The Agony of Stupidity...2 States...2 Governors...1 Idiot

 

And the winner is the dufus, Doug Ducey, not only one of the worst governors in the U.S., but one of the largest covid-19 killing machines. As an example, here's a comparison done by Phoenix newspaper columnist, E. J. Montini. Here's his headline...

"Washington is a state like Arizona – only with 13,000 fewer COVID-19 deaths"

And here is the scenario as the columnist pulls no punches on Arizona's head of state...

"For much of the pandemic that number has not seemed to matter much, if at all, to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. Spouting platitudes about the economy has mattered. Acquiescing to the conspiracy theorists and the anti-vaccine kooks in the Republican party has mattered. 

"But talking about COVID-19 and the terrible toll it has taken on Arizona, and actually doing something to stop it … those things have not mattered."

Donald Trump was still in office as the pandemic began its drive across the U.S. Trump initially called it a hoax, perpetuated by Democrats to do harm to his administration. Ducey echoed the then, White House maniac, leading Arizonans to believe there was nothing to worry about. I did a post on April 3, 2020, " Some COVID-19 deaths Republican governors' responsibility," on how Republican governors were reacting to covid-19 as if it were "just a virus," featuring Ducey...

"On March 23, Ducey issued an executive order prohibiting any county, city or town from issuing any order or regulation “restricting persons from leaving their home due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.” Ducey’s order prevented local municipalities from issuing shelter-in-place regulations."

Dufus Ducey does it again...banning lifesaving vaccine mandates...

 Now that you have the background, let's do the numbers. Montini concludes the states of Washington and Arizona are similar in many ways relating to the coronavirus pandemic. Population is an example...

"Recent counts show Washington at about 7.8 million people and Arizona at about 7.5 million." 

A huge difference is the fact that Washington's Gov. Jay Inslee, was considerably

more aggressive in protecting the citizens of his state than Ducey was with the Arizona population. Inslee is a Democrat. Ducey is a Republican. Inslee took heat from his constituents while the dufus did his thing...

"Arizona, which long ago abandoned its citizens to their own devices, Washington still has a number of restrictions aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Mask requirements. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test requirements. It’s a fairly long list and not everyone is happy about it."

And finally, the numbers that count...

Washington state has had a little over 800,000 cases of COVID-19 and fewer than 10,000 deaths.

Arizona has had 1.3 million cases and 23,000 deaths.

Montini asks his readers, citizens of Arizona, to think about that. I ask my readers the same because it is an excellent representation of how Republicans could care less about this country and its people with their only purpose to wreck our democracy. 

 

Just How Unamerican is the Republican Party?

 

Juan Williams, who is an opinion contributor to The Hill believes it is pretty extensive. I did a post recently, "Are You Ready for America's Civil War II," which depicts a country in conflict, clearly defined by the fact that the radical right mounted an attack on the U.S. Capitol this last Jan. 6, in an act of insurrection. I think it is safe to say that this combination of sedition and treason was initiated and then choreographed by Donald Trump.

Williams is a fair-minded person, a Democrat, with two Republican sons, but still unable to "stomach" what has happened to the GOP. There are many out there with that opinion, but, unfortunately, many do not speak up like Williams. Here's a couple of his grievances...

"How can anyone dismiss a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol as just 'one day in January,' to quote former Vice President Mike Pence.

"Doesn’t it infuriate you to see so many Republicans make lying about the winner of the 2020 election a test of party loyalty?"

Well, the right certainly has its mentor to try and prove the 2020 Presidential election was a fraud. As of the first of this year there were well over 30,000 lies attributed to Donald Trump, leading his movement of misinformation. The poor souls who follow him have a cookie cutter image of how to spread his deception, and they have been very effective. But there is evidence Trump's popularity is waning with the failure of his History Tour to draw crowds.

Here's a take on Republicans from a Texas Democrat...

"another strong conservative member of the GOP, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (Texas), offers a similar assessment. Crenshaw, speaking at a public event this month, described unnamed far-right GOP members of Congress as “grifters” and 'performance artists.'”

