Tag Archives: pandemic

local news

Extending our greetings during this time of ‘isolation’

Maybe it’s just me, but I am wondering if others are doing the same thing.

My wife and I venture out of the house sparingly these days, now that we’re told we should stay at home while we wage war against the coronavirus. When we stroll through our neighborhood with Toby the Puppy I find myself waving at those walking across the street. I even will engage them in some small talk.

I didn’t used to do that. Oh, I often have waved at motorists who drive by while we walk with our puppy. This newly discovered habit of talking across the street with folks who live somewhere near us, but who are individuals we don’t know, clearly seems to be a function of this togetherness we keep hearing about.

We’re “in this together” has become a sort of mantra. I see it on billboards along U.S. Highway 380, the main drag that cuts through Princeton, Texas. TV networks and companies that advertise on TV tell us the same thing. Hey, I get it. I cannot hear enough of the messages that seek to buck up our spirits as we seek to power through the worldwide pandemic.

It’s just kind of pleasantly strange to find a way to engage strangers in a little harmless chatter as we go about doing whatever it is we do to pass the time away.

I have this hunch they feel the same way as I do. There’s nothing wrong at all with sharing a little fellowship in this very trying time.

medical news

Adviser’s pandemic memo never got to Trump? Sure … that’s believable

Peter Navarro, a trade adviser, is among the cadre of wackos who work for Donald J. Trump.

However, it turns out the guy who flies off the handle on occasion with wild statements about our international trade rivals, was likely on to something when he wrote a memo warning of a coming health crisis cataclysm.

The problem, though, is that Navarro’s memo reportedly never got to the desk of the one person who needed to see it … allegedly. That would the president of the United States.

Navarro reportedly warned of the coronavirus in January. He blamed China for withholding information about its seriousness. The memo reportedly was intended for Trump, that he wanted the president to see it and to act on it.

Then we hear from Trump this week, who said he never saw the memo and only heard about it recently.

Huh? What the … ?

Are we to believe that the White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy would write a lengthy memorandum detailing an important pending health crisis and it not ever arrive on the Resolute Desk of the most powerful man on Earth?

Bear in mind something about the president’s statement that he never saw it: The denial comes from the Liar in Chief. I am one American who believes not a single statement that flies out of the president’s pie hole.

Donald Trump has boasted that the White House on his watch runs like a “fine-tuned machine.” Well, where I come from, a fine-tuned machine would have ensured that a document prepared by someone of Dr. Navarro’s status within the administration surely would have ended up on the commander in chief’s desk … and that he would have read it.

Astonishing.

education news

Keep our schools closed!

There’s a marquee in front of the brand new elementary school in our Princeton, Texas, neighborhood that reads “We miss you. See you May 4.”

That’s when Texas’s public schools are supposed to reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s my suggestion: Do not reopen the schools; keep them closed for the remainder of this academic year.

The first week of May is far too early to send our children back to school, where they would mingle with other children. Do we expect kindergartners or first-graders — or even older children — to observe the six-foot rule, to practice “social distancing”?

My hope is that we can keep the schools dark. Let the kids continue to study at home until the end of our school year. School systems can issue pass/fail grades for the students. Those who pass can move to the next grade; those who fail can do it all over again in the fall.

Our primary concern needs to be the health of our children and the men and women who educate them … and the staff members who run our schools.

I hereby request that Gov. Greg Abbott forget about reopening our schools on May 4. Close ’em for the rest of the year. Then let’s concentrate on stemming this infection rate.

national news

Trump torpedoes inspector general role … once more

Donald Trump’s venality is on full display for all the world to see and to gasp at the president’s shamelessness.

He fired an inspector general selected by a panel of inspectors general to oversee the spending of coronavirus relief funds appropriated by Congress. Trump, who signed the relief bill into law, then selected an IG of his choosing to do the task.

Do you get where I’m going with this? If not, I shall explain.

The panel of IGs had picked an independent inspector general, Glenn Fine, to serve as a watchdog. Trump wouldn’t stand still for that, so he canned Fine, who serves as the Pentagon’s inspector general, and installed someone from the Environmental Protection Agency to oversee the disbursement of the $2.2 trillion pandemic relief package.

