Tag Archives: pandemic

Trump was joking about ‘less testing’? Sure, I believe it … hah!

Donald John “Knee-Slapper in Chief” Trump has no discernible sense of humor that any of us can detect.

He rarely guffaws. From what I have read he doesn’t watch movies. He lacks any semblance of self-deprecation. However, the dude does have this annoying habit of relying on others’ excuses for the stupidity that flows out of his pie hole.

He told that sparse gathering in Tulsa, Okla., over the weekend that we ought to have “less testing” of the COVID-19 virus because it would drive down the number of people being infected. I saw him say it. He didn’t wink at the audience. He didn’t say, “Just kidding, folks.” He let the idiocy stand.

Oh, but then comes that trade “expert” who comments on matters far from his wheelhouse. Peter Navarro said Trump’s remark was “clearly tongue in cheek.”

We’ve heard this dodge before from Trumpkins who seek to cover The Donald’s ample backside. He blurts out something stupid and his team of sycophants says, “Aww, he was just kidding. Making a joke. He was being ‘sarcastic.'”

We are asked to buy into that baloney. This guy says so many stupid utterances, he lies with such astonishing frequency that we cannot believe anything, not a single thing that he says. Nor can we believe the efforts of his team to cover his a** when he blurts the idiocy out.

This is the same guy who said he preferred that a cruise ship full of passengers remain stranded off shore because letting them come ashore would drive up his COVID-19 infection “numbers.” He said that, too, with a straight face!

So we’re asked to believe that this Tulsa trash talk about “less testing” to detect the killer virus is a joke?

Why the sparse crowd in Tulsa? Here’s a thought or two

Donald J. “Blame Placer in Chief” Trump was quick to lay out some excuses for the poor showing at his big-time campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla.

He blamed the media; he blamed Democrats for putting out “fake news” about the pandemic. I have a couple of other thoughts to ponder.

One is that Oklahomans and others who thought to attend got cold feet because of the coronavirus pandemic that is still sickening and killing Americans each day. They decided to heed the warnings of medical experts who said an indoor rally with thousands of folks packed in next to each presented too great a risk.

The other is that just maybe Donald Trump’s shtick is wearing out. I listened to parts of his rant. I didn’t hear a single new initiative. I didn’t hear him offer a single fresh idea of where he wanted to lead the country in a second term. Trump didn’t offer anything that sounded like a vision for the future.

No, instead he regurgitated almost the entire story line from the 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton. He just changed the name from “Clinton” to “Biden,” as in Joe Biden, the presumed 2020 Democratic Party presidential nominee.

It well might be that the Trump “base” has grown weary of the tired rant that keeps pouring forth from the guy who promised to “tell it like it is,” that he would “drain the swamp” and that “I, alone” can repair what he said ails the nation.

He skulked off of Marine One after it landed on the White House lawn after the rally looking like he’d been rode hard and put up wet. Indeed, reports have surfaced today about how Trump is “furious” with the turnout and he just can’t find enough people to blame for the fact that the  presidency under his watch has been exposed as a fraud.

We can all rest assured that Donald Trump will keep looking for others to blame for the miserable shortcomings he has revealed since pilfering the presidency.

‘A perfect storm’ brewing in Tulsa?

I am married to a wise woman.

She appreciates the concern that the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down the economy. She wants the economy to restart as much as the next person. She also wants it to be done with care about people’s health, indeed their very lives.

It is with that notion that she said recently, “The economy won’t revive itself when we’re all hospitalized … or dead!”

You got that right, sweetheart!

Accordingly, the health experts who are seeking to get Donald Trump’s attention are yelling at the top of their lungs that Trump’s planned rally in Tulsa this weekend is a “perfect storm” for infection from the killer virus. They are beseeching the Trump team to postpone the rally. They are concerned that packing 19,000 people into a confined space, giving them a chance to scream their joy at Trump’s idiotic ramblings (without wearing masks) is going to expose thousands of them to potential illness from COVID-19.

As PBS noted“As best I can tell, there’s nowhere in the world that’s doing large indoor events,” said state Rep. Monroe Nichols, a Democrat who represents Tulsa. “Definitely not events with 20,000 people in the middle of a global pandemic. It’s just not a thing.”

