Tag Archives: pandemic

medical news

Life in our state is about to change

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued an executive order that is going to change the lives of millions of Texans in ways they might not yet comprehend.

He issued an order that will limit indoor gatherings to 10 or fewer people. Think of that for a moment. It means that beginning Friday, there will be no congregating at barbecue joints, no swilling of cold ones at the end of a tough day at work, no working out at gymnasiums along with other fitness geeks.

I am working on a story for the Farmersville Times and in the midst of compiling some information about how businesses are coping with the coronavirus pandemic, the order came from Gov. Abbott.

Two local restaurants will suspend indoor dining; they will continue to serve “takeout” meals, and they will deliver meals ordered by their customers.

To his credit, Greg Abbott doesn’t view the pandemic as a “hoax.” He is taking it as seriously as he possibly can take anything. Indeed, so are governors, county officials, mayors and state legislators all across the country.

There might be pockets of individuals who disbelieve the seriousness of the virus that has killed thousands of human beings worldwide. They need to shut their pie holes and line up along with the rest of us who are taking these mandates seriously.

Public schools already are closed. The Princeton Independent School District, where we live, will be shuttered at least until May 4. Public colleges and universities in Texas are disallowing face-to-face study in classrooms, enabling students to study online, in their home; that response also is occurring throughout the nation.

My hope is this: The limiting of exposure will stem the outbreak of this illness around the world. Just maybe we can through this crisis sooner rather than later.

Of course, we cannot predict when “sooner” arrives. We’ll know it when it gets here.

national news

One more thought on ‘wartime president’

2 Comments

Call it a form of “stolen valor,” which happens occasionally when individuals claim to be more heroic in battle than they actually were, or they wear medals on their chest they didn’t earn.

Donald Trump’s effort to cast himself as a “wartime president” offends me on at least two levels.

One is that he worked diligently to avoid service during the Vietnam War, getting a physician to diagnose him with bone spurs. Millions of others of us from that generation didn’t have the wherewithal — let alone the inclination — to wiggle our way out of serving our country. So we served. I served! I am proud of my service, as infinitesimal as my contribution to the Vietnam War effort turned out to be.

Thus, for Trump to seek to be called a “wartime president” offends me at that level. It’s visceral, man.

The second level deals with the timing of the assertion he made. We are in the midst of a presidential election year. Donald Trump is seeking re-election. He wants to wear that label as a cynical political ploy to persuade voters that they shouldn’t want to elect a new commander in chief while we’re “at war” with a killer pandemic virus.

It ain’t the same as being at war with an enemy government, or a vast worldwide network of terrorist organizations.

Thus, Donald Trump, in my view, qualifies as the quintessential chicken hawk.

There. On this matter ā€¦ I’m out!

media news, Uncategorized

Trump resumes feud with media

Well, that was a nice break while it lasted.

Donald Trump took time the other day to offer a good word about the media and their work in covering the coronavirus pandemic. It gave some of us a glimmer of hope that the president was finally beginning to act the part he portrays.

Silly us. He resumed his feud today, blasting the “fake news” the media purportedly conveys. He blasted The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, all of which are great newspapers full of dedicated journalists who do their job to the best of their considerable ability.

None of that matters to this president, who passes judgment on media outlets based on whether they report “positive” news about his administration.

Yep, the feud is back on.

Disgusting.

national news

‘Wartime president’? Are you serious, Mr. POTUS?

Donald John Trump clearly is fixated with macho-sounding language, even as he fails repeatedly to act like the person he portrays himself as being.

He said today at a White House briefing that he considers himself a “wartime president” in light of the struggle the nation is fighting against the coronavirus pandemic.

OK, so he wants to wear the mantle once worn by the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Harry Truman, LBJ and George W. Bush, all of whom presided over a nation that was — and is — engaged in actual wars. Trump now is seeking to elevate the struggle against the coronavirus to what we have faced over many decades.

However, Donald Trump has yet to demonstrate the kind and quality of leadership that previous presidents have sought to exhibit. The federal government is still struggling to clear its throat and speak with a single, united, coherent voice on the fight against the pandemic.

In the meantime, Trump continues to fire salvos at the press, whose job is to chronicle events in real time. Does a “wartime president” actually have the time to concoct idiotic attack lines against the media, leveling ridiculous allegations that the media are deliberately conspiring to undermine him?