My gut tells me he is talking about the five simpletons: Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorne and Paul Gosar. Combined, their IQs would be in the double digits. But what is most compelling about this gang is the morons who elected them in the states of California, Georgia, Colorado, No. Carolina and right here in Arizona. Lord knows, the people have the right to vote but do they have the right to deliver the country certifiable idiots.

It's hard to say when the GOP last made an attempt at governing. Mostly it's vision is to block anything the Democrats want to do, with some help from lowlife Dems like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Williams mentions a host of books written about Donald Trump and I have read most of them. One of them by a close family member, his niece Mary Trump. Most of the others are written by acclaimed journalists like Bob Woodward. The books basically describe a monster.

 Mary Trump: Donald Trump Had The Power To Stop Jan. 6 Riot...

And here is a statement that should be chilling to all Americans who value our democracy...

In the last year, every congressional Republican voted against a bill to help the country recover from the economic damage caused by COVID-19.

In closing, there is still Covid-19 raging across the United States, in large part due to Donald Trump and his Republican cronies. As of this writing, there have been 51,075,976 coronavirus cases in the U.S. and 820,194 deaths. Think about that folks, over 800,000 people, many of which could still be alive...if not for Republicans, led by Donald Trump.

The Agony of Stupidity Ensemble...Donald Trump, Teenage Gun Maker in Georgia, Norway Dumb

 

Unfortunately, things are occurring way too fast to report on only one stupid event. The stupids population around the world is escalating and proliferating to the point that a measurement is needed to track the activity. Here's today's menu...

Donald Trump, in his usual act of defiance, failed to reveal he has contracted Covid three days before his 2020 debate with Joe Biden. Here's the take from The Washington Post's Editorial Board...

"President Donald Trump willfully deceived the American people about the pandemic, the gravest public health catastrophe in a century. He knew the coronavirus was highly transmissible early on, but concealed it. He wrongly claimed that rising case numbers resulted from more diagnostic testing. He made a false assertion that doctors were inflating the death toll from covid-19 to “get more money.” There were so many other deceptions."

And then they go on to say...

"Three days before a presidential debate, Mr. Trump knew but did not say he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Instead, he carried on his campaign and presidential schedule, endangering all those with whom he came in contact."

Read the opinion. 

Then, in the somewhat backward state of Georgia--has to be half crazy to elect M.T. Greene to Congress--a 13-year-old brother is attempting to sell a homemade gun, when the gun was snatched by the buyer who ran. The brother shot at the fleeing thief, hitting and killing his 14-year-old sister. Weird, true and tragic.

Read the whole story.

And now around the world to Norway where you have to question the judgment of 120 people to gather at an event in Oslo, knowing full well of the potential consequences. Only vaccinated people were admitted but, unfortunately, one had recently returned from South Africa and later was found to carry the new Omicron variant. Now this is downright dumb. They're not yet sure of the 60 positive Covid cases, how many are Omicron.

Dr. Tine Ravlo, a local chief physician said...

“We are expecting more of them to likely be Omicron infections,” she said.

 Read the article.

Florida Gov. Ron Desantis...a Totalitarian, Fascist Dictator?

 

That is the implication from David Badash's piece in AlterNet and it is compelling just after the sunshine lunatic's latest move. Ron DeSantis is forming his own army with the justification it is needed to protect his state. What the state of Florida needs is protection from Ron DeSantis. It will cost millions in taxpayer funds, and one must wonder at this point where the hell the state's residents are in allowing this moron free rein over all their rights.

Badash says this move is...

"also being seen as one more potential attack on science during the coronavirus pandemic era. All National Guard members must be vaccinated. DeSantis opposes all vaccine and mask mandates and has invited unvaccinated, fired police officers from others states to move to Florida – and offering them a $5000 payment."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on his private army...

Here's another take from the media...

