Tag Archives: pandemic

medical news

What if POTUS tests positive?

The news out of Brasilia, Brazil that the president of Latin America’s largest nation has tested positive for COVID-19 leaves me with terribly mixed feelings.

I don’t want Jair Bolsonaro to get seriously ill from the virus, even though he is what you could call a “pandemic denier.” He and his pal Donald J. Trump had locked arms in solidarity in dismissing the danger posed by the coronavirus that has swept around the world.

Now he’s sickened by it. He wasn’t taking personal precautions. Bolsonaro was running around without a mask, he wasn’t keeping appropriate distance from others. He was calling it no worse than the flu.

OK. Now he’s tested positive for the disease. Will the docs in Brazil treat it like the flu? I doubt it. Seriously.

What about his pal, The Donald?

So far, Donald Trump has tested negative every time he’s been tested. Or so he tells us. Is he telling us the truth? I have difficulty taking anything he says at face value. About anything at all.

Don Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, has tested positive and has been quarantined for two weeks. That means the virus is inching ever closer to the president, who’s already seen several members of his staff and the Secret Service detail afflicted by the virus.

My mixed feelings are troubling to me. I am not proud of acknowledging that I care far less about Donald Trump’s personal well-being than about the government he was elected to lead. It’s just the way I feel about the man, given his own callous disregard for others. I figure he’s merely reaping what he’s sown in my own heart.

I do worry about the executive branch of our government, which isn’t running well as it is. What might occur if Donald Trump takes ill? What happens to the decision-making process? Does the chaos accelerate?

These aren’t far-fetched questions to ponder, given what we’ve seen occur in Brazil with another world leader who has been as cavalier about the pandemic as the U.S. president has been.

Might President Bolsonaro’s illness be something of a wakeup call for his good buddy in Washington? Perhaps we can get some actual seriousness from the White House about the tragedy that has befallen so many Americans.

local news

Pandemic forces State Fair cancellation

BLOGGER’S NOTE: A version of this post was published initially on KETR-FM’s website.

If this was the year you would try out some fried beer at Fair Park in Dallas … you’ll just have to wait until 2021.

The Texas State Fair isn’t going to occur this year. Fair organizers have canceled the annual event for the first time since the end of World War II; back then we were too busy celebrating the end of the bloodiest conflict in world history. This year’s cancellation comes – as if you need reminding – because we are in the midst of another struggle against the coronavirus pandemic.

This is absolutely, unequivocally and without question the correct call.

The State Fair is a gigantic public event, drawing millions of visitors to Dallas every year. They’re crammed along the fair midway, sampling this and that fare that passes for “food.”

The fair board said the 2021 event will occur Sept. 21 through Oct. 17. The Texas Tribune reports that 2.5 million spectators attended the 2019 fair. Given the social distancing rules governing outdoor venues this year, well, let’s just say the attendance would be significantly less than in recent previous years.

We shouldn’t complain about this cancellation. I am fully supportive of the decision.

According to the Texas Tribune: “One of the greatest aspects of the Fair is welcoming each and every person who passes through our gates with smiles and open arms,” said Gina Norris, board chair for the State Fair of Texas, in a written statement. “In the current climate of COVID-19, there is no feasible way for the Fair to put proper precautions in place while maintaining the Fair environment you know and love.”

More from the Tribune: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in a statement that he was saddened by the closure, but that the organization made the right decision.

“COVID-19’s spread is rampant in our community, and public health must come first,” he said. “We all have to do what it takes to slow this virus so we can save lives and livelihoods and get back to doing what we enjoy.”

I now will await the griping from those who contend the state’s “heavy hand” is denying Texans their God-given right to expose themselves and others to the deadly virus. Let ’em gripe.

What is not entirely clear, at least to me, is the status of the annual Texas-Oklahoma college football game, which occurs at the Cotton Bowl smack in the middle of Fair Park and during the State Fair. My hunch is that the game will proceed, although there might have to be some serious restrictions placed on the number of fans who will be able to watch the game. Big 12 officials say they intend to play football this season. Whether they do so in stadiums filled with fans remains a seriously open question.

Texas happens to be in dire straits at the moment as it fights the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to take great care as we move ahead with staging these athletic events.

As for the State Fair, well, let’s wait a year before we scarf down that fried beer.

national news

Stupidity rules in some quarters

Sigh …

Actually, that’s a heavy sigh laced with anger at the moronic tenor of that message.

The photo showed up on my Facebook feed this morning. I don’t know where it was taken, or certainly who these individuals are, but oh my does that picture enrage me.

