Another milestone.....

    It is Monday, July 27th, 2020....at approximately 10:25 a.m.  As I am writing this the death toll from Covid-19 is 149,857, on short-final for 150 thousand Americans. 

   If you had told me five months ago that we would be here, I would not have believed you.  But, way back then, I had some beliefs that no longer hold true.  I, for instance, believed that when the country at large understood we are facing a threat of this magnitude....which, to be fair, has only emerged in stages....it would respond with its best and brightest experts and its massive ability to marshal resources, and we would display both our traditional desire to 'do the right thing' in any given situation, and our renowned 'Yankee ingenuity'.  We would take whatever measures were prescribed by the scientists and come up with an approach that would save lives.....tens of thousands of them.

  Sadly, that belief on my part turned out to be somewhat fanciful and naive.  I failed to anticipate the effects of a president who stepped away from the challenge, blaming it on everybody else, and refusing to take or accept any responsibility whatsoever.  He actually did this on camera in the Rose Garden.  Asked by a cheeky reporter if he was at all responsible for things going badly, the Idiot didn't hesitate: "No, I accept no responsibility for anything."  WTF?  In the world I live in leadership comes with responsibility, i.e. they are INSEPARABLE.  But, that's not at all how Donny the brat sees it.... no, no. 

  But, that was only the first stage of the whole thing going sideways. It's always easier to understand and analyze what has happened in hindsight, of course.  But, even as it was happening, it was clear that we were going to make it all worse--much worse--than it should have been.  The steps that would have at least lessened the damage....to people and to the economy...were clear.  We had the gift of one of the world's foremost epidemiologists, Anthony Fauci, telling us, with great clarity, what we needed to do.  So, the Idiot's reaction to Dr. Fauci becoming a trusted source of knowledge and wisdom around this viral monster....was to sideline him, to attack him and to do whatever he could to minimize his ability to reach the people.......yes, us.  And, as the last months have demonstrated all too painfully, it could have saved many, many lives...tens of thousands, in fact.

  It seems almost a waste of energy to try and hold the Idiot responsible.  That's like telling a 3 y.o. child that you are going to hold them responsible for the bowl of cereal they just dumped. Why bother?  It won't make any difference.  It won't change him...not one little iota.

Uncanny resemblance, eh

 In fact, the only thing or things that has any impact on him at all is anything that could either help or impede his re-election....as he understands it.  By now, it's achingly apparent that the maintenance of his office and his massive ego, are all that matter.  It's hard to even understand, and harder to accept that this train-wreck of a human being doesn't care how many Americans might die, as long as whatever needs to happen to get him re-elected is happening.  He has been convinced that his only path to the continued maintenance of  his power, is getting the economy back on the prosperity path. He seems unable to understand that doing that is impossible as long as thousands of Americans are dying of this virus.  He's just kinda dense that way....anything that would require compassion, wisdom, empathy is just not on his radar.

  Somehow, it seems light years ago since we were concerned that the death toll might rise past 50 thousand.  At the rate that the pandemic is spreading in Florida, Arizona, Texas and California...we could easily blow by 200 thousand American dead by September.  Because we failed to listen to the experts and were unwilling to even wear a fucking mask lest it trample our 'rights', and so many decided that 're-opening' meant, 'panties overboard', beach parties, street parties, hell, whatever you want to do...no masks, no social distancing...blah, blah, blah. 

  And, now we are reaping the grim harvest of people who died and didn't need to. 

  There is only one way out of this dismal swamp.....

VOTE.  And do any and everything in your power to get the vote out.  Get involved in making sure your district is both free and fair, not compromised and shady.