HATE...HATE...HATE...The Trump Gang Motto

 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida's Ron DeSantis have held the title of "Killing Machines" for over a year now. This is due to the number of residents who have died from Covid-19 as these two dimwits fight masks, vaccines and any other virus protection protocols. The results: Texas 4,259,818 cases, 72,343 deaths; Florida 3,706,356 cases, 60,197 deaths. This qualified the two as the leading killing machines, based on numbers alone. However, there is another similar "killing" faction in motion.

It is Donald Trump and his demented followers, who threaten the opposition with intimidation like this directed against Arizona's Sec. of State, Katie Hobbs...

"I am a hunter — and I think you should be hunted.”

This is only one of several reported by CNN through Wash. Post coverage "in part

because Donald Trump and his movement continue feeding his lies about the 2020 election." Here's what Trump said to urge supporters to come to Washington for a “Save America March” on Wednesday, when Congress would ceremonially count President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s win...

“be there, will be wild!” At a rally just before the violence, he repeated many of his falsehoods about how the election was stolen, then dispatched the marchers to the Capitol as those proceedings were about to start.

These double-digits eventually stormed the U.S. Capitol committing insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Here is an example of one of T-rump's remarks...

"Trump urged his supporters to ‘fight much harder’ against ‘bad people’ and ‘show strength’ at the Capitol."

It is no longer appropriate to ask, 'Oh, is Donald Trump still around?' Of course he is still around, and it is due entirely to these lunatic supporters who continue to goad him on. He barely urged non-violence in this comment...

“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

Considering, as WaPo put it "The president’s speech was riddled with violent imagery and calls to fight harder than before," the above was definitely not sufficient to sooth a crown he was moving to attack. Here's another threat from the CNN piece...

"Bullet," read one tweet reply to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, in September. "That is a six letter word for you."

Again...

"I'm really jonzing to see your purple face after you've been hanged."

Arizona Sec. State, Katie Hobbs, receives police protection due to threats...

 And the threats aren't from just Arizona and Colorado, they come from all over the country, clearly indicating it is a national movement, orchestrated by none other than...Donald Trump. So, what is the solution, and please don't suggest the obvious since this is not how a civilized nation works. There is a way. All you recluses on the left come out of your hiding places and be heard. That goes for 2022 and 2024. Reject conservative anti-democracy and put Democrats back in power.

JOE BIDEN Will Not Let REPUBLICANS Destroy Our Democracy

 

Since Donald Trump's 2016 election, the left has been wading through a cesspool of GOP anti-democracy, designed to tear this country apart and inaugurate an autocratic government. When you mix that with the radical right's willingness to use racism to fight it battles, like in the recent Virginia gubernatorial election where Salon said voters were "drunk on racist hysterics..."

Democrats are in the fight for their life and the life of this country to protect the democracy of America. They are doing it sophmorically and need a dose of the book, It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics by David Faris and Mike Chamberlain, et al. Here's some of its description...

"The American electoral system is clearly falling apart - as evidenced by the 2016 presidential election. In It's Time to Fight Dirty, David Faris offers accessible, actionable strategies for American institutional reform which don't require a constitutional amendment, and would have a lasting impact on our future."

Well, okay, maybe we don't actually have to get down and dirty, but we can no longer allow the radical right to run rampant over all the left stands for. Jennifer Rubin, in the first paragraph of a Washington Post opinion piece says...

"President Biden is on the verge of accomplishing more in his first year than any president in recent memory despite unremitting obstruction from an unhinged opposition."

Yet his poll numbers are plunging and now the Dems suffered a big loss in the

recent Virginia gubernatorial election, both added to the fact that Biden has to fight with his own people, fellow Democrats West Va. Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema. Both have fought him, repeatedly challenging his agenda. In most cases, neither makes sense with their objections, considering they are both supposed to be Democrats.