This switch comes in the wake of Donald Trump’s firing of Michael Atkinson, the former intelligence community inspector general, who became a player in the Trump impeachment inquiry. How? Because Atkinson submitted the findings of a whistleblower who complained that Trump had abuse the power of his office by soliciting a political favor from the Ukraine president; that complaint resulted in Trump’s impeachment.

Atkinson was fired because he did his job. Trump, though, called Atkinson’s report “fake news” gleaned from a “fake report.” Which is absolute crap. Republicans in the House and Senate actually acknowledged that what Atkinson revealed was true. It wasn’t false, or phony or anything that Trump called it.

Now this venal individual who serves as president has undercut an inspector general’s role in providing transparency in the way that relief money would be spent.

Donald Trump’s ignorance and arrogance are utterly — and breathtakingly — without limit.

Disgraceful.

local news, medical news

Get over yourselves, Judge Jenkins and Gov. Abbott!

I want to make a request on this blog of two leading politicians who appear to be locking horns over the use of a “pop up hospital” erected to handle an expected surge in coronavirus cases in Dallas County.

It is this: Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott need to set their past disputes aside and work together on behalf of stricken and anxious North Texans.

Jenkins is a Democrat, while Abbott is a Republican. That difference right there seems to suggest a starting point in the two men’s apparent tension. The major parties don’t work well at times in Texas.

They have erected a temporary hospital at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Jenkins, according to the Dallas Morning News, has been a bit reluctant to open the center for patients. Abbott wants Jenkins to move more quickly. Their staffs aren’t working too well together at the moment.

The Morning News article I’ve attached to this blog post suggests a lengthy history of tension between the men. Jenkins is a supporter of the Affordable Care Act; Abbott is not and they have clashed over whether the state should expand benefits for those enrolled in the ACA. Jenkins doesn’t like the state’s usurping of local control over certain matters; Abbott has gone along with the Legislature’s moves to consolidate power in Austin.

Meanwhile, thousands of Dallas County residents have been stricken by the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus. My wife and I, along with one of our sons and his family, live in next-door Collin County. I happen, therefore, to detest politicians who let personal history get in the way of their need to work together to deal with a crisis.

Earth to Jenkins and Abbott: We’ve got a beaut of a crisis right now!

Get over yourselves, gentlemen! For the sake of those of us who might depend on that temporary hospital, not to mention the services provided by our state and local counties!

national news

Trump talks too much, says too little

Donald Trump is able to do two things simultaneously that might seem counterintuitive. Consider, though, what keeps occurring each day in the White House press briefing room.

The president of the United States stands before TV cameras and reporters scattered in the room. He talks and talks and talks.

Yet despite all the verbiage that spews forth, he manages to say practically nothing.

The president has nothing of importance to say. He blathers and bloviates. He tells lie upon lie. It’s all becoming a form of white noise. He talks a ton, but the weight of his words don’t budge the scale one damn bit!

How can this individual do this? How is he able to speak so many words without imparting anything of importance?

It’s the shallowness of his alleged knowledge of the government he runs. It’s the ignorance he displays continually about that government. It’s all a consequence of this man’s upbringing, his professional background, his lack of understanding of anything that deals with issues unrelated to his own enrichment.

It is an amazing and astonishing trait that Donald Trump puts on full display when he seeks to “brief” us on the coronavirus pandemic. He speaks of things about which knows nothing.

But … Donald Trump is “making America great again.”

military news

Acting Navy boss ends tumultuous tenure

Thomas Modly now can be called the “former acting secretary of the U.S. Navy.” To which I say, “Good riddance!”

Modly quit his temporary post after receiving some serious blowback over remarks he made about a ship’s captain he relieved of his command. Modly reassigned Capt. Brett Crozier, the former commanding officer of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, after Crozier pleaded with Navy brass to do more to protect sailors who were infected by the coronavirus.

Modly said that Crozier had gone outside the chain of command and had caused undue alarm among family members of the ship’s 5,000 crew members.

Crozier’s sailors hailed him as a hero. So did many outside observers. His crew cheered him wildly as he left the ship for the final time while it was docked in Guam. Modly, though, then exhibited some extremely bad taste by suggesting that Crozier was “too naïve” or “too stupid” to command a ship such as the TR.

