Joe Biden For President

 

I haven’t written much here in the last year.   The Trump administration has been a steady stream of craziness and I realized early on I had no hope of keeping up with writing about everything wrong with it.

With the 2020 presidential election a week away, I thought it was time to help anyone who was still undecided to decide.

Vote for Joe Biden.   Joe Biden will bring stability and sanity back to our government.

Let me outline what’s wrong with the current Trump administration. If you are still undecided, this is a clue that  something is wrong with the current administration, otherwise it would be an easy choice for you to vote for them, right?    The things that are wrong with the Trump administration – and Donald Trump himself – are glaring, in my opinion.  First and foremost,  his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been pathetic, and now, as of this writing, over 225,000 Americans are dead from it and overall cases in the U.S. are nearing 9 million.   Had Donald Trump not minimized the risk early on, had he directed the country as a whole on a shut down quickly, had he closed off international travel faster, had he not ignored the pandemic playbook already put in place by the Obama administration - just to name a few things -we would not be in this predicament now.    If you’re complaining that your children  are still learning remotely, if you still must wear a mask in public, if you’re still required to socially distance, if you’re still having trouble getting supplies, and if your business is still trying to recover from being shut down months ago or worse yet, has closed completely, blame Donald Trump and his administration.    By the way, Trump himself  had COVID and he had at the White House in late September that is now called a super-spreader event. 

There’s much more wrong with Trump and his administration than just COVID.  There is the constant stream of hateful, childish, and inaccurate tweets from the president.  I would be here for days just outlining the falsehoods spoken by the president.   Even social media, such as Twitter, is flagging some of Trump’s tweets because they are misleading.  What does this say about a president?   Trump has fanned the flames of hatred in the U.S. and I don’t think this country can handle even another year of his kind of division between the American people.  I can’t even begin to outline how the United States is viewed in other countries, other than we’ve become and international joke.   If Donald Trump can’t handle tough questions from the likes of Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes (he walked out of the interview), he surely can’t handle tough negotiations with world leaders.

Joe Biden will bring stability, respectability, and rationality to our government.   Will things be perfect right out of the gate? Probably not.  There is a lot to fix after the last four years of the Trump administration.  But one thing is clear, 4 more years of what Donald Trump has been doing will fix nothing.  Trump has had 4 years to keep his promises to “Make America Great Again” and Trump has failed miserably.    The only thing that will help us out of this mess is  Joe Biden.  I urge you to vote for change and for a healthy American by casting your vote for Joe Biden.

 

 

Check out my blog home page for the latest information, The Frequent Critic, here.

Protect Yourself – Wear A Mask, Social Distance, Wash Your Hands!

Many states have re-opened after shut-downs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of those states were late to put in restrictions. Unfortunately, some people have used these re-openings as an excuse to go completely back to normal: no social distancing, no mask wearing.

That's a mistake.

Cases of COVID-19 are surging, and hospitalizations are rising. There are people who attribute the surge to an increase in testing, but that explanation doesn’t hold when looking at the  increase in  hospitalizations. The number of COVID-19 positive people being hospitalized has zero relation to the number of tests being conducted.

COVID-19 remains highly contagious and a serious illness. Do yourself a favor and PROTECT YOURSELF from those people who don’t care whether they get the virus or spread it to others. Wear a mask when you are out in public. Continue to stay away from large crowds. Wash your hands after being out in public and keep your hands away from your face unless you know your hands are clean. And when you do have to go out to shop for groceries or anything else, respect the personal space of others and keep 6 feet away. Others may not care if they get the virus, but it’s up to YOU to protect your own health and the health of those that you love.

This is not about your rights – show some concern for your fellow human beings! The only way COVID-19 can be stopped is if some people stop being selfish. Protect yourself and help protect others. Wear a mask in public. Practice social distancing. Wash your hands. It’s not hard to do!



Check out my blog home page for the latest information,
The Frequent Critic, here.