President Joe Biden's accomplishments in less than a year, as documented by Rubin:

• Biden’s watch has created nearly 5 million new jobs, reducing unemployment to 4.8 percent.
• Despite the right wing’s effort to spread deadly disinformation about vaccinations, 80 percent of American adults — including 98 percent of those older than 65 — have had a least one coronavirus vaccination. Among those age 12 and older, 78 percent have had at least one shot.
• Biden passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (including a major increase in the child tax credit that reduced child poverty in half).
• Set to pass both a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan and a $1.75 trillion package including investments in green energy, universal prekindergarten, a generous child-care subsidy, improved senior care, expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies, an extension of refundable child tax credits, a significant housing investment, hearing benefits for Medicare and possibly even a prescription drug cost reduction for patients on Medicare.
  
  

So why are Biden’s poll numbers down? The cesspool of Republican anti-democracy I cited earlier continues at a frightening pace that would tend to overshadow almost any opposing efforts. Especially when most of the big mouths leading the radical right are in the lunatic fringe. People like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, to name only a few. But this lunatic fringe must have its followers and there are many.

Dan Rather, in the Huff Post, "blasted the anti-Joe Biden chant “Let’s go Brandon” as a sign of the Republican Party’s contempt for democracy." In case you haven't heard...

The phrase has become popular in right-wing circles since a sportscaster, interviewing NASCAR Xfinity driver Brandon Brown at a race, mistook a chant of “Fuck Joe Biden” for “Let’s go Brandon.”

It is this kind of mentality that is driving the GOP in its quest to replace democracy with their imperious style of government that allows their primal instincts to have everything their way. We mustn't let this happen and Joe Biden is the man who can stop these would be despots. 

JOE BIDEN: A government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth

 

Borrowing from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the headline should be an awakener for this country that has repercussions for all political beliefs. The primary take-away is that in Lincoln's statement, there is an emphasis on the "people" and their place in the running of the government. What Honest Abe didn't speculate on are the kind of people today on the fringes, attempting to destroy the democracy our 16th President fought so hard to preserve.

It is the founder of the "big lie" who is the abhorrent challenger to Lincoln's words, Donald Trump, 45th in a line of leaders of the United States, who turned out to be anything but a leader, but I have never been able to bring myself to call him...that. Trump's authoritarian reign is over but the singular oligarch continues to rule with thousands of mentally depraved followers. Here is an example of a couple who should know better from election law guru Richard L. Hasen...

two supposedly “responsible” Republicans, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, had reviewed the disgraced former president’s fraud claims in January and confirmed they were total bunk. Despite this, the senators have refused to separate their party from the instigator of the Jan. 6 insurrection and voted against a bipartisan commission to review the violent day.

Pres. elect Joe Biden's "Soul of the Nation" address from Gettysburg...

  It's the election, stupid, and the year 2020 will be forever remembered as the one where American began to take its plunge from democracy. In a Washingon Post opinion coumn, Eugene Robinson said...

T.S. Eliot wrote that the world ends "not with a bang but a whimper,” but I fear our great nation is careening toward a third manner of demise: descent into lip-blubbering, self-destructive idiocy.

Robinson goes on to chide a pathetic gang of blockheads mimicking politicians that fashion themselves  “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” which is, in effect, the world's greatest collection of, yes, idiots. Take Moscow Mitch McConnell,known to all as the drim reaper since he is against all...democracy. We needn't go any further to identify a source of the root source in this country's problems but there is

also now the lunatic group of Republicans...

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, WI Sen. Ron Johnson, TX Gov. Greg Abbott, Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis, S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem...and the list goes on.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post labeled this group the "evil lunacy" conjecturing its home is the GOP and not a good place to be. Chas. M. Blow in the New York Times gives America one last chance to save democracy. Preserve the basic right that has made this nation great, the right to vote. Pass the Freedom to Vote Act...

The bill would set national standards for early voting, expand voting by mail, allow the use of more forms of voter identification, make Election Day a federal holiday and institute measures to counter voter suppression tactics. It would also automate voter registration, force states to give voters the option to register on Election Day and offer safeguards against voter purges. Finally, it would overhaul portions of the campaign finance system, prohibit partisan gerrymandering and prevent the politicized removal of election officials, among other changes.

There's more on Joe Biden's fight to defend our democracy in a later blog.

READ MORE:  What if Things Are About to Get Better?

