Tag Archives: pandemic

national news

The shock is now aimed at his supporters

Donald Trump’s lack of empathy, compassion or sorrow at the suffering of others never has surprised me.

What continues to blow my mind is the acceptance of this individual’s profound character deficiency by those who think he remains the greatest thing to happen to America since they started putting pockets on shirts.

My … goodness. Trump has revealed for all the world how he lacks empathy toward those who have been stricken by COVID-19 or toward their loved ones who are kept away from COVID patients out of fear they, too, would be contaminated by the viral infection.

He has stressed the economic shutdown and his desire to speed up the reopening of the nation’s business community.

Now comes the George Floyd tragedy that has pushed the pandemic off the front pages if only for a brief period. Has the Numbskull in Chief sought answers to the brutal acts that resulted in Floyd’s death after being suffocated by Minneapolis cops? No. He has focused his anger at the rioters who rushed into the streets in an angry response to Floyd’s death … an African-American man who died while being detained by a white police officer.

Trump has vowed to unleash “thousands and thousands of heavily armed” military personnel to put down even peaceful protests.

None of this should surprise anyone who believes — as I do — that Donald Trump is fundamentally unfit for the office of president.

What I cannot fathom nor will I accept is the belief among Americans that Donald Trump is the man we need in this time of grief and angst. Good ever-lovin’ God in heaven, he is the exact opposite of what we need.

Still, the Donald Trump core of supporters still stands with this guy. How in the name of human decency does that happen?

It will remain a mystery to me for as long as I draw breath.

Donald Trump

Worst week of hideous saga coming to an end

I believe it’s fair to suggest that Donald John Trump is coming off the worst week of the presidency he inherited.

It has revealed to the world just how low this individual can go to debase the principles he took an oath to protect.

Let’s ponder a few things that occurred.

George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis; the cops who killed him were fired immediately; one of them was charged with murder and manslaughter, while three others have been charged as well. Trump’s response was to lash out at the protesters; to be fair, many “protests” turned to riots … which drew Trump’s public attention. He has been silent on the issue of how African-Americans are mistreated too often by police agencies.

Trump then vowed to unleash “thousands and thousands of heavily armed” active-duty military personnel to “dominate” the streets of American cities. He said he would use the most potent and lethal military machine in world history on American citizens exercising their rights to protest government policy.

He also used cops and some sort of “secret security force” to clear the streets between the White House and an Episcopal church of peaceful protesters. The cops used tear gas on the protesters. Trum then traipsed to the church, carrying a Bible. He stood before the holy place, held up the Bible … for a photo opportunity! Yes, this individual demonstrated for all the world to see how he is able to use a Holy Bible as a political prop.

The blowback from these repeated demonstrations has been scathing condemnation general-grade officers, including a former defense secretary, two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a former White House chief of staff, the former special operations commander and an assortment of three- and four-star officers, all of whom have served their country with honor and heroism. 

Oh, and thousands more Americans died from COVID-19, the disease Trump dismissed as no worse than the flu.

I have said it many times and I will say it again and again. Donald Trump is morally, temperamentally and psychologically unfit for the office he holds.

I would suggest that we have witnessed the worst possible week of a presidency in mortal peril of disintegration … except that we have many more weeks ahead of us before we can usher this individual out of the Oval Office for the final time.

business news, economic news

These numbers are mind boggling … to be sure

I always have considered the study of economics to be a fairly precise endeavor. Experts look at hard data and make determinations based on what they see as hard evidence of trends.

I also am not an expert on these matters, so take this brief blog post with a grain or two of salt if that suits you.

Thus, when economists project a jobs report that looks toward a 20 percent unemployment rate nationally and the loss of about 9 million non-farm jobs in the past month, I tend to take those projections seriously. I mean, the pandemic has slammed the brakes on the national economy.

That didn’t happen today when the U.S. Labor Department released its latest monthly jobs report.

Labor’s bean counters said the nation added nearly 3 million jobs and the jobless rate dropped from 14 percent to 13 percent in the past month.

How in the name of data-driven study did they miss the mark so badly?

If this had been done during the administration of, say, Barack Obama, we could expect to hear accusations immediately coming from, oh, Donald Trump that the numbers were cooked up. That they were phony. That the Labor Department is being run by a cabal of partisan hacks intent on feathering the president’s political fortunes.

Donald Trump, though, is the immediate beneficiary of these stunning numbers … and this stunning misreading of the nation’s economic standing.

I won’t question the veracity of this jobs report, given my own stated belief that the Labor Department is run by professionals who know what they heck they are doing. I have defended the Labor Department when Donald Trump hurled baseless accusations about previous jobs reports.

At least they know what they’re doing, um, most of the time.

However, I look forward to a thorough explanation of just how the best and the brightest economic minds in the nation missed this call by a country mile.

national news

George Floyd would be glad to see jobs report?

