might be that he has advanced as far as he wants to go. Indeed, politicians often can overplay their hands if they want to take their public service venture to the next level.

Clay Jenkins has to play it carefully if he has any personal future ambition to fulfill. In the meantime, he can just keep doing what he’s doing and hope his leadership helps save lives … which by itself could write the script for this fellow’s political future.

national news

Listening to the docs, tuning out the politicians

As a general rule I am not inclined to criticize politicians simply because of their profession.

I view politics more as a noble craft than one that is inherently corrupt. However, there clearly are exceptions to both ends of that measuring stick.

That said, too many politicians commenting on the coronavirus pandemic are wrapping themselves up in this madness in search of ways to further their own fortunes.

I want to hear from the doctors, the researchers, the scientists … those with practical knowledge and experience dealing head-on with mounting crises.

To be clear, the nation is full of noble men and women who consider their political path to be paved with commitment to serving the public. You know who they are: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, California Gov. Gavin Newsom come to my mind immediately. These men have stood up, stood tall and have spoken of their abiding concern for their constituents while offering sincere and heartfelt salutes to the men and women who are battling the virus on the front lines.

Too many of the rest of them have offered confusion and chaos when we need calm and comfort. And you know who I consider to be the prime culprit there.

The scientists are the truth-tellers. They are individuals who have no political axe to grind. The physicians among them take a solemn oath to “do no harm.” Indeed, it has been the politicians’ initial denial of the pandemic severity that has more than enough harm around the world.

My mission now is to glean the information I need from the experts, the pros. If a politician wants to fill my TV screen, he or she had better talk seriously about the crisis … and not at all about what a great job they think they’re doing.

And, yes, Mr. President, I’m talking about you!

national news

No one expects perfection, but … c’mon!

A family member of mine — someone with whom I joust occasionally about the president of the United States — says that no one could have responded to the coronavirus pandemic perfectly.

I guess that is his way of suggesting that Donald Trump has done the best he could do and that we should appreciate all he’s done in the wake of the crisis that has killed thousands of Americans.

I need to respond briefly to my dear family member.

He is correct in suggesting that perfection is too high a hurdle to clear in times like this. Indeed, I haven’t heard a single Trump critic say that the president should have or could have responded perfectly. What I do hear are concerns about the utter incompetence of his response and that he failed to respond immediately to the very beginning of the crisis as it developed.

Trump’s downplaying of the crisis severity initially is what slowed the national response. Of that there can be little doubt, and yet he told us he responded “perfectly.” He used that word, as if to compare it to that infamous phone call he made in June 2019 to the Ukraine president. It was Trump, no one else, who ascribed perfection to a national response that was far from it.

I am never going to say that a fallible human being — even the president of the United States — is going to do anything with utter and absolute perfection. The very nature of our humanity accepts that all of us make mistakes.

I should add, too, that the framers of our nation’s government stated in the preamble to our U.S. Constitution that they intended to “form a more perfect Union.” You see, even those great men knew that absolute perfection was unattainable even in creating this marvelous governing document.

I have not expected perfection from our president in his handling of this monumental crisis … but I damn sure expected a lot better than what we’ve gotten so far.