                          David Shor Is Telling Democrats What They Don’t Want to Hear

UPDATE...Is it Unamerican to be Conservative?

 

UPDATE: 

In the dead of night the, Texas House approves GOP's gerrymandered map

This is a question that must be asked since it appears to be the goal of Republicans to thwart anything that comes from the Democratic Party, with no consideration as to how that will affect the good of the country. They appear to be anti-anythng good for the United States. Back in May, Senate Minority Leader Moscow Mitch McConnell said that he is...

"100 percent" focused "on stopping" President Joe Biden's administration.

Since Joe Biden is President of the U.S., this statement would indicate to most that Moscow Mitch is more interested in destroying Joe Biden and his administration than he is in helping this country solve its problems. This attitude by the former Senate head compares with another Democratic decree, namely former President Barack Obama, when McConnell said his number one priority was preventing Obama from getting a second term. He didn't, and miserably. Fully unamerican.

And then there is, of course, the administration of Donald Trump, a four-year term

that has no equal in U.S. history when it comes to the near-destruction of the American democracy. The then White House maniac did everything in his power to bring down all the good this country has built and stands for today in favor of an authoritarian state. He almost succeeded but fed up U.S. citizens in 2020 voted to block his evil plans.

But on the absurd side, there are a number of Republican wingnuts out there like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, to name only a few. Their radical-plus- ignorant views illustrate the low mentality that conservatives have lowered themselves to in order to make their points. Points which go nowhere but are a constant barrier in bringing this country back to normal. A major example is the Covid-19 pandemic. The three above are firmly unamerican.

Republicans, led by T-rump's initial assessment of the coronavirus as a "hoax" has matured over the past four-plus years into a major blockade by the right. It is safe to say that anti-vxxers/maskers have been responsible for extending the spread of the virius in America, responsible for a great number of the 739,000 deaths from the disease. And the misinformation specialists, found primarily on social media, can take credit for this contravening movement.

Two of the major proponents against masking and vaccinations are Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. They are the killing machines of the U.S. having combined been responsible for a mjority of 126,000 Covid-19 deaths. This is unconscionable but finally teachers in Florida are rebelling by walking out and Texas businesses like Southwest and American Airlines are ignoring laws against vaccine mandates. Abbott/DeSantis solidly unamerican. 

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, published the 2018 book "How Democracies Die." According to Salon, it is a warning, "of the dangerous signs they saw in Donald Trump's presidency that followed the authoritarian playbook." Here's an update from one of the authors, Levitsky...

"Five years ago I would have laughed you out of the room if you suggested our democracy could die." But today, he added, we see the Republican Party apparently focused on breaking our democracy. In a nutshell, Levitsky believes the threat to our democracy is more acute today than when Trump was in the White House, since the GOP is desperate to retain its fading power in the face of hostile demographic change.

Watch Rachel Maddow: Republicans Are Running Against Democracy Not Democrats...

 CNN's Anderson Cooper calls the state of our losing our democracy, "terrifying." This reaction came, "Tuesday after two Harvard scholars explained how the Republican Party has radicalized itself against democracy." Again, political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt...

"It is pretty dark," said Levitsky. "When we wrote How Democracies Die four years ago, we were worried about the Republican Party because they allowed Donald Trump to be elected. They sort of dropped the ball and failed to protect our democracy from an authoritarian demagogue. But we did not expect that the entire Republican Party would evolve into an anti-democratic force, and that's where they are today."

Now, here is a new question: Are Republicans collectivively committing an act of treason?  But that's another story.

Republicans continue to dissect the democratic process

 

Richard L. Hasen, is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, and an expert in election law, according to the New York Times, and he is concerned that the GOP is quietly but effectively undermining the democratic voting process. You might recall a few years ago when the radical right, again, quietly and effectively, completely flummoxed DNC head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz in taking over Governors' offices and state legislatures, leading to won elections.

Hansen reminds us of the recent Jan. 6, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, basically for the purpose of denying the validity of the 2020 election, which 

The Donald Trump sneer

Donald Trump has continued in a number of ways by energizing his group of double-digit supporters. This, alone, carried into the 2024 election, would be enough to disrupt the democratic process. But, Hansen says the next coup attempt will be executed by “lawyers in fine suits.”