Yep, Donald John Trump said today that the man killed by Minneapolis cops — whose death has spawned a national protest movement against police brutality — would be happy to see the jobs report that stunned economists and politicians.

He conflated a national tragedy with a stunning increase of 2 million jobs and a reduction in the jobless rate from 14 percent to 13 percent.

Trump said, “Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. This is a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality.”

George Floyd is still dead. The Minneapolis cops who killed him are charged with murder in his death. The nation grieves for Floyd’s memory and is demanding fundamental change in the way many police departments handle cases involving African-Americans.

And the president of the United States seeks to suggest that Floyd would be happy at the good news suggesting an economic rebound?

Is this guy for real? Well, he is … I am disheartened to say. Donald Trump simply cannot — or will not — respond appropriately to anything.

Yes, the nation got some good news economic news today. I am cheered by the prospect of businesses filling many of the jobs that were emptied because of the coronavirus pandemic. Then we have Donald Trump making outrageous predictions about the economy storming back at record levels.

What’s more, he is seeking to turn a national tragedy into a political plus for him. Absolutely bizarre!

media news

Maine’s largest newspaper dumps all over POTUS visit

The Portland Press-Herald, the largest newspaper in Maine, offered a tart response to Donald J. Trump’s planned visit to the state.

“We’re sorry that you decided to come to Maine, but since you are here, could you do us a favor? Resign,” the paper said in an editorial published today.

There you have it, Mr. POTUS. The editors of the Press-Herald don’t want you to enter the state. They are fed up with your mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and with your fomenting of division and mistrust in the wake of George Floyd’s death on a Minneapolis street more than a week ago.

“You have never been a good president, but today your shortcomings are unleashing historic levels of suffering on the American people,” the editorial said.

I could not possibly agree more with what the Press-Herald has opined. It’s their call … and I am proud of them for making it.

You can read the full editorial here.

This must be said, too. Trump won’t heed the paper’s call. He will show up and will boast and bellow about all he has done to “make America great again.” He will continue to lie. Trump will ignore reality even as it gnaws at his hopes for re-election.

As the Press-Herald noted: America needs to heal again. Please resign now, and let us begin.

national news

The ‘carnage,’ Mr. POTUS?

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Presidential inaugurals often produce  signature lines.

Franklin Roosevelt told us the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”; John F. Kennedy implored the nation to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”;  Gerald R. Ford — the nation’s only unelected president — told us “our long national nightmare is over.”

Donald John Trump’s signature line? “The American carnage stops right now.”

Well, dude, it hasn’t stopped. Yeah, he was referring to crime … but that hasn’t abated, either. The new “American carnage” came to us via the coronavirus pandemic. OK, he didn’t cause it. His dawdling, dithering and delay in acting initially to it has resulted in tens of thousands of more deaths than it otherwise might have produced had the president acted decisively at the front end of the pandemic.

But he didn’t.

Thus, the American carnage he vowed to stop only has worsened on his watch.

The pandemic continues to rampage across the land. It is producing greater rates of infection and death in many communities, all while the president continues to push state and local governments to speed up the reopening of the economy that has stalled because of the pandemic.

It ain’t working, Mr. President. I will just chalk this “American carnage will end” pledge to be another broken promise.

national news

So … what about that pandemic?

Hey, wait a second! Weren’t we worrying ourselves into a tizzy over that COVID-19 matter, the pandemic that is killing thousands of Americans each day?

It appears it took another tragedy to knock the pandemic off our front pages, off our news channels’ reporting of issues of the day, even off our own conscious thoughts. We’ve been caught up by the George Floyd tragedy in Minneapolis … as we should, given the monumental implications of the death of a black man at the hands of white cops who were brutalizing him.

I do want to turn my attention — and maybe even yours — back to the pandemic for just a brief moment.

I’ve lost count of the number of Americans who have died from the viral infection. The last figure I saw was 108,000-plus and climbing. It has slammed the brakes on the economy. The U.S. Labor Department is likely to tell us Friday that our jobless rate is now at around 20 percent. Meanwhile, we’re still getting sick at an alarming rate and we’re still dying.

So what has been Donald Trump’s focus? Get this: He is going to pull the Republican National Convention out of Charlotte, N.C. Why? Because Gov. Roy Cooper won’t guarantee that the RNC will be able to fill the arena with screaming Trumpkins cheering the nomination of their guy for a second term as president. Oh, did I mention that Cooper is a Democrat? Trump is having none of what the governor is saying, so he’s now shopping around for a more, um, friendly governor who will allow the RNC to pack an arena and expose thousands of Republican delegates and their families to potential exposure to the coronavirus.

Smart, huh? No! It’s pretty damn dumb! It is profoundly stupid! It is going to put Americans in jeopardy!

That doesn’t matter to a president who doesn’t give a rat’s a** about them or their health or their well-being. He cares only about himself, which many of us predicted would be the result of electing this carnival barker/con man/fraud/pathological liar to the nation’s highest office.