Those folks’ “freedom” isn’t worth a nickel more than anyone else’s “safety.” For Americans to protest their government’s effort to protect us from a killer virus is to suggest a blatant and dangerous ignorance of what government is empowered to do … under the U.S. Constitution.

I just felt compelled to share this picture with readers of this blog. It speaks so loudly to the idiocy that has infected our political discourse in light of this public health menace.

local news, medical news, national news, State news

When will GOP pols hit the wall as it regards POTUS?

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Here is my latest Question of the Day: When in the name of sane government will Republican governors around the country decide they have heard enough from Donald J. Trump?

I’ll look specifically at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, given that I am acquainted with him and he might actually see this blog post.

Abbott has slammed the brakes on the state’s reopening strategy in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. He has ordered masks in public places, told us to maintain social distancing, and ordered businesses to limit capacity. Yes, he was slow to enact the measures and, yes again, he is scaling back his too-quick order to reopen the state’s business community.

Abbott, though, at least is giving lip service to the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, we hear from Donald Trump that the killer virus is going to disappear. It’ll be like a miracle, he says, adding, “I hope.”

Then came this tidbit from one of his Fourth of July weekend speeches: He said that 99 percent of all COVID-19 infections don’t amount to anything of consequence. Virtually all infections, he implied, are nothing to worry about.

Really! He said it. Oh, I guess I should point out that 130,000 Americans have died, which is about 20 percent of the worldwide death count.

These Republican politicians need to speak out forcefully, telling Donald Trump to keep his trap shut. Every time he dismisses the death counts, makes light of the infection rates, calls for “less testing,” he makes state and local politicians’ duties that much more difficult.

He’s got that damn bully pulpit that he is misusing to the detriment of Americans’ health. GOP politicians need to start calling him out.

Gov. Abbott, I’m talking to you!

entertainment news

Social distancing produces this kind of entertainment

OK, there’s so very little positive to come out of the coronavirus pandemic … then there’s this.

I am seeing a number of these “social distancing” videos coming forth from musicians who aren’t performing in the same room. They manage to cobble together versions of classic tunes. The video that accompanies this brief blog post is one of them. I have watched multiple times a pair of videos assembled by The Doobie Brothers singing two of their many hits.

I can’t stop smiling when I see these pieces of artwork.

Man, technology can produce some wondrous things.

national news

Entering a new era of campaigning

(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has laid it on the line.

He is going to campaign for the presidency without any massive rallies. There will be none of those events with admirers crammed together, cheering themselves hoarse at pronouncements coming from their guy on the podium.

Donald Trump isn’t ready to make that pledge. Why? Because he prefers the campaign rallies where he is able to stand at a podium and deliver his incessant, incoherent riffs on this and/or that issue or perceived opponent.

I submit that the COVID-19 Pandemic Era has ushered in a new style of campaigning, with social media becoming even more prevalent than before.

Trump had that rally in Tulsa, Okla. He promised a huge crowd. It didn’t materialize. He had to take down an outdoor venue set up to handle an “overflow” crowd that never showed up. The sparse turnout angered Trump. It has created gossip about a campaign shakeup on the horizon.

Whatever. Biden’s view is that the age of big-time campaign rallies is over … at least while the nation fights the pandemic that so far is still running rampant from coast to coast to coast.

Just between you and me, we’ll be fighting this disease long after they count the presidential election ballots, which gives me hope that Biden’s strategy is the smart strategy.

There has been a lot of talk about the “new normal” arising from the pandemic. We’re wearing masks in public. We’re keeping our distance from strangers. We aren’t shaking hands when we meet friends. We aren’t embracing when we see loved ones.

Nor will we be standing shoulder-to-shoulder among crowds of strangers cheering the candidates of our choice.

To be frank, I am having trouble grasping how this will play out. I am still trying to fathom the notion of a “virtual” presidential nominating convention. Democrats will nominate Biden in a virtual event; Republicans will nominate Trump who will speak to a crowd in Jacksonville, Fla., after the GOP gathering was moved from Charlotte, N.C., because the North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper wouldn’t clear the event out of fear of spreading the virus.

But … here we are. It’s a new day in a new era and with a new set of circumstances that are far beyond our ability to control at the moment. It has changed the way our politicians campaign for public office.

Given that I am slowly becoming a 21st-century man, I welcome the change with hope that it will produce new national leadership.

State news

Hoping our memories are long regarding Dan Patrick

Dan Patrick’s name won’t be on the ballot until 2022, when his term as Texas lieutenant governor is up for election.

I am running out of epithets to hang next to this clown.

I’ll stick with loudmouth for the moment, given that before he became a politician he had some kind of radio show. He is glib, quick with the quip and is utterly, stupidly insensitive to the plight of others.