Here are the facts...

"Between January and June, Republican-controlled legislatures passed 24 laws across 14 states to increase their control over how elections are run, stripping secretaries of state of their power and making it easier to overturn results."

And there is, of course, the ever-present Moscow Mitch McConnell, known as the "Grim Reaper," since President Barack Obama he has decreed to block anything "Democrat." His most recent drive against our country is to block 
"Democrats’ effort to act responsibly and step up to the thankless task of raising the debt limit." Here's the Daily Beast's take...

There are lots of things you can say about Cocaine Mitch, but you can’t say he broke his vow to make stopping Biden “100 percent of his focus.” His willingness to imperil the full faith and credit of the United States to do so is more proof than the country can stand.

Here's a typical Republican quote for you by Sam Brodey: "Republicans Don't Want a Debt Default—Just Democratic Chaos."

But what we must never lose sight of is the fact that Trump supporters are just as

mentally unbalanced as the simpleton they follow. Here's a headline from Salon: "White terror: Millions of Americans say they'd support violence to restore Trump to power." That should scare the hell out of anyone who is in full command of his or her mental faculties. There has even been talk of another civil war like we experienced in 1861, with the Jan. 6, insurrection a preview.

A couple weeks ago the Trump goons held a "Justice for J6" rally, which pretty much fizzled with a very low turnout. Salon's reaction was...

Trump's Republican-fascists and their propagandists have elevated these hooligans, vandals and (in many cases) terrorists to the status of martyrs and patriots as a way of legitimizing their anti-democratic movement, creating sympathy among Trump's faithful that can be exploited for fundraising and, of course, recruiting and encouraging more extremists to the cause.

To underwrite this bizarre Trump movement, AlterNet reports there is a group, The Claremont Institute that will tell you...

that Republicans and Democrats aren't just members of competing political parties, but are, in effect, living in two separate countries. Describing Claremont as the "intellectual home of America's Trumpist right," Green notes that Claremont President Ryan Williams and his colleagues "believe that America has" become "two fundamentally different countries, not least because of the rise of secularism."

Can you imagine what Abraham Lincoln would have thought had he been confronted by a bunch of lunatics like this? Racists aren't the most mentally stable individuals, but at least the cause was simpler. The South favored slavery; the North did not. It is no longer simple, but still very similar to 1861, two very different groups that are determined to, each, have its way. Only one side can win, and it is that which will determine the future of democracy.

Idiots abound in the world of Republican politics but Arizona's Karen Fann eclipses the best

 

Senate President Karen Fann has repeatedly insisted the AZ audit isn’t about Donald Trump. No? Well listen to what the former White House maniac has to say...

“The facts are coming out, the truth is being uncovered and the crime of the century is being fully exposed,” Trump declared at [a] rally.

Fann’s “audit,” Trump continued, has discovered “monumental” evidence of fraud.

 Yet...here are the results from PBS...

"A Republican-backed review of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona’s largest county ended Friday without producing proof to support former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election."

Anderson Cooper put Fann on the spot getting...as usual, ridiculous answers...

This is just another example of how the Republican Party misuses supporter efforts and donations to spew its constant crush of misinformation

Donald Trump freak effigy in gold trolls CPAC

 

When first seeing this, my wife asked me, "Have these Trump adoring Republicans always been this insane?" It's a reasonable question when witnessing the parading of a cheap, gaudy gold statue of Donald Trump through the halls of the CPAC convention. It's even too ridiculous to be considered a false idol as Exodus 20:4-6 in the Bible depicts it...

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God..."

This pretty much covers what Trump thinks of himself, and of course his endearing followers. But is this pathetic adoration as far as it goes, or does this behavior signal the final breach with reality in the Donald Trump chump following?  There were probably hundreds of hugging worshippers, and you have to wonder if these double-digits knew how absurd they looked, or has the passage from the Bible, above, become reality with Trump as the Messiah? And this includes evangelicals.