This Surreal COVID-19 World

 It’s been a few years since I’ve written anything for this blog. There was – and still is – so much bad news with the Trump administration that I’d be glued to my computer, writing all day just to keep up. I had no desire to spend my time with such a flood of negativity.

But the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic brings me out of retirement as things become more bizarre by the day. It’s like living in an old Twilight Zone episode, but in color.

COVID-19 has proved to be highly contagious and deadly, and trying to both evade it and to halt its spread has changed how we live. It’s a surreal world.

Social distancing – staying at least 6 feet away from others – began here in Ohio very early in March. Schools were closed and large gatherings were discouraged.  Large events such as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade were canceled. To make sure that people didn’t decide to hit the bars instead, those were closed too, along with restaurants, in order to prevent groups of people gathering. (Carry-out is still allowed.) Hairdressers, salons, and tattoo parlors were also shut down.  Even the Catholic Church told people not to come to services. The hope was that people would stay home or not congregate in groups,  discouraging the spread of the virus. Hand washing after being out in public for anything was a must, and then more hand washing, and more hand washing…

Very early in this process, the hoarders were unleashed and certain items like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, isopropyl alcohol, and face masks disappeared from stores everywhere. People were told that face masks weren’t necessary, and that masks should be reserved for medical personnel and first responders to help keep them safe. (This would later change.) Anything that was purchased at a store should be wiped down and/or disinfected once brought home. Anything those things touched – like grocery bags on your kitchen counter – should be disinfected and the bags tossed out. Overnight, a new breed of germophobes was born.

It wasn’t long before Ohio officially shut down all non-essential businesses and stressed that people should be staying home unless to go out for essentials like food. Grocery shopping, which already was difficult because of that 6-feet guideline, became more stressful as store shelves emptied quickly of everything else like milk, eggs, meats, soup, etc. The grocery stores are still trying to recover, and it may be some time before inventories get back up to normal. More people are making their own meals and eating at home, which alone stressed inventory levels at the grocery stores. Many stores later decided to put limits of certain items to prevent further hoarding and to help insure that everybody may have a chance to get critical items. (Toilet paper is still hard to get.) I never thought I’d see the day where I’d go into a grocery store week after week and see so many shelves looking sparse or bare.

Now that we’ve been instructed that we SHOULD wear a mask when going out to shop, grocery shopping has become even more surreal. Even with the 6 foot distance between us, now with our mouths covered, we can’t even smile at our fellow shoppers, and instead flee when anyone comes too close.   Stores are limiting how many people can be in a store at one time to minimize contact. Going out for groceries or any essentials is anxiety-filled and depressing.

While all this is going on, we are assaulted with constant news of the spread of COVID-19 and the resulting illnesses and death. Some states, slow to enact social distancing and closing of businesses were hit very hard, especially dense populated areas like New York City and New York state. Hot spots began to pop up – such as New Orleans, possibly because of the large gathering from Mardi Gras. Watching the news has been a constant stream of COVID-19 news and it can become overwhelming.

One positive benefit – fewer cars are on the road and fewer airplanes are flying, so the air appears clearer.

President Trump initially downplayed the virus When it became obvious that this real, he was forced to react. I think it’s too little to late. Now we must listen to his daily, rambling press briefings and his words don’t offer much substance or solace.  It's alarming.

Clearly the effects of COVID-19 are not over yet, but life as we know it has changed, probably forever. It may be hard to go out in public to shop without looking at others as they are riddled with unknown germs. This virus will probably turn many people into antisocial germophobes. And there will be some items that people may be tempted to overbuy in the future, just to be sure they have some on hand in case of another emergency (e.g. toilet paper!).

I have high hopes that all this effort will put an end to this virus, or at least slow it down enough so the medical profession can better react, and to buy some time until a vaccine is developed. But one thing I know for sure: things will never be the same.




Check out my blog home page for the latest information,
The Frequent Critic, here.