Hey, I totally get why Trump wants to be called a “wartime president” in an election year. He likely wants to parlay that label into a campaign mantra, seeking to encourage voters to back him because, well, we’re in the “middle of a war. Why do we want to change commanders in chief when we’re at war?”

It’s a cynical and utterly preposterous notion.

national news

Pandemic pushes ‘most important election’ coverage to the back shelf

What in the world happened to the “most important election in our lifetime,” the one that is supposed to energize a nation, jacking up our interest in deciding whether to stay the course or to, shall we say, set a new course?

I know the answer to that question. It’s been pushed aside while the world comes to grips with how to handle a pandemic that has killed thousands of people already and is threatening to change everyone’s life ā€¦ maybe forever.

Joe Biden has turned the Democratic Party presidential nomination fight into a runaway. He has routed what’s left of a once-huge field of contenders. U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard today dropped out of the race; I know, you had forgotten all about her, as did I. The only challenger still standing is U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who I reckon is going to bow out any day now.

No one is talking about it. The media have gone silent. News programming has erupted in a barrage of coverage of the coronavirus pandemic — as it should! We’re worried. We’re unsettled. Cities, counties and states are mandating crowd-size limitations. Mayors, county executives and governors are in front of us constantly, providing updates on what they’re all doing to stem the outbreak of new illness.

Oh, and the president of the United States, Donald John Trump? He’s, um, seeking to repair the rhetorical wreckage he has created by his idiotic pronouncements about the pandemic being a “Democrat hoax” and downplaying the severity of the crisis that is killing people daily.

Enough about him. For the time being.

The pandemic is Topic No. 1, and No. 2 and maybe No. 3 at the moment. That “most important election in our lifetime” will take place in November. The road between here and there, though, is going to take some very weird turns.

We had all better hold on with both hands.

economic news, medical news

Taking a measure of comfort from PSAs

Time for an admission: This coronavirus crisis/pandemic has me seriously out of sorts.

I don’t like facing the prospect of such dramatic life changes. The idea that the United States of America might shut down completely, to be honest, is damn frightening. So are the warnings from health and science experts that the “worst is yet to come” and that we could face many millions of stricken Americans, and a vast number of fatalities.

The rush on basic groceries has emptied our neighborhood supermarket here in Princeton, Texas. We went to the store this morning looking to buy a few items. We aren’t hoarders. Row after row of empty shelves greeted us.

I don’t like what I am seeing and what I am feeling.

Now for the good news.

I am drawing a measure of comfort from some of the public service announcements I am seeing on TV. CBS-TV, for one, is broadcasting a PSA showing stars from several of its prime-time programming that reminds us that “we’re in this together.”

No one is alone. No one should feel abandoned. No one should give up hope, that we’ll get through this mess.

By all means I want the end to arrive sooner rather than later. I don’t know if the PSAs are going to snap me out of my funk in the immediate term. Maybe eventually I will snap out of it once I get used to the many changes in our lives that this pandemic is forcing on all of us.

I guess the trick is to look at the longer term rather than worry about what is happening to us in the moment.

I’ll admit it’s hard to do. However, I will cling to the good word and to the encouragement that we’re all in this together.

national news

Nix the ‘Chinese virus’ talk, Mr. POTUS

The Bigot in Chief just can’t resist tripping all over himself.

The Dallas Morning News noted correctly in an editorial today that Donald J. Trump finally began to sound like a leader when dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Then he stumbled again. He took to Twitter to refer to the pandemic as the “Chinese virus.” Yep. It’s China’s “fault.” Or so the president would have us believe with his idiotic Twitter rant.

The Morning News took note of how President Bush managed to soothe much of the nation’s grief after 9/11. He stood with Muslim-Americans and said they are as proud of the nation “as I am.” He said categorically that we are a nation of people of all faiths who share the same sense of common decency and kindness.

Trump just cannot get that notion through his thick skull. Oh, no. Instead he chooses to inflame mistrust toward Asian-Americans with that ridiculous “Chinese virus” reference.

As the Morning News commented: As many public health experts across the country have taken pains to explain, viruses donā€™t have nationalities, and they donā€™t discriminate when it comes to who can spread disease or become infected. Labeling coronavirus as a ā€œChineseā€ virus only contributes to the confusion and divisiveness in an uncertain time.