Trump’s rally Saturday is “a worst case scenario. It’s a perfect storm for the further spread of the virus,” Nichols added.

Tulsa is the place that is doing a “large indoor event.” What’s more, local officials report a serious spike already under way in Oklahoma.

Is this smart? No. It is the depth of stupidity.

Damage is done, Empower Texans

I’ve gone from despising Empower Texans to hating the ultra right-wing political action committee with what my dear Mom used to call a “purple passion.”

An audio recording has surfaced in which two Empower Texans operatives are making fun of the fact that Gov. Greg Abbott is confined to a wheelchair. The recording is profanity-laced. It is tasteless in the extreme.

Now, to be fair, Empower Texans boss Michael Quinn Sullivan has apologized to Abbott. He has condemned the remarks. I don’t know if he has dismissed the yahoos who made the comments. He damn sure should.

I want to be clear about my feelings about Empower Texans. This right-wing PAC has become involved in Republican Party primary politics, It targets GOP incumbents who ET believes aren’t “conservative enough.” In 2018, ET went after state Sen. Kel Seliger and state Rep. Four Price, two Amarillo Republicans I happen to know quite well. Seliger and Price survived the challenge.

Now we hear from Empower Texans’ operatives Tony McDonald and Cary Cheshire talking trash. Indeed, to poke fun of a public official’s disability is pure trash.

State Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican, said this via Twitter: Abbott has more strength in his spine & integrity in his pinkie than these fools. Silver lining: now the masses get to see what many of us have known for a long time: A once reputable & respected policy organization, ET has turned in to nothing more than a sanctimonious sewer.

Am I a fan of Greg Abbott’s politics and his world view? No, I am not. That’s beside the point. The point I want to make is that Empower Texans has shown that two members of its high command behave despicably beyond measure.

Yes, I hate Empower Texans.

Does he really care about those who adore him? Umm, no!

Donald J. Trump is proceeding full throttle to stage that rally in Tulsa.

He intends to pack 19,000 adherents into an arena Saturday to hear him rant and roar about Democrats, the media, John Bolton … and God knows who or what else.

Let me pose this question: Do you think Donald Trump gives a rat’s a** about those who will flock to Tulsa to hear his incoherent riff?

I say “no!” Here’s why.

Trump is going to ask folks to sign a waiver that says if they get sick from COVID-19 that they can’t sue him. The Tulsa mayor says, moreover, that any rational person would stay away from an indoor rally while infection from COVID-19 is spiking throughout Oklahoma. Despite all of that, Donald Trump is intent on staging this rally.

Why? Because he wants to produce the photo op that will be broadcast around the country to advance his re-election effort.

Does he give a crap about the health and well-being of those who will cheer him on? No … way! Good luck to you all. Just remember that Donald John Trump cares far less about you than you care about him.

School will be back … but should students and teachers return?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has rung the 2020-21 school bell telling students, teachers and staff that classrooms will be open for the upcoming academic year.

Abbott shut down in-person class study this spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students kept current with their studies at home; our granddaughter and her older brother were two of them and, I should add, they did quite well studying at home.

Now what? Abbott’s back-to-school directive does give parents the flexibility to decide whether to send their children back to class.

As the Texas Tribune reports:

“It will be safe for Texas public school students, teachers, and staff to return to school campuses for in-person instruction this fall. But there will also be flexibility for families with health concerns so that their children can be educated remotely, if the parent so chooses,” said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.

When students return, school districts will not be required to mandate students wear masks or test them for COVID-19 symptoms, said Frank Ward, a spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency.

If I were King of the World, I most certainly would require masks and COVID-19 tests. I am not. I am just a concerned grandparent who wants to ensure that students, teachers and staff will be safe from becoming infected by a disease that could do them great harm.

Man, I hope Abbott knows what he’s doing. Texas is experiencing a serious spike in infection, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Yes, we want to return to what we like think is “normal” activity.

Given recent trends, I am just leery of sending young children back to school and instructing them to practice “social distancing.”

Gov. Abbott hands out blame, fails to own this crisis

I have some advice for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

You need to stop dishing out blame to others and start taking ownership of the role you have played in the spike in COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death in the state you were elected to govern.