Perhaps one of the strongest warnings [against DeSantis] comes from SiriusXM Progress host Dean Obeidallah, who calls it "the beginning of a 'Red Army' as the GOP prepares for war."

And another...

MSNBC's Joy Reid likened the move to fascism, asking: "So… y’all know this is fascisty bananas, right…?"

Does anyone else smell a full-fledged Donald Trump in the making? 

 

MUST READ QUOTES...from...Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis...the killing machine

 

The science is clear from experts that tell us, yes, having the Covid-19 virus can establish a certain level of immunity, but one that needs the follow-up of vaccination to insure more solid protection. Here's the reasoning from the scientific community...

"how much immunity COVID-19 survivors have depends on how long ago they were infected, how sick they were, and if the virus variant they had is different from mutants circulating now. For example, a person who had a minor case one year ago is much different than a person who had a severe case over the summer when the delta variant was raging through the country. It’s also difficult to reliably test whether someone is protected from future infections."

Enter the demented DeSantis, Florida's governor who has to-date killed 61,081 of

his constituents by opposing coronavirus masks, vaccines and any other Covid protocol that the Biden administration calls for. Here's the quote...

“We recognize, unlike what you see going on with the federal proposed mandates and other states, we’re actually doing a science-based approach. For example, we recognize people that have natural immunity,”

His "science-based approach" apparently evolves from the twisted mind of DeSantis along with the moron he appointed State Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, who entirely supports the governor's policies. You would think Floridians would have the brains to simply look at the numbers: 3,726,720 coronavirus cases that represent 173,515 per 1000 population. The U.S. average is 146,761. What is even worse is the new Florida law this lunatic passed...

"The new Florida law forces private businesses to let workers opt out of COVID-19 mandates if they can prove immunity through a prior infection, as well as exemptions based on medical reasons, religious beliefs, regular testing or an agreement to wear protective gear."

By the way, it is Ladapo that "will have authority to define exemption standards." So far, Joe Biden has chosen not to interfere in Florida politics, although with the constant flow of DeSantis' deranged criticisms, he has certainly had the openings. The sunshine state twit back in July fundraised off t-shirts, "Don't Fauci my Florida." Now, 2 golf balls with the inscription, "Florida's Governor has a Pair." Now this is the kind of thing one would expect from a high school sophomore.

Just as it was with another maniac, Donald Trump, it is the supporters that are just as much at fault as the clown on parade. If you can look at those numbers, above, and not agree that he should be removed from office, well, you deserve what you get. After a number of protests from individuals and lawmakers over vaccine mandates, no one has come up with credible scientific facts that refute the fact there is anything better than a jab in the arm as the surest Covid-19 prevention.

Ron DeSantis vs. Roger Stone

 

Politico's Gary Fineout describes it "the MAGA civil war liberals dream' about. Roger Stone beating up on Ron DeSantis, with the corruption needle here hitting maximum. Both are Donald Trump minions, but, apparently, at least so far, the former White House maniac isn't commenting on the feud. More from Fineout...

"Stone, the long-time ally of Donald Trump and political provocateur in this state, [Florida] has been ratcheting up pressure against the governor. He's calling on him to audit the 2020 election — he hasn't — and then, this past weekend, saying DeSantis should promise now to not run for president if he wins reelection even if Trump doesn't seek another term."

They have both regularly discredited the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, plus pushing the Donald Trump lie of winning the 2020 election. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has turned his state into a killing machine with 60,418 Covid-19 deaths to his credit. In Newsweek, Roger Stone claims the COVID Vaccination Has 'Injured or Killed Millions of Americans.' Stone has threatened to run against DeSantis for governor but Fineout says...

"DeSantis as a Libertarian. DeSantis, in response, said that Stone can't run against him because he is a "convicted felon," but Stone is arguing that because Trump pardoned him for the federal crimes he was sentenced to federal prison for, his right to run for governor of Florida remains."

Roger Stone gives his reason for running for Florida governor against DeSantis...