So … the pandemic continues to ravage the nation that has seen its attention diverted to another tragedy.

I just felt compelled to remind everyone that we’ve got a plate full of crises that the man who took an oath to protect us is failing to tackle in any sort of decisive fashion.

Do you feel good now? Me, neither.

religious news

Trump sullies Good Book

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“This is an awful man, waving a book he hasn’t read, in front of a church he doesn’t attend, invoking laws he doesn’t understand, against fellow Americans he sees as enemies, wielding a military he dodged serving, to protect power he gained via accepting foreign interference, exploiting fear and anger he loves to stoke, after failing to address a pandemic he was warned about, and building it all on a bed of constant lies and childish inanity.”

— Robert Hendrickson
Rector at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Tucson, Ariz.

The comments attributed to Robert Hendrickson speak so well, so eloquently to one of my enduring frustrations.

It is that Donald Trump is able to persuade the enabling class of voters to whom he clings that he actually speaks their language, that he feels their pain, that he cares about them, their concerns, their loved ones.

He trooped over to the Episcopal church in Washington on Monday to stage a ridiculous, clumsy and laughable photo op. Millions of Americans — me included — saw it for what it was. Others, though, see it as some sort of demonstration that Donald Trump actually cares about them.

How else can I say this, other than to say simply: No. He doesn’t care. Not about you, or me, or anyone other than himself.

For this amoral/immoral imbecile to grasp a Bible — a book of which he has zero knowledge or understanding — and display it in such a fashion soils and sullies the holy and revered text it contains.

national news

We need a president who cares

President Ronald Reagan consoled a nation shattered by the explosion of a space ship and the deaths of seven astronauts by telling us how they “had touched the face of God.”

President Barack Obama led a church congregation in a rendition of “Amazing Grace” after a gunman killed nine of their congregants in a senseless, hate-filled massacre.

President George W. Bush reminded us we would not go to “war with Islam,” but vowed to bring certain justice to the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.

Sen. Robert Kennedy, while running for president in 1968, stood on a flatbed truck and told an Indianapolis crowd that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot dead by an assassin … and then he quoted Aeschylus.

Donald Trump? His reaction to the global pandemic that has killed more than100,000 Americans has been to boast that it could have been greater had he not closed entry from China. He has chided Democratic governors. He has blasted the media for reporting “fake news.” And then he has told us in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of rogue cops that “when there’s looting there will be shooting.”

Oh, my.

We need a president who can rise to the level set forth in the role of consoler in chief. Donald Trump cannot — or will not — rise to that level. He is unable or unwilling to shed the politics of the moment and speak to the entire nation in the moment of grief.

I keep saying — and will continue saying it — that he is unfit for the office he is now seeking to retain. He shouldn’t have been elected in the first place. But he was. Many of us knew all along that if and when the moment presented itself — and it has with the pandemic and now the George Floyd matter — that Donald Trump would be unsuited for the task before him.

We wanted to be wrong. Sadly, this individual has proven us right.

science news

Finally, something to cheer!

Amid all the gloom and grief, and all the mayhem and misery associated with a global pandemic and the death of a man at the hands of brutal cops in Minneapolis, Minn., I found time today to cheer an event for which I have been waiting.

At around 2:30 p.m., Central Daylight Time, a rocket launched from Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral, Fla. It carried two American astronauts into orbit. It was the first launch of Americans from a U.S. launching pad in nearly a decade.

Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are orbiting Earth and will dock sometime tomorrow with the International Space Station.

I could not believe the flutter in my heart this afternoon as they counted down the final seconds before the launch. Then the Space X rocket lit up and burst off the pad toward Earth orbit.

NASA and Space X have teamed up for a historic event and this one was worth cheering … loudly, in fact. I was thrilled in a way I hadn’t been thrilled since I was a whole lot younger watching the early launches of the American space program with my mother.

Indeed, I thought of Mom today as I watched Space X roar into space, wondering how she would have reacted to the sight of Americans zooming into the heavens aboard an American-made rocket, from a U.S. launch pad. Mom would be proud, too.

Space X is the product of a company owned by Elon Musk, the zillionaire owner of Tesla. His company has designed a fantastic space vehicle. I noticed how they first-stage rocket was able to soft-land on a drone ship at sea in good enough shape to be used again on a subsequent space flight.

This is really cool stuff, man. It’s cool for those of us old enough to remember the excitement and romance that used to be associated with space travel.

I am no Pollyanna. I know this is expensive, even with a privately ownership taking the lead on this kind of exploration. However, I have long believed — and always will believe — that humanity was put on this good Earth to venture as far as possible to explore.

I am just glad to see American technology being brought back into the picture once again to take that next “giant leap for mankind.”

Given the troubling context of the times, it was a welcome sight to this old man’s eyes.