–Natalie Quinn Hemphill, 1903.
What can I say at this point? Prior to the pandemic, I had been working part time. I’ll tell you more about work later. Prior to that, I went back to my novel and finally finished the thing. I’ve only convinced one, out of the ten or so people to whom I’ve given access to actually read the bloody thing. Hence, I’m back here to write some non fiction, so I can be ignored in both forms of literature.
Like everybody who’s alive and aware now, I am experiencing a typhoon of madness, childishness, and incompetence, amid a government devoted exclusively to serving its plutocrat Masters.
The latest in a series of mystifying gaffs by Mr. Trump suggesting the use of household cleaning products to somehow clear the lungs of the blood clots that are associated with Covid-19. This illness has now killed nearly as many Americans in four months as the Vietnam War did in a decade.
This is POTUS, the person with access to more data, scientific expertise, and more power to fix problems than any national leader in in the 10,000 years since the Neolithic Revolution. Yet Dear Leader says in an offhand comment to one of his staff members that “Medical Doctors” can devote some time to investigate this possibility. Fabuloso. Overworked scientists can waste some time investigating if ingesting toxic cleaning solutions would help stem the disease, rather than valid and reliable scientifically supported solutions. It’s just like when they investigated his snake oil, Chloroquine , which was shown to be dangerous enough to kill two dozen people who were taking it daily. Chloroquine Study Halted
Medical Doctors? Any seven year old with at least a C in their reading class could be tapped for this study. As usual, Dear Leader compounded his foolishness by walking the statement back, claiming that he was being sarcastic. Trump Claims Sarcasm Just so I understand, this is a press briefing, supposedly to update the country on the status of the federal government’s response to the pandemic which has killed fifty thousand Americans in four months. FOUR MONTHS. He chooses NOW to reveal his sarcastic wit? On TV? With the world watching? We’re watching him”satirically ” showing his contempt for science by suggesting that his dollar store, unsupported solutions to a catastrophe should be studied? To paraphrase Major Kong in Dr. Strangelove, ‘what in the wide world of sports is he thinking?’ How is this better than showing he just doesn’t know anything at all?
It is clear that he knows nothing that any barely literate , wealthy, white bigot doesn’t already know, despite his practically infinite resources. It also is clear that he prefers simple, financially convenient solutions to evidence based, valid, effective, yet financially inconvenient solutions. Listen, People. He does not care if you live or die. He just wants to remain in power and help his patrons. If you do not understand this, then you’ll continue to be one of the suckers he depends upon. This is our status quo: The United States does what is least effective in this crisis because that is what satisfies our Dear Leader, Server of the Nomenklatura Amerikan . If you’re reading this, you are not in the nomenklatura. YOU DON’T COUNT to him. That is the real news, friends.
I hate that this insinuation has to be written off as a conspiracy theory, but I need answers. He has met with Putin five times during his presidency, four of which had no witness aside from interpreters. I have read that this is unprecedented, for the obvious reason that it enables one negotiating party to make a claim about the other that could not be substantiated. Smart and/or allegiant presidents are sure to have witnesses, for the good of the country. Five Trump-Putin Meetings If, on the other hand, we have a president who has behaved like a greedy seventh grader throughout his presidency, such a person would not want witnesses to a meeting between himself and a former KGB agent.
I also know from endless sources that the Toddler in Chief has never been forced to reveal his tax returns. Ergo, nobody in an accountability role has seen from where he gets his money.
Finally, who exactly is benefiting from his relentlessly inactive, dismissive policy toward the pandemic? The American people do not benefit. I don’t need to reiterate the countless stories about how the U.S. has been ravaged by the virus. Everybody, please pay for a reputable news source and READ. No news source is perfect, but it definitely beats taking President Poison at his word.
China isn’t benefiting from Trump’s inefficacy. The number of Chinese deaths, whether higher or lower than ours is horrendous. Its role as a major link in the world’s supply chain will be hopelessly disrupted, upending its position as the world’s key supplier of starvation level labor. Demand for everything is flying like a falling anvil (this is true not just for crude oil). Their factories are coming online again now, just in time to create oversupply that will sink all prices, so they’ll be in a similar situation to an OPEC country soon. Outlook for the Chinese Economy
No other countries are benefiting from it, as they are all parts of the world’s supply chain. Putin, on the other hand, does indeed benefit. Sure, a few Russians will die, but this country lost 22 million people in the Second World War, compared to the US’s 400,000, give or take. Look at how long they tried to keep the Chernobyl disaster a secret!. To paraphrase a line from Casablanca, ‘in Moscow, human life is cheap.’ The Russian government will shrug it off like it’s a bump in last month’s drunk driving fatalities, regardless of the numbers. But what they get is chaos in America, further American renunciation of its role as a world leader, further evidence to the world that America functions with the success of a swan dive into a wet sponge. If you’re skeptical about Dear Leader’s intimate affair with the Russians, read this, from Foreign Policy (not exactly a left wing publication). Russians Helped Save Trump Businesses
Frankly speaking, Russia is not a major supplier for anything except fossil fuels and industrial diamonds. You let me know if you buy a Russian car, cell phone, laptop, refrigerator, or anything else, and then, please let me know how well it’s working. On the other hand, if you buy a Kalashnikov, a middle priced vodka, or invest in Russian cybercrime, I’m sure it’ll work out just fine. Sorry. This is my heritage, so I’ll insult it without pity.
Vic Dibietto deserves this week’s award for the most truth spoke the most succinctly. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he defines perfectly who the REAL losers are in this nightmare.
Update, 4-26-20: And the sycophants come out of the baseboards. Republican Governor Hogan of Maryland reported the hundreds of phone inquiries his government received about the efficacy of ingesting household cleaning products to cure Covid 19. Instead of joining the chorus of people trying to explain away Trump’s astonishingly irresponsible musing, he acted like a real leader and intoned that during a crisis a leader should put out the facts and be as open and honest and transparent as possible.” I wish that Trump would been informed about prior to the Pentagon giving him access to the nuclear launch codes. I commend Governor Hogan for speaking out against the obvious idiocy that others worked so hard to spin. “‘Cri-squa-Int Front and Center!’ (A reference to The Office).
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician, explained that what we should be discussing is “how do we use data to guide where we can reopen the economy.” He should be telling that to the President, since I am positive that there is no meaningful data supporting the ingestion of Clorox as a cure. He dismissed Trump’s foolish speculation “on Lysol because really no one is going to inject themselves with Lysol.” In utter seriousness, have you not read the Darwin awards? Natural Selection at Work People do all kinds of stupid acts, with only the nudging of a beer-inundated friend, let alone the POTUS. It’s early data, but there were already numerous reports of inquiries to Poison Control Centers about the utility of household cleaning products to cure the virus. Clorox Cure Inquiries IT DOESN’T MATTER IF NOBODY POISONS THEMSELVES! The point is that the POTUS speculated out loud about an obviously dangerous, asinine quack remedy that he thinks should be investigated, using valuable time and resources, when any well-raised toddler knows that it is a dangerous, asinine, quack remedy. He would prefer to play like he knows something than do the difficult work of protecting a nation in a crisis.
Update: No shocker here, but President Poison argues he had nothing to do with the increase in calls to Poison Control Centers in the wake of his moronic, traitorous speculation about Lysol, sunlight, and/or Clorox. Passing the Buck….like a kidney stone
Update: I can never hope to equal Trevor Noah’s commentary, though he says much the same as I did, just much more cleverly and amusingly. Check out Trevor
Does it feel like to you that you’re the last sane person on this Earth? I think that Rod Serling has somehow written this portion of my life.
Out here.
D
Bittersweet Abattoir 