 

 I did a blog post back in August citing how the demented DeSantis was destroying the state of Florida with the implication that despite the completely incompetent handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the graves of his victims are something to laugh about. We then saw DeSantis demeaning the coronavirus vaccine in favor of a COVID-19 antibody treatment that a hedge fund run by one of his top donors invested big bucks in. That would be...

"Ken Griffin, whose hedge fund Citadel owns $15.9 million worth of shares in Regeneron Pharmaceutical Inc., donated more than $10 million to DeSantis through a political action committee."

However, back in July of 2020, Lawfare exclaimed...

"President Trump’s commutation of the prison sentence of his longtime confidante Roger Stone is wholly unsurprising. Indeed, given Trump’s repeated teasing of the matter over the life of the case against Stone, it would have been something of a surprise had he not intervened so that his felonious friend was spared time behind bars."

The article implies that Trump did what he did to save his butt from the Robert Mueller investigation...

"Trump publicly encouraged Stone not to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s investigation, he publicly dangled clemency as a reward for silence, and he has now delivered. The act is predictable precisely because the corrupt action is so naked."

So, what we have here are two deceiving individuals, Ron DeSantis and Roger Stone, both with connections to the most deceiving individual ever, Donald Trump, the two possibly going head-to-head for the top job in Florida. YES, we wanted to get rid of Ron DeSantis, but...Roger Stone???

Top Covid Killing Machine: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey

 

It's official, Arizona has risen to the top as the states where COVID-19 has been the leading cause of death during the pandemic. One of the local Phoenix top newspaper columnists, E.J. Montini, sums it up...

"All during awful days, the worse days and the catastrophic days of the pandemic, Will Humble has been a voice of reason in Arizona’s political wilderness, most often unheard and unheeded by Gov. Doug Ducey and those in charge of the state’s COVID-19 response."

Will Humble is the Executive Director for the Arizona Public Health Association, and former Arizona Health Director, who has been a driving force in fighting the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic in Arizona. That is, in spite of Doug Ducey. It was Humble who chose the "evidence-based policy"approach, where the short-sighted Ducey went with...

"misinformation, lies and political pressure put on by everyone from former President Donald Trump to the anti-vaccine elements of the Republican party."

It is the kind of reasoning that prevails in the Arizona Republican Party, adhering to ideologies and power grabs on the right that has made it, for example, one of the easiest states in the U.S. to own a firearm. And just look at the leading contender

for the replacement of Ducey, Kari Lake, a former TV anchor who has a misplaced brain, like the majority of Republicans here. And then we have mentally sick House Representative Paul Gosar who threatened AOC with anime video killing her.

Here's more from Will Humble's report...

"Using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report says that nationally COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death, behind cancer and heart disease. It notes as well that there are five states where COVID-19 is the second leading cause of death.

"But Arizona stands alone at the top."

Another Phoenix columnist says, "Gov. Doug Ducey's pandemic emergency powers must end",,,

Humble did warn Ducey of what was coming, but the lame-brained governor was so enamored with Donald Trump and his methods that he allowed the state he is fully responsible for to sink into the depths of the Covid calamity, throwing precautions completely to the wind. As Montini tells us, "More than 21,000 Arizonans have been killed by the virus. Further, he says...

He [Ducey] issued orders against “vaccine passports” and mask mandates in schools, and said things like, “While we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state — and it never will be. Vaccination is up to each individual, not the government.”

He said, "We will not be listening to the lockdown lobby. Businesses will stay open. Students will be able to attend school. There will be no mask mandates. We have a proven solution with the vaccine."

We get rid of this moron next year, but if Kari Lake is what we have to look forward to, one has to ask, 'is there any hope for Arizona?' I have lived here almost 25 years and I think so. However, it means getting rid of the Republicans who currently run this state. 

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. 

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.

Private health insurers/Medicare should deny anti-vaxxers coverage

 

And why not? The anti-vaxxers are the primary reason the Covid-19 pandemic is enjoying new vigor with the recent addition of the Delta variant. CNN's Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and former Baltimore health commissioner, says, 'We can’t trust the unvaccinated.' I can attest to that having a family member traveling between two states after just learning her whole family was infected with the virus, including two children under the age of ten.