And, was the statue even displayed during Trump's speech? In the short amount of time I could stomach watching it, no. Tommy Zegan, the artist behind the gold monstrosity says he tried to present it to Trump at Mar-a-Lago with no success. Is it possible that Donald Trump is distancing himself from a likeness that looks fat and bloated and which is carrying a gold star? Zegan says he could probably get $100,000 for it. Probably tome to cut his losses and hope history is kind.

America in Conflict

 

Starting a series of random posts illustrating the struggle the United States is going through today, emphasizing the moral drought of our political system.

A president impeached twice with absolutely no remorse for what he did to the United States during four catastrophic years in the White House. Read more...

As one columnist put it, "The United States is visibly in an early stage of disintegration," like Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," only the giant insect is the country we live in.

Evangelicals courted Donald Trump throughout his four years in office despite his despicable behavior, particularly his abuse of women. Read more...

Republican lawmakers proposing laws to prevent liberals from voting, targeting blacks and Hispanics. Read more...

And this is one of those 'can you really believe this?' pieces. The Washington Times suggests replacing Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski with Sarah Palin. Read more...

Here's a whopper, "Conspiracy nuts think Bill Gates helped Biden generate 'synthetic snow' to make Texas look bad." Don't know for sure but do believe we can assume this group supports Donald Trump.

With 390 million guns on U.S. streets in a country of 329 million people, one would expect gun violence. And we got it with a 50% increase in mass shootings in 2020, plus in the first seven weeks of 2021, there have been 63 mass shootings. Read more... 

President Biden appointed more Postal Service Board members, but nothing is done about the arrogant and incompetent Postmaster Louis DeJoy. Why is Biden dragging his feet on this? Read more...

Stephen Miller is the sneaky behind the scenes Donald Trump work master for white supremacy in what the Washington Post's Greg Sargent calls a "shadow war" against Joe Biden. This administration shouldn't let Miller out of its sights. 
Read more... 

SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas, obviously an ardent Donald Trump follower, seems to be overstepping his bounds by becoming a supporter of the "fixed 2020 election," movement. Read more...

Joe Biden mirrors Donald Trump if he lets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman get away with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. We keep warning China's Xi Jinping about human rights in his country. But, then, he doesn't have any oil. Read more...

As you may know the CPAC convention got under way last Thursday, and one of its speakers, Ted Cruz, mocked the wearing of masks when the COVID-19 pandemic has now claimed 524,480 deaths. Maybe he should just go back to Cancun and stay. Read more...

Speaking of CPAC, have you heard of the life size gold metal statue of Donald Trump served up to the emperor during the convention? By the way, it was made in Mexico, probably by the kind of people he described as drug dealers, criminals, rapists. Read more...

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the U.S. Representative who was stripped of all of her key House posts due to radical views, is attending CPSC with the rest of the Republican lowlife to praise the recently dethroned dictator. Not sure if she brought her baseless QAnon conspiracy theories with her. Read more...

You can thank Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) for being one of the first-rate idiots in the attempt to overturn Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election. He the epitome of untruth with his ongoing claims of rampant voter fraud rampant voter fraud with absolutely no evidence. Read more...

Matt Gaetz, the moron congressman from Florida, pushes Donald Trump for 2024, by comparing Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," with Gaetz's new version, 'The Art of the Comeback.' Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said it best, "That guy [Gaetz] is

not an adult". Read more...

Young Pharaoh out but Donald Trump still in at CPAC convention

Most will agree that Young Pharaoh's language is pretty vile when it comes to Jews, considering his comments...

that Judaism is a “complete lie” and “made up for political gain,” said that Jewish people are “thieving fake Jews,” tweeted that “all the censorship & pedophilia on social media is being done by Israeli Jews,” and claimed that “all of these big tech [companies], media, & social media platforms are controlled by CCP & Israel through Jewish CEO & corrupt Democrats.”

The radical has been yanked from the upcoming CPAC convention for his invective language illustrated above. However, Donald Trump continues as a featured speaker at CPAC's show with his history of anti-Semitism, racism and abuse of

women. Go figure. The Washington Post reported back in December of 2019, Trump signed an executive order to fight anti-Semitism on college campuses while flanked by two evangelical Christian pastors, Robert Jeffress and John Hagee.

