Tag Archives: pandemic

medical news

What’s wrong with mandates?

So help me I don’t understand how the vaccination campaign against a killer virus has become such a political debate point.

Republicans keep slamming the nation’s top Democrat, President Joe Biden, because he wants to enforce mandates on companies to require employees and customers to (a) wear masks and/or (b) be fully vaccinated.

I mean, holy crap, man! We’re in the midst of a pandemic that’s still killing us!

I happen to be one American who doesn’t object for a single moment to the efforts the government is making to protect my family and me from the ravages of this disease. It has killed 800,000 Americans already and the number is sure to climb.

Let us remember, too, this little factoid: The United States comprises about 5 percent of the world’s population, but our infection, hospitalization and death rates far exceed that percentage. We can thank the inept, ignorant and cowardly government response to the initial reports of the pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020.

President Biden is trying to make amends by imposing these limits. Yet he’s getting push back from Republican politicians who keep hiding behind some phony mantra about “too much government control over people’s lives.” What a pile of sh**!

Too many people’s lives are ending prematurely because they aren’t doing what they should to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Yet the mandates continue to take their place as a political talking point when we should be rallying behind the effort to protect us from the killer.

Ridiculous.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

Standing with Joe Biden

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

I keep reading about polling that suggests that independent voters and even some who call themselves Democrats are abandoning President Biden’s efforts to “restore our national soul” while enacting legislation aimed at putting people back to work and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.

I am not one of either category of American citizen.

Therefore, I want to declare that I continue to stand with the president.

The mean tweets from those on the right annoy me to the max. The refusal by congressional Republicans to set aside their partisan anger when they can do something for the common good is beyond reprehensible.

Yes, there is plenty to frustrate us. Joe Biden predicted at the beginning of the year that we would declare our “independence” from the COVID pandemic by the Fourth of July. I guess he got a bit ahead of himself on that one. Right? Is it the president’s fault? No. It isn’t. Nor is it the fault of the medical team advising him on how to battle this disease. The virus is as unpredictable as any we could imagine. Yet it persists on President Biden’s watch.

I am not going to lay the blame on the recurrence of these virus variants on human beings who are trying their best to rid us of the killer.

Nor will I second-guess the president on myriad economic issues. I continue to endorse the agenda he has laid out. I support the infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law. I want the social spending package to get through Congress and I want him to sign that legislation into law as well. Our roads and bridges are crumbling; we pride ourselves on our transportation infrastructure in Texas but it, too, needs work and the feds are going to provide help to repair it.

Joe Biden continues to conduct himself the way a U.S. president is supposed to do. I admire that about him.

The man has been knocked down, endured tragedy that few others have suffered. Yet he persisted as he served in the Senate, later as vice president and now that he has reached the pinnacle of power and prestige, he continues to have my support.

So, spare me the knock that I am wearing blinders. I can see clearly where Joe Biden wants to take this nation. He can continue to count me — a red-blooded American patriot — to have his back.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Patience gets tested

It’s time for an admission: The latest surge in COVID-19 variants, this one is named Omicron, is testing my patience.

OK, that all said, I don’t intend to give up, to surrender to the virus that has now killed more than 800,000 Americans.

It’s just that these surges are driving me batty. Dr. Anthony Fauci wonders whether we’re prepared for another “surge” of cases caused by Omicron. Sheesh, man!

I am starting to believe what some medical experts have suggested: that we’ll never be free — as in totally free — of the virus. I don’t know if Dr. Fauci has said such a thing. He well might have; I just lose count of the warnings.

I simply am going to just suck it up with regard to masks, social distancing, frequent hand washing, generous use of hand sanitizer … those kinds of things.

My wife and most of my immediate family are vaccinated fully; my wife and I have received our booster shots, too, along with our sons and daughter-in-law. I hear that some members of my extended family are digging in against getting vaccinated against the killer virus; I hear they distrust what’s in the vaccine and one of my extended family members reportedly has said she won’t heed the warnings given by “liberals and Democrats.” She lives far away from us, bless her steely heart.

I’ll deal with the Omicron variant the way I have dealt with prior variants. I’m just gonna keep my distance, mask up and say a prayer that we can get this virus under control.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Dr. Oz for Senate? Ugh!

Mehmet Oz wants to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania in 2022, which by itself shouldn’t cause any great shakes for little ol’ me out here in North Texas.

Except that it kinda does. I now shall explain.

Oz is a medical doctor. He made a name for himself by becoming a TV personality. His face is everywhere. I cannot testify to the quality of his medical practice; for that matter, I don’t know if he even still has a practice where he examines patients and does doctor-related tasks.

He is running as a Republican. He also is a known skeptic of the COVID-19 virus’s seriousness. He also has been critical of the vaccines that have been released to vaccinate Americans against the virus. That qualifies Oz, in my view, as a certified member of the crackpot cabal of the GOP.

There’s one more thing I want to point out. I believe he borders on medical quackery. Why?

Well, some years ago I heard him shilling for a product that was supposed to cure people of some ailment. Then he dropped the word “miracle” in his description of the product. He said that the results were a “miracle,” meaning that there is no Earthly explanation for why it does what it does.

I am no doctor, but no doctor I ever have heard has used the word “miracle” to describe a scientific procedure. By its very nature, science is predicated on knowledge of cause and effect.

Thus, for a medical doctor to use a term such as “miracle” to describe a medicinal product to my mind smacks of someone who is peddling some version of snake oil.

This clown doesn’t belong in the U.S. Senate.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

‘No’ on special session!