If you think that is insane, I wholeheartedly agree. This attitude has endured in the entire family since day one of inception of the coronavirus in this country. An early comment was, "It's only a virus," as if that was something you could easily just sweep under the rug. Today a Washington Post article, "When will the summer coronavirus surge peak? It will get worse before it gets better, experts predict." Like "140,000 to 300,000 cases a day in the United States come August."

Okay, it's not just a virus anymore, yet, 30% don't have the shot with most saying they won't get it. We're back to 70,000 cases a day, but the Florida health department recently announced that state alone was forecasting some 83,000 cases a day by early August. David W. Dowdy, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said...

“It is getting worse, and at least as of right now, it is not really slowing down in the U.S.,”

It is getting worse because 1 in 4 Americans are refusing to get the vaccine. In addition to vaccine denial, "Relaxing precautions, such as no longer wearing masks or engaging in social distancing," a major contributor according to leading epidemiologists. One statement did indicate, however, right now masks are only protecting the unvaccinated. The Washington Post opinion piece said...

"Those of us who have behaved responsibly — wearing masks and, since the vaccines became available, getting our shots — cannot be held hostage by those who can’t be bothered to do the same, or who are too deluded by misinformation to understand what is so clearly in their own interest."

Here's a comment from the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus I totally agree with: "The more inconvenient we make life for the unvaccinated, the better our own lives will be." That is the gist of this post, except that losing your health insurance is not just an inconvenience, it is a major economic blow. Hit 'em where it hurts then see how fast their position changes and they rush to get their vaccination.

Just look at the figures across the country. They are on the increase almost everywhere, with Florida reporting just this past week 21,000 new Covid cases in one day. Following that state is Texas, #2 in total cases, #3 in total deaths. They each have Republican morons for governors, Ron DeSantis, Florida, Greg Abbott in Texas. State governors like these two bottom feeders are what encourage the anti-vaxxers along with the voluminous social media misinformation.

It was actually Piers Morgan that came up with this concept of denying health coverage to those who will deny the vaccination. His headline:  "Piers Morgan: If you refuse COVID-19 vaccine and catch the virus, you should be denied state-funded health care and pay for it yourself." I added the idea of including the private insurance carriers. The U.S. currently stands at 49.9% fully vaccinated, with most of the summer still ahead of us.

Just last Saturday, fans packed a Florida stadium following a record one-day of 21,000 new cases, a week of 110,000 new cases. Florida has just been named the new coronavirus epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it all can be traced back to the reckless handling of the virus spread by its Republican governor, Ron DeSantis. So, the anti-vaxxers aren't all to blame after the Republican Party spewing its misinformation. 

We're experiencing the biggest outbreak of idiots the United States has ever known. And it all really started with the election of Donald Trump.

When it's too late for a vaccine...what?...UPDATE

UPDATE: Headline: "‘It’s too late’: US doctor says dying patients begging for Covid vaccine." Did you hear that? These anti-vaxxers had to be at death's door to ask for the vaccine...but, of course, it is too late...

Here's the headline from an Alabama doc who is treating Covid vaccine deniers, as she struggles to keep them alive: "'I'm sorry, but it's too late' - unvaccinated patients beg for shot; new infections nearly triple in two weeks": COVID news." Don't you agree, we are in a pitiful state when it is necessary to tell a young person--until now with their life in front of them--it is too late. Especially when they were cautioned over and over the scientific reasons they should get a vaccination.

On a Facebook post, Dr. Brytney Cobia of the Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham said, "she is treating a lot of young, otherwise healthy people for serious coronavirus infections." These young folks would otherwise be able to do their thing--agreed, restricted in out pandemic world--if only they had listened to the guidelines of the medical community, the CDC, instead of placing their faith and confidence in the coronavirus bullshit of social media.