Both are anti-Judaism with this from WA Po...

Jeffress has literally damned Jews to hell, while Hagee has warned of an international plot led by the Rothschilds to undermine American sovereignty, described Hitler as a “hunter” sent by God to kill Jews who refused to move to Israel and described the Antichrist as a “half-Jew homosexual.”

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't support Young Pharaoh under any circumstances. And equally adamant, I have never supported Donald Trump. So, checkmate.

 

You think coronavirus is bad, let me tell you about the after effects

 

The CDC's Dr. Anthony Fauci has all but demanded that the American public wear a mask, and stay at a distance of at least six feet when in a social gathering. He couldn't demand it under non-believer Donald Trump, but we got the message. At least those of us who have asserted the mentality to believe the scientists who have been proven to be correct with the facts over and over. Fauci and his peers have taken it further by warning against gathering in large numbers.

However, the mentally challenged non-believers continue to startle those of us daily who are confident just how bad the pandemic is. In the U.S. alone as of today, there have been 21,800,681 COVID-19 cases, 369,135 deaths. Folks, that's over 350 million fathers/mothers, brothers/sisters, grandfathers/grandmothers, uncles/aunts and just friends who have died unnecessarily because Donald Trump and his gang of incompetents failed to address the pandemic.

Here's a headline from GBH News that puts this all into perspective: "How Many Have To Die Before Nonmask Wearers Realize The Pandemic Is Not A Joke?" And what these people don't take into consideration--probably due to their impaired mentality--is the fact that not wearing a mask could lead to the death of others, even family and friends. And then there are those who say, "It's only a virus." Stupid as it may seem, this concept is shared by many non-believers. 

Yes, it is a virus that, aside from its infectious nature requiring a possible hospital stay to shed the infection, has potential long-lasting effects that make it much more than "just an infection." An article in Elemental, "The Long-Term Health Impacts of Being Infected With the Coronavirus," talks about just that. Keep in mind now, this is well after you have suffered though the infectious stage of the virus, which can be agonizing, according to survivors.

There is plenty of talk out there about catching the virus and potentially dying from it but not as much about the after effects following initial stage recovery. You're better now and you didn't die so you're home free. Afraid not. Elemental, a new science-backed health and wellness coverage publication, says...

"There is growing concern about the potential long-term consequences of Covid-19, with reports of symptoms lingering for weeks and even months."

First concern, your lungs... 

"The good news is that if your symptoms are relatively mild and you don’t need to be hospitalized, there are good reasons to believe you’ll make a full recovery."

However, Albert Rizzo, MD, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, says there is a risk of scarring and more permanent lung damage in people who are hospitalized and ventilated.

Next, your heart...

"Over the past two months, one of the deadliest effects of Covid-19 that has emerged is its impact on the heart.

“'I think what is clear is that there are a number of different [cardiovascular] manifestations of Covid-19,' says Mariell Jessup, MD, chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association. “Some people are getting this heart attack looking syndrome, some people are getting this myocarditis kind of syndrome, and some people are just getting garden-variety heart failure in response to an overwhelming pulmonary infection."

The brain...

"There is mounting evidence that SARS-CoV-2 also impacts the brain. In a study of 214 Covid-19 patients, one-third experienced neurological symptoms, including dizziness, headache, and cognitive impairment."

The body's immune system... 

"Another consideration is how SARS-CoV-2 could impact a person’s risk for other infections. In a recent study, researchers found that 20% of people with Covid-19 were also infected with other viruses, including influenza, rhinovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus."

And don't forget your overall well-being...

"A final consideration is the consequence of hospitalization or weeks of being bed-bound on the body’s recovery. The consensus is that the worse someone’s health was before they got infected and the more severe their coronavirus infection was, the longer it will take them to regain their strength."

Rizzo says “It can take months to a year for some of that recovery to occur. But as you might suspect, it’s going to vary from individual to individual, again based on what was their condition prior to that care and how severe was their case." The point is that we have a new variant of the virus which is supposed to be significantly more transmissible, thus, more cases and more deaths. More on that coming up in a new blog.