That’s when the fecal matter hit the fan.

Modly then apologized to Crozier for “any pain” he caused.

Today, he quit. Good riddance, Mr. Acting Secretary … and don’t let the door hit you in the you know what and where.

I guess I should add that if there’s any real justice in this mixed-up world — and I realize it’s too much to ask — Capt. Crozier would be allowed to resume command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

national news

It is time to come up with an alternate election plan

This is not a great flash, but I’ll offer this bit of advice anyway. Donald Trump needs immediately to order a blue-ribbon team of experts to devise a way to conduct a presidential election Nov. 3 if conditions do not allow for a safe in-person vote of citizens.

We have been at that moment for several weeks now. The U.S. Constitution sets out an election date, which is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That cannot be changed without amending the Constitution.

I offer this bit of advice only because presidents take an oath that implies many unspecified responsibilities. One of them is that the president must be able to multitask in times of  crisis.

We’re in the midst of a monumental crisis at the moment, with the coronavirus killing thousands of Americans and — at this time — making in-person balloting impossible, given the threat of exposure to infection.

So it becomes imperative, absolutely essential for there to be an alternative to voting drawn up, tested and determined to be an effective way for Americans to cast their ballots for president of the United States … on Nov. 3.

The best alternative to the current system, it seems to me, is mail-in balloting. Several states already conduct elections using the U.S. Postal Service. Surely, clearly there must be some statewide experts in, say, Oregon and Washington — where this is done already — who would be willing to share their knowledge and how we can employ such a system nationally if the need arises.

I am aware that Trump thinks Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is a “snake,” and he likely doesn’t think much of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. I mean, they’re both Democrats. However, they also govern states that have employed voting by mail successfully.

Time is not anyone’s ally here. Let’s get busy looking for alternatives to conducting the 2020 presidential election.

military news

‘Too naive’ or ‘too stupid’ fits the acting Navy boss

Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly needs to get his mouth washed out with soap.

The idiot bureaucrat demoted the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt for seeking help for his sailors struck down by the coronavirus. Capt. Brett Crozier has been reassigned, but was cheered wildly by the sailors under his command as he left the aircraft carrier for the final team the other day.

Modly then flew to where the Roosevelt is docked and was overheard describing Crozier as being “too stupid” or “too naïve” to command a ship with a 5,000-member crew.

Modly has been “rewarded” for popping off by incurring the wrath of U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, who wants Modly fired.

Of course, Defense Secretary Mark Esper — Modly’s immediate supervisor — won’t do it because Esper doesn’t exhibit anything approaching the integrity that Crozier exhibited when he sent out that letter. You see, these men serve at the pleasure of a commander in chief, Donald J. Trump, who lacks any of the compassion and empathy that men and women who serve their country deserve from the individuals who command them.

I agree with Chairman Smith that Modly doesn’t deserve to continue as acting Navy secretary. It’s just a shame that no one with the authority to show Mobly the door will heed the chairman’s demand.

Crozier is the hero in this saga. Modly is the zero.

national news

‘New normal’ means we will fight this virus for a long time

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Some pundits have complained about the use of the term “new normal” to define Americans’ life once we get past the anxiety of the coronavirus pandemic that has gripped the entire planet.

Too bad. I think we should get used to the new normal.

The new normal means to me that we’re going to have to be on a heightened alert even after the infection rate subsides. It well might mean we continue to practice “social distancing,” and that we will have to carry sanitized wipes with us when we go out and about.

What is so terrible about that? Nothing, I contend.

Just as it is a tall order to declare victory in our war against terrorists, it is an equally tall order to do so against this “invisible enemy.” So the fight against COVID-19 will continue.

When does it end? Perhaps only when we develop a vaccine that is as effective as the polio vaccine that came to being in 1955. Dr. Jonas Salk saved generations of Americans from the crippling disease. Is there another mystery man or woman working now on a vaccine to inoculate all of us against the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus? One can hope.

I need to remind you here that South Korea just recently thought it had turned the corner against the virus. It lifted many of its mandates. Then there was a serious spike in the infection rate. The South Koreans have re-imposed the restrictions they thought had passed.

Therein lies the lesson for all of us as we continue to fight the coronavirus. It will take a long time to put this killer disease behind us … if ever!