Here's an example of Cobia's day...

"In her [FB] post, Cobia wrote that when a patient dies, she hugs their family members and urges them to get vaccinated. She said they cry and tell her they thought the pandemic was a "hoax," or "political," or targeting some other age group or skin color."

Excuses, excuses, excuses, most all of them completely contrary to both common sense and the credible commentary designed to give them direction during this calamity. Many of these young people are supporters of Donald Trump, and believe the malarky he has spewed during the pandemic and, in my experience, are hard to convince, if at all, Trump's blithering is and has been nothing but crap, not for human consumption. 

Cobia's patients, "wish they could go back. But they can't." That's when it's too late for a vaccine, possibly...just too late.

Coronavirus latest developments you should be aware of

 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis blows off recent COVID-19 figures from Florida, and says the media criticizes him but not blue states. Here are some very accurate figures: Fla. #3 total virus cases; #4 total deaths. As of February14, "Florida's Department of Health has reportedly refused to share data about the number of COVID variants found in the state. Florida has two coastlines of beaches with each having its share of super spreaders. 

But what is worrying everyone is spring break. Young people seem to go into complete denial when it comes to things like this annual tradition that brings together millions on Florida beaches where masks and distancing are repressed for fun. And then there is the Kentucky schmuck, Senator Rand Paul, a Republican, of course, who has had the virus, but is a doctor who should know he could get reinfected or become a carrier. He still refuses to wear a mask.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has just released a scathing report with "wide-reaching condemnation of President Donald Trump’s botched response to the coronavirus pandemic." Here's the scenario...

"The 346-page Government Accountability Office document, much longer than most, outlines broad Trump administration failures so alarming that the normally circumspect auditors pronounced themselves 'deeply troubled.'”

The Washington Post has more...

"Almost 90 percent — 27 of 31 — of the GAO’s recommendations from June, September and November “remained unimplemented” as of Jan. 15, less than a week before Trump left office."

Iowa is still in the forefront with the governor's decision to rescind all COVID-19 precautionary measures. "On Feb. 5, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she was lifting nearly all of her restrictions on businesses, gatherings and masks." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky commented...

"What I would say is now is the time to not let up our guard. Now is the time to double down. Still with a 100,000 cases a day, still with over 2.5 times the cases we had over the summer."

Although the U.S. has dropped below the 100,000 cases per day mark, there is still the threat of new new variants and Iowa has recently confirmed a total of 8 of the U.K. mutations. Research is limited so far but early results are showing the variants are definitely more transmissible, perhaps more contagious and dangerous. 

But the most troubling thing I have come across since the start of the pandemic is this article from New Scientist explaining that two of the variants have combined their genomes "to form a heavily mutated hybrid version of the virus." A genome is an organism's complete set of genetic instructions, a full set of chromosomes. The “recombination” event was discovered in a virus sample in California, a good sign that the pandemic might be entering a new phase.

Scientific explanation...

"Unlike regular mutation, where changes accumulate one at a time, which is how variants such as B.1.1.7 arose, recombination can bring together multiple mutations in one go. Most of the time, these don’t confer any advantage to the virus, but occasionally they do." 

The most frightening consideration here is that this new mutation process seems to be able to do whatever it wants to do, regardless of our medical and scientific efforts. and in the process become more deadly. So what can we do? As Dr. Fauci has been saying from the beginning, wash your hands, wear a mask, now double, when in public, and practice social distancing. It is still his premise that, by employing these simple precautions, we could bring the pandemic to its knees. 

Coronavirus pandemic bad enough but Robt. F. Kennedy Jr. just makes it worse

 

Would John F. Kennedy turn over in his grave, or would he agree with his nephew, Robt. F. Kennedy, Jr. in the denial of vaccines to prevent COVID-19? I believe the former, and it is tragic to see this once politically famous family go down in flames. For repeatedly making false claims about coronavirus vaccines, Robt. F has been banned from Instagram. This is significant since much of anti- vaxxer misinformation is passed along through social media.