The general consensus is practice the virus guidelines and stay as far away from COVID-19 as you can. Three is so much more in this article that you should read.

 

How to make sure your November mail-in vote is counted

The U.S. Postal Service, under the control of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, was appointed because he is a big supporter and donor to Donald Trump's campaign. He is single handedly dismantling the Post Office for the sole purpose of preventing the mail-in votes to arrive on time. As an example, DeJoy has started removing sorting machines from several locations, the lifeblood of these facilities to direct mail to the right people on time.

Remember the guy at the New York post office hand-sorting mail when he found the letter to Santa Claus. Without sorting machines all offices revert to this method which drastically slows down the process. In keeping with his changes, DeJoy has notified 46 states that their mail-in ballots may not arrive on time to be counted. Just what Trump ordered. I did a post yesterday with my solution to beating Donald Trump and Republicans on this issue...

"States must send out the mail-in ballots earlier than normal to compensate for slow mail delivery. I would suggest you contact both your Senator and representative, using the following sites:
U.S. SenateU.S. House of Representatives
In keeping with sending ballots out early, states should extend the date for receiving them, again, to compensate for a slowed down postal system. Put this in your note to your Senator and Congress person."

CNN reports that Pennsylvania is already considering extending mail-in ballot receipt by three days. Of course, Pennsylvania's governor, Tom Wolf, is a Democrat, but states with Republican governors can be pressured, or as I said in my earlier post, shamed into doing the right thing. Also, RepresentUS has a site, "How to Vote by Mail this November," with information on each state. Give them your email and they'll keep you updated. BE SURE AND VOTE IN NOV.

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Mandatory masks driving some people crazy...

Continued...Dr. Richard Stutt, a postdoctoral research associate at Cambridge University. says, "essentially every country that has used masks has done better than every country that hasn’t." As an example, until recently, seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump has refused to wear or recommend face masks, and the United States ranks number one in the world for coronavirus cases. Trump's recent impotent support is an insult to Americans.

It was just recently that...

"Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the country’s outbreak could be controlled within four to eight weeks if everyone wore masks."

Believe what you will, but doesn't it make sense to at least give this a try? READ MORE... 

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Noam Chomsky on Donald Trump

Continued..."There has never been a figure in political history who was so passionately dedicated to destroying the projects for organized human life on Earth in the near future. That is not an exaggeration.”

Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?

Racism is worse than that old weather saying. People have been talking about it for years, but no one has seriously done anything about it...

My take is that it is definitely a dirty word, even many racists would agree with that, but it is like one of those rogue genes that are the basis for a particular kind of behavior which allows those who have it to justify what they do. I grew up in the South, fighting with racists all my life, even within my own family, and when I finally left in the 1960s, there were still lynchings of black people, their houses being burned to the ground, all orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

Like the Mafia, the Klan slowly faded away, but as is the case for both, there is still evidence of their activity around. Here's a scenario from NPR...

"For the fourth year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups, reports that hate and domestic extremism are rising in an unabated trend. The center found a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone."

NPR adds, "The watchdog group blames President Trump, his administration, right-wing media outlets and the ease of spreading hate on social media platforms for the alarming increase." Trump has promoted and encouraged white nationalism since being inaugurated, hiring people like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, of which the latter is still on his staff. Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project said...

"The numbers tell a striking story — that this president is not simply a polarizing figure but a radicalizing one."

Excellent video on the Trump-Miller relationship...

This added...

"Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement. "Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it — with both his rhetoric and his policies. In doing so, he's given people across America the go-ahead to act on their worst instincts."

"Worst instincts," resulting from that rogue gene that wallows in racism. And here's more on Stephen Miller from the Daily Beast...

"Stephen Miller, the highly influential advisor to President Donald Trump, is the end result of a shadowy network made up of racist organizations and PAC’s designed to push a white nationalist worldview from the fringes into deep inside the White House."

The Confederate battle flag

Now there are even rumbles that Steve Bannon is attempting to work his way back into the White House. The combination of Miller and Bannon, especially should there be a Trump second term, God forbid, and with the White House maniac at his highest level of mental instability since entering office, could turn this country into a national Confederate States of America. What would a new flag look like? Would future elections even be allowed?