Abbott decided this week to blame 20-something Texans for refusing to practice social distancing, for failing to wear face masks in public and for being too cavalier about the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic that has swept around the globe.

Here’s a thought for the governor to ponder, although he likely won’t: Greg Abbott has the authority to issue a mandate that requires Texans to wear masks. Yet he doesn’t do that. He chooses to follow the lead of others — namely Donald Trump — who decline to accept fully the gravity of the health crisis at hand.

Having said that I’ll accept that we all deserve to be slapped across the face about this COVID-19. We need to ensure we all take it seriously. I get it. However, I found the tone of Gov. Abbott’s remarks to be disconcerting because they fail to address the role he and other political leaders can play in reducing the threat of this killer virus to Texans.

Isn’t there a saying making the rounds that declares that “We’re all in this together”? If were “in it together,” then we need to share the responsibility in looking for ways to get through this crisis. Assessing blame to just some of us won’t do the job.

‘Cause for celebration’? Really?

(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Vice President Mike Pence is proud to wear the dunce cap that designates him as Donald Trump’s No. 1 sycophant.

Take, for instance, what he wrote in the Wall Street Journal, where he declared that “under … Trump’s leadership” the rate of infection by COVID-19 in the United States should be a “cause for celebration.”

Huh? Is the VPOTUS out of his mind? Well, yes. He is!

If he’s going to cite national causes for celebration, he needs to hold up France, Italy and Spain. Those countries have actually “flattened the curve” and are seeing serious declines in the infection and death rates from the pandemic.

How about Greece and Taiwan, which took seriously proactive measures at the onset of the pandemic and have experienced hardly any of the heartache that has occurred in the United States?

Oh, no! The VP has swilled Trump’s pandemic Kool-Aid and declared we should be “celebrating.” Earth to Mikey: We’re getting sicker here; many states are seeing serious increases in infection and hospitalization.

Pence wrote: “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and the courage and compassion of the American people, our public health system is far stronger than it was four months ago, and we are winning the fight against the invisible enemy.”

No. We are not “winning the fight.”

Flabbergasted at POTUS’s declaration of ‘victory’ against COVID-19

I cannot wrap my arms — let alone my noggin — around the notion that Donald Trump keeps harping on that declares some form of “victory” against the COVID-19 killer virus.

How in the name of medical expertise does this clown get away with making such idiotic declarations we have whipped the virus, that it’s all but gone?

Texas is among more than a dozen states that is seeing a dramatic spike, an increase, in the number of infections. Yet our governor, Republican Greg Abbott, says he sees no compelling need to put the brakes on the state reopening. Oh, no. Now he’s throwing out blame at 20-somethings for refusing to use proper social distancing methods and declining to wear masks in public for the increase.

Yumpin’ yiminy, man! We aren’t winning anything as it regards this virus. Medical gurus tell us there might be a second “wave” of infection that will make the first wave look like a Scout outing. Our beaches have been declared open and tourists are flocking to the coast with little or zero regard to social distancing “recommendations.” Is it any surprise that we’d see a spike in infection and hospitalization in Texas?

Still, Donald Trump tells us we’re whipping that Bad Boy. His loyal followers believe him! The basis for his victory declaration? He doesn’t have any. He points to his own vacuous skull and says he just knows these things.

No. Donald Trump doesn’t know whether to sh** or shine his shoes.

I think we’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing all along. We’re not going to mingle among crowds. No thanks, Mr. POTUS. You can declare victory to your heartless soul’s content. We cannot believe the words of a pathological liar.

If we stop testing? What?

Donald Trump shot off his pie hole again today about the coronavirus pandemic, once more seeking to downplay the misery and mayhem it has caused in the United States of America.

“If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” Trump said during a White House event highlighting administration actions to help senior citizens.

Good grief! That idiocy remains me of an earlier moronic statement from the late Marion Barry, once the mayor of Washington, D.C. Barry was asked to comment on the hideous crime rate in our nation’s capital city. He responded, and this is paraphrasing what he said:

If you take away the murder rate, we don’t have such a bad crime problem.