However, "His Facebook account remains active despite similar claims posted there." Yet Instagram is a part of Facebook. Go figure. And here is one of his bizarre lies...connecting the death of legendary baseball player Hank Aaron to the Covid-19 vaccine. Kennedy is a lawyer and should know better; anyone this educated should understand science making it clear since the COVID-19 pandemic started that vaccinations are the precursor to protection from the virus.

Kennedy's advocacy is not acceptable as two variants of the pandemic are raging across the U.S., one from Great Britain and one from So. Africa. At the same time we have our homegrown variant from California which is spreading in 12 states and a few countries. Being highly transmissible, and the UK B117 has been judged more contagious, plus the fact that even the current vaccines aren't guaranteed against these variants, anti-vaxxers are doing great harm to other Americans.

And if this wasn't bad enough, Dr. Rishi Desai, chief medical officer at Osmosis and former CDC epidemic intelligence officer reports...

"As the medical community warns about highly transmissible mutations of COVID-19, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Illinois and Massachusetts are among states rolling back pandemic-related restrictions."

But if you're still not convinced, this recent headline from National Public Radio should rattle your cage: "Why The Pandemic Is 10 Times Worse Than You Think." There is reasoning behind this statement and it comes from a research team at Columbia University which has built a mathematical model giving a much more complete picture of how much virus is circulating in our communities. And it's much more scary...

"It estimates how many people are never counted because they never get tested. And it answers a second question that is arguably even more crucial — but that until now has not been reliably estimated: On any given day, what is the total number of people who are actively infectious? This includes those who may have been infected on previous days but are still shedding virus and capable of spreading disease."

Here's the model's conclusion...

"On any given day, the actual number of active cases — people who are newly infected or still infectious — is likely 10 times that day's official number of reported cases."

We've been warned about asymptomatics, and, of course, there are deniers squirming everywhere, so there is every reason to believe these numbers, especially when you consider the U.S. has racked up 28,093,867 cases and 492,119 deaths from COVID-19. But why are people still protesting the very science that will save their lives? Aljazeera has this answer...

"Lockdowns have been financially devastating for millions of people who have been unable to work and lost their incomes. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), unemployment has soared across major economies since the beginning of the pandemic."

I will accept that conclusion but must add that in the U.S. there is a group that

erroneously believe they are fighting for their rights against a government that is attempting to curb their rights.  This gang of misfits, led by Donald Trump, is the major factor that is interfering with pandemic control in the U.S. And, until we rid the country of this faction, COVID-19 and several other problems before the current new President, Joe Biden, will haunt our progress as a free nation.

Latest News for those in a hurry

 

Joe Biden wants to eliminate credit bureaus. His idea is to transfer all data to a public registry under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I found numerous violations of consumer rights as a private advocate several years ago. My question is, would the government handling this be any better...or worse? Read More...

Sorry but I cannot conjure up the least amount of sympathy for a sleaze, namely Rush Limbaugh, that has spewed downright dangerous rhetoric for this country over the years. Example...

"Early in the coronavirus pandemic, Limbaugh told listeners that the virus was no worse than 'the common cold' and that the news media had 'weaponized' the crisis to hurt Trump."

Limbaugh needs to go and he can take the rest of conservative talk radio with
him. Read More...

Election officials across the country are experiencing a rash of phone calls from Republican voters. Their primary concern is what happened on January 6, at the nation's Capital. Insurrection orchestrated by Donald Trump with lives lost and over 200 rioters in jail. The result is 1,000s of Republicans are leaving the party, 33,000 from California alone. Read More...

The big question today is who's in control? Demented State Republican Parties would have us believe it is still Donald Trump. Here's an example from Alex Henderson of AlterNet...

"In the view of the Oregon Republican Party, what transpired on Jan. 6 was not an insurrection — and the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol were not supporters of Donald Trump. Rather, the uprising that the world witnessed that day was a 'false flag.' Its aim, according to the party, was to discredit Trump and 'advance the Democrat goal of seizing total power, in a frightening parallel to the February 1933 burning of the German Reichstag.'"