Miller was a close ally of John Tanton, an Ophthalmologist from Michigan, founder of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and considered by SPLC the "puppeteer" of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. Stephen Miller, practicing Tanton's ideology, is considered the architect of Donald Trump's immigration policies. The Beast's Mark Potok reports...

"Miller is both a promoter and, to some extent, a product of a much wider racist network aimed at preventing non-white immigration into the United States.”

He also thinks there is little chance of Miller leaving the administration, able to now influence, as I stated earlier, a much more mentally unstable Donald Trump, who is already making the worst of bad decisions. I would surmise when the black community sees this rampant racism originate from the highest office in the land, they feel there is just no hope. And they may very well be right as long as Trump occupies the White House and Mitch McConnell controls the Senate.

A Very Stable Genius Trump...NOT

Coming from Washington Post writers, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, "A Very Stable Genius" is the continuing brilliance of those on the inside to portray a mentally challenged Donald Trump...

I am two-thirds way through "A Very Stable Genius" and am amazed at the way these two reporters have organized the information on Donald Trump to the extent you actually feel you are in the room where it is happening. It is hard to select something to quote but in consideration of Trump's totalitarian governing approach, there was a part in the book where he gives kudos to Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president.

A senior aide describes the two's speakerphone conversations as "un-fucking-believable, like hearing Hitler at a Nuremberg rally." Says Erdogan's voice was chilling, like Satan's, but Trump has long admired the man for his ruthless rule in Turkey and the ease with which he dispatched political rivals. This is unadulterated mental sickness at its worst, when you are talking about the person who rules the freest country in the world.

Best friends, Erdogan and Trump

Jennifer Rubin's Washington Post opinion piece recently headlined, "‘Stable genius’ or dangerous ignoramus?" is a good question but one that has been answered repeatedly over the last few months, with each time Donald Trump opens his mouth. She quotes from one of his recent press conferences...

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out, in a minute. Is there a way we can do something like that? By injection, inside, or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. You’re going to have to use medical doctors, right? But it sounds interesting to me.”

This is the leader of the world's most advanced nation in such a confused state that what he is recommending could immediately kill thousands of people if they took his advice. But it was right after this at a later press conference where the disinfectant thing was brutally criticized, Donald Trump actually showed signs of doubt, both in what he was saying and also from the harsh criticism he received. He quietly left the room without taking questions.

I'm only a puttering psychologist, but are we seeing the first breaking point in the Trump facade, the latest of many that have come down the line, and are sure to eventually push Trump over the edge. A tragic way to have to get rid of a president but the only way when you have the head of the U.S. Senate, lowlife Moscow Mitch McConnell, constantly propping him up. Cody Fenwick, writing in AlterNet said...

"Of course, if Trump does genuinely feel shame, it’s not likely to last long. He’ll likely revert to his vastly overconfident self in short order."

Trump coming off the spool at a press conference...WATCH!

We'll be watching for more signs. After over three years, Donald Trump still does not know how to do his job, according to another piece by Cody Fenwick, this time in RawStory. The writer believes the Oval Office lunatic has contrived this reality show in his head, much like his former show, "The Apprentice," where he interviewed and fired people. In today's show, here's how Fenwick sees it...

"He likely doesn’t have the ability to coordinate all the relevant actors, tap into the expertise of the administration, and craft a long-term strategy for fighting the pandemic and saving as much of the economy as possible. But regardless of whether he could do what is needed, it’s clear that he’s not interested in this hard work."

Trump just cannot shed the carnival barker personality that so often shows him for the idiot he is. Like this...

“It’s just a suggestion, from a brilliant lab, by a very, very smart, perhaps brilliant, man,” Trump said. “He’s talking about sun, he’s talking about heat. And you see the numbers. So that’s it. That’s all I have. I’m just here to present talent. I’m here to present ideas. Because we want ideas to get rid of this thing.”

We're all waiting for the next episode of Donald Trump's new reality show. Don't forget, "A Very Stable Genius," a great read.