How many ways do I have to say the same thing? Which is that the COVID-19 vaccine is saving lives, it is preventing infections from the deadly virus and that government entities are within their right to order vaccines for employees and for the public who the government is charged to protect.

Accordingly, I do not want Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to call a fourth special legislative session to enact a statewide ban on future COVID vaccine requirements.

The Texas Tribune reports that a growing number of Texas Legislature Republicans want Abbott to call a special session. They want Gov. Abbott to ask the Legislature to approve a ban on businesses and local governments issuing vaccine mandates.

The Tribune reports: “We know legislators are tired and nobody wants an extended special session,” Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi said in an interview Monday, pointing to states such as Tennessee and Florida that recently passed legislation on vaccine mandates on short timelines.

“While I am happy to be home after three special sessions in Austin,” GOP state Rep. Briscoe Cain wrote, “I would happily return to Austin if called upon to protect the rights of my fellow Texans.”

How about protecting the lives of your “fellow Texans,” Rep. Cain? A state-mandated ban on local COVID restrictions puts your “fellow Texans” in jeopardy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Big Lie gets even weirder

I never thought it was possible to embellish The Big Lie but the Republican nut cases who occupy public offices have managed to do so.

It goes like this …

There are those within the GOP who contend now that Democrats are fabricating the impact of various COVID-19 variants to “cheat” their way to winning future elections. One of the Republican nut jobs in Congress, Rep. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, went on Fox News to suggest that very thing. The hosts on “Fox and Friends” let the moronic physician-turned-politician mutter that trash without challenging him.

One of the hosts said Jackson is “probably right.” Umm, no! He’s not right! He is wrong. So are those who suggest that the impact of the latest variant, called Omicron, is made up, that it’s a fabrication.

The Big Lie was born out of Donald Trump’s phony claim of “widespread voter fraud” in the 2020 election. It has now grown more legs and to my utter horror it is beginning to take root in the gullible mindlessness of Republican cultists’ noggins.

Good grief. Is there no end to this idiocy?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

POTUS tells us: do not panic

Message received, Mr. President.

Joe Biden went on TV this morning to tell us the Omicron variant that began in southern Africa but which is working its way around the world provides no reason to panic.

He said we have to do the same things we have done to suppress the original COVID-19 virus and the assorted variants of the virus that have sprung up. Omicron is no different, President Biden said.

I hear ya, Mr. POTUS. My hope is that we all hear the president. That we all do the things we need to do to keep the virus variant from spreading. You know what they are, so I won’t belabor the point here.

I remain an eternal optimist that we are going to weather this matter. The timing of when we get the all-clear signal remains an open question.

No worries as far as my family and I are concerned. We aren’t waiting with bated breath for someone to tell us we’re in the clear from the virus. We are going to stay with the good-practices recommendations and do our part to put this virus — and the variants — down for keeps.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, medical news

Thank you, first responders

This is the second consecutive Thanksgiving we are celebrating under the threat of a killer virus.

I am going to offer a brief — but most assuredly heartfelt — word of thanks and gratitude for those who answer the call when people are stricken.

I live next door to a neo-natal nurse who I am certain has seen her share of heartache. A law enforcement officer shares her home with her and he, too, is called upon to respond to those who need help.

They have earned our gratitude and our thanks.

I hear about parades taking place today around the country that are dedicated to saluting first responders. They enforce the law, respond to fires, they work in ambulances and assorted rescue vehicles. They are neighbors who lend a hand for those nearby who, for whatever reason, are under stress and duress.

They rush to people’s sides. They hold their hands. They tend to their needs. They do so out of dedication to the careers they have worked hard to pursue; that dedication carries a serious implication, which is that they must tend to others’ needs.

In the spirit of the holiday, I want to be among the millions of Americans who thank these individuals for the work they do selflessly and with dedication to caring for our well-being.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Not your call, Okie National Guard

Let’s look briefly at an astonishing defiance of the commander in chief, OK?

The Oklahoma National Guard command has declared that its soldiers do not have to adhere to Defense Department requirements for vaccination against the COVID-19 virus.

This is a seriously wrong-headed call.

The National Guard is part of the U.S. military apparatus. Thus, it is under the command of — here it comes — the commander in chief, the president of the United States of America. The current commander in chief, President Biden, has declared that members of the military are required to be vaccinated against the virus, unless they have a valid military of religious exemption.

The commander in chief, therefore, has issued a lawful order. Those who serve the commander in chief are obligated under military law to obey such orders or else face the consequences.

The Oklahoma National Guard, accordingly, is seeking to disobey that lawful order.

It won’t work.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Just when you think you know someone …

… They toss a curve ball at you.

Here’s a case in point. A friend of ours informed me this week that she has avoided being vaccinated against the killer COVID 19 virus. Why? Because two members of her family — who happen to be medical professionals — have expressed “concern” about the vaccines being offered.

Hmm. I asked: What are the concerns? My friend said she didn’t know the particulars, just that her family members/medical pros said they didn’t know all there is to know about them.

So she has refused to take the vaccine.

OK. I then informed her that my bride and I have been fully vaccinated. We have taken the booster shots, too. We have zero qualms about the vaccines being developed by the Big Pharma firms.

I will admit to being taken aback by my friend’s reluctance. She and her husband both have been stricken with the virus. They got ill, but not terribly so. They recovered. They are now functioning fully, getting out and doing whatever it is they do.

I just have decided I am going to keep my distance for the foreseeable future. Maybe beyond.

Meanwhile, I will continue to trust the medical experts who tell us the vaccines are working and that any spikes in COVID cases involve those who have not been vaccinated against the virus.

I also will pray for our friends’ good health.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com