Joe Biden needs to get Merrick Garland confirmed and in his seat as Attorney General. 

Gun sales are booming with 330 million firearms on the street. With a U.S. population of 329 million, wouldn't you say that is enough? Not so say the 40 million who purchased guns in 2020, plus another 4.1 million in January of 2021. This is both obscene and insane when you consider America's gun violence is the second highest in the world. Douglas A. McIntyre of USA Today says...

"Growing civil unrest may have prompted people to buy guns for personal and family protection, many social scientists have posited, although this remains a matter of debate. Another theory is that chaos brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is a major cause."

This may be true to some extent but McIntyre leaves out the most important reason. These buyers, led by the NRA's head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre, are making these purchases because of the propaganda fed to them by the gun lobby. Don't be misled, LaPierre, like Trump, may be temporarily disabled, but there is still power in both of these misfits. Five-million of this total were new buyers with sales to women up 40%. Fortunately Joe Biden plans to take on the gun lobby. 

 

First step, Donald Trump impeachment conviction - Second step Prison

 

Donald Trump is being tried in the Senate for inciting an angry mob of his double-digit followers to take over and attempt to destroy the U.S. Capitol. His conviction is at best 75/25, 75 against, but there have some indications since the trial began that Republicans are feeling the heat, recently hearing that their constituents are fleeing the party by the 1,000s. And this may not be his biggest problem. NY Atty. Gen. Letitia James is preparing her case against Trump and it's a doozy. 

Trump's complicity in the Capitol riots is settled in his speech to the rioters the day of the insurrection. He takes his last shot at Biden's election results amassing a hoard of lies that mirror the 20,000+ deceptions he spewed during four years in office. By the way, during this diatribe the audience chanted, “We love Trump.” He tells these idiots to go to the Capitol and fight. They did and CNN's Erin Burnet lays it all out in a ghastly timeline that cinches Donald Trump's involvement.

I want to see Trump put in prison, and for a long period of time for his criminal acts while in the White House and what he did on January 6. The most reprehensible act from the ex-oval office lunatic is his incompetence in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. First it was a hoax, then, it'll go away when the weather gets warm, followed by an insanity of the ages in belittling the CDC and the only one in the administration that knew what was going on, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And then he appointed Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General, many feel to dismantle the USPS. It helped that DeJoy was a large donor to Trump's election campaign. DeJoy did his appointer's bidding by removing one of the most important tools of the UPSP to expedite mail, sorting machines. Working in the junk mail industry for 35 years and witnessing what these appliances are capable of, I can understand how this move slowed the mail at a critical period during the pandemic and Christmas. 

But the kicker comes from a Republican representative from Illinois, Adam Kinzinger, who voted to impeach Trump, and continues to condemn him and his loyal followers for what this maniac has done. In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Kinzinger said, "My fellow Republicans, convicting Trump is necessary to save America." Continuing, I say this as a lifelong Republican who voted to impeach Trump last month. There's more...

"Winston Churchill famously said, 'Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.' All Americans, but especially my fellow Republicans, should remember this wisdom during the Senate’s trial of former president Donald Trump."

Will Kinzinger's rhetoric do any good, especially considering that fellow

Republicans continue to support Donald Trump. The congressman doesn't think this is all for naught...

"It’s a matter of accountability. If the GOP doesn’t take a stand, the chaos of the past few months, and the past four years, could quickly return. The future of our party and our country depends on confronting what happened — so it doesn’t happen again."

And hate to say it but don't think most of the GOP has learned their lesson, or any lesson, based on the outlook for Trump's conviction. Without this the United States will become the laughingstock of the world (again) and the Republican Party will assume the reputation of nation destroyers. But hopefully the New York Atty. Gen. will proceed with their evidence and put Donald Trump in jail so my wife and I can enjoy our final days knowing there is some justice in our country.