I want him gone from the Texas political landscape.

The man whose job is to preside over the Texas Senate said recently that the nation’s leading epidemiologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” when referencing how Texas has responded to the COVID-19 crisis that is sweeping across the state. Patrick said Fauci has been “wrong” across the board, so he no longer will listen to him.

Prior to that Patrick said old folks ought to be able to surrender their lives if it meant restarting the state economy, which had been shut down because of the initial wave of infections created by the global pandemic.

This idiot’s Texas political career has been fraught with moronic statements, legislation and policies.

He serves as governor when the actual governor is out of the state. Frankly, Patrick gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Of course, he won’t be “primaried” by Republicans because the hard-core GOP base loves the guy. To my way of thinking I am not yet sure Texas is ready to elect a Democrat to the state’s second-leading political post.

I guess this is my way of suggesting we might be stuck with this nimrod for as long he chooses to sit in the lieutenant governor’s office. Which means I am left only to gripe about him in this blog and hope that something sticks down the road.

Or, perhaps our memories will retain the idiocy of what he has said about the pandemic and other matters if and when he decides to run for his current or another public office.

local news, medical news

Face mask order forces me to acquire new habits

It has taken an order from the Texas governor to get me to step it up with this “new normal” way of doing things.

I don’t begrudge Greg Abbott for issuing the order, even though I do endorse the notion that he was a bit late in declaring it. That said, I won’t dwell on its timeliness.

Abbott has told us to wear masks when we venture to public places if we live in counties with 20 or more coronavirus infections. Well, in Collin County we, um, are well past that “magic number.”

My wife has been much better about complying with voluntary new normal procedures than I have been. I guess it took the order from Gov. Abbott to get me to pay attention. He issued it and I am heeding it to the letter.

To be sure, I wish we didn’t have to wear these masks. It’s awfully hot out there and the masks make me sweat. However, the cost of not wearing one — in addition to maintaining that “social distance” thing — is too serious to ignore.

Even though I don’t like wearing the masks, I dislike getting sick even more. I seriously dislike the notion of possibly dying from the illness known as COVID-19. More to the point than even that, I shudder at the thought of my family members being sickened by the virus. They know who they are and I am imploring all of them to follow the rules … to the letter.

If it takes a government order to keep my loved ones and me healthy, then I’m all in. You will not hear me gripe about surrendering my “civil liberties” or being told how to behave.

The alternative to all of that could be pretty damn grim … and I am unwilling to pay that price.

medical news

Public health goes partisan

Did you ever think an issue concerning public health would cross into the realm of partisan politics?

If you answered “no,” then I venture to presume you’re in good company. Neither did I, nor I am reckoning did many of the nation’s public health or leading political figures.

But … here we are.

Governors around the country are pulling back on their reopening measures in the wake of the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in their states. They have empowered local officials to enact stricter regulations for citizens to follow.

The reaction from many Americans has been jaw-dropping. I see news reports of residents yammering about losing their rights as citizens, how the government has become tyrannical in their mandates, orders and edicts.

One dipsh** in Florida said that he has the right to act using his own “intelligence” in response to the pandemic. Oh, really? That means he is “intelligent” enough to infect his neighbors, his family members and even total strangers if he decides against wearing a mask or refuses to maintain social distancing.

The term “public health” by definition means we are dealing with matters that involve everyone. The public. Strangers. Our neighbors.

We are in the midst of a public health crisis. When a governor issues an order to wear a mask, he or she is doing so to mitigate the damage being done by the disease the nation is fighting to control and to eliminate.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has joined the growing chorus of governors to issue stricter rules and regulations. He has been getting beaten up over the tardiness of his order. I won’t go there, except to say I am glad he has awakened to the crisis and has broken away from the policies being touted by other Republican politicians, starting with Donald Trump. 

Public health requires everyone to climb aboard the same wagon, or so one would have presumed. Then again, we live in the most polarized moment in recent memory. If only we could set aside our partisan differences in pursuit of a sound public health policy.

national news

Wishing it away won’t do the job

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I’ll be brief, Mr. President.

I just want to remind you — as if you should even need reminding — that wishing the COVID-19 pandemic will disappear won’t make it happen.

Nothing will make the pandemic vanish all by itself. We need presidential leadership that sends consistent messages to the people in the land. We need to develop a vaccine. We need to ensure that we test Americans who worry about catching the killer virus.

We need a whole lot more from you than we’re getting.

Most of all we need to hear a whole lot less of the mindless, brainless happy talk that foments the Big Lie about what a fantastic job your administration is doing.

Enough of the bullsh**, Mr. President!