The president needs to step up and stop this moronic chiding of Asian-Americans who are in this fight along with the entire country.

medical news

Trump base’s appetite for lies is infinite

I have reached an inescapable and tragic conclusion about the base of fanatic support that Donald John Trump continues to rely on as he seeks re-election to the presidency.

The Trump base has an infinite, bottomless appetite for the lies that flow out of his pie hole. One of his latest lies simply takes the proverbial cake.

Trump said he called the coronavirus pandemic what it is before the rest of the world knew it was a pandemic. To whom in the name of gullibility does this clown think he’s talking?

We all heard the president say, in no particular order:

  • That the coronavirus is a “Democrat hoax.”
  • That the victims stood at five and that it soon would be zero.
  • Ā That the outbreak would subside once warm weather arrives.
  • Ā That doctors are amazed at the knowledge of medical issues he demonstrates.
  • Ā That anyone who wants to be tested can be tested.

I know I’ve missed a few, but you get the point.

The Liar in Chief cannot tell the truth. Now he says — with apparently not a single ounce of self-awareness — that he knew all along that the pandemic was a serious matter.

Does this clown think he’s talking to a nation full of rubes who are as ignorant as he is?Ā OK, some of us, indeed, are rubes. You know to whom I refer. The rest of us know better.

This guy is flat-out dangerous, man!

national news

National crisis needs to produce national sacrifice

National crises have this way of producing national unity and a call for national sacrifice to deal forthrightly with the challenges that arrive at our doorstep.

It is being argued that tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of Americans might lose their jobs as the coronavirus pandemic strikes at us.

The nation has a shortage of testing equipment, of surgical masks, hospital beds, medicine, various household supplies essential to people’s daily lives.

Cities, counties and states are doing what they can to wage war against what Donald Trump has called “an invisible enemy.”

There must be a national response. One is developing, or so it seems, but it is being cobbled together on a piecemeal approach. The president went from dismissing the pandemic as a short-term matter to something vastly different.

National sacrifice? How does that manifest itself?

They’re talking about paying out sums of money to every American household. How do we afford that when our budget has acquired a debt of $22 trillion and when the annual federal budget deficit has zoomed past the trillion-dollar mark?

Here’s a thought: an increase in taxes.

If the nation is going to respond completely to battle this pandemic, then it must be able to pay for it. No one wants to pay more in taxes, but given the alternatives facing us at this moment, there might not be any way for our federal government — for which we already are footing the bill — to avoid leveling a greater tax burden on us all.

Someone has to pay for all that we need. If not us ā€¦ then who?

local news, medical news, science news

The ‘new normal’ might become just plain ‘normal’

I now want to share a bit of good news, given that we’ve been bombarded with a torrent of bad news of late.

The good news as I see it is that the “new normal” we are likely experiencing could become simply “normal” once the crisis subsides and ultimately drifts into history.

And it will. I am confident that the coronavirus pandemic will dissipate. It will take some time, which brings me to my point.

Which is that we are going to spend a lot of time and energy changing the way we do things.

There might be so much hand-washing, using sanitized wipes, extra precaution taken with “social distancing” that it will become second-nature even after we no longer need to do all these things.

My wife and I are wiping down fuel pumps, shopping carts, door handles ā€¦ you name it, we’re wiping it down. “You never know who touches these things,” my wife says with her considerable wisdom. Indeed, we’re taking precautions we didn’t use to take.

We were walking through the ‘hood the other morning when we met a gentleman who works as a construction foreman on the houses being built in our Princeton, Texas, subdivision. He has an Oregon Ducks decal on the rear window of his pickup. I asked him, “Are you a Ducks fan?” He said he is. He then told us he grew up in Portland, attended Sunset High School, Portland State University — and attended the Pac-12 football championship game in the Bay Area this past season when the Ducks “destroyed Utah.” We told him we moved to Texas from Oregon in 1984. He’s a home boy!

I started to shake his hand, then pulled my hand back. “Hey, no sweat,” he said. “I get it.”

Handshakes with strangers well might become a thing of the past, too.

Yep, the new normal is upon us. It’ll take time to get used to this new way of living. I suspect if the crisis lasts long enough, what’s new will become, well, just plain “normal.”