I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
Comments
-
This President Has Fallen to the Occasion
October 8, 2020 / John Pavlovitz
It didn't have to be like this, America.
Yes, this year was always going to be terrible, but it didn't have to be horrific.
It didn't have to (as the New England Journal of Medicine declared recently) "go from a crisis to a tragedy."
We didn't have to be sitting here with twenty-two percent of the world's COVID deaths and only four percent of its population.
We didn't have to still be shut down, to have schools still closed, to have massive clusters of news cases in multiple states, to have a rudderless nation still in the throes of an endless first wave of a virus and entering a Fall season certain to bring a more fierce and deadlier second wave.
We didn't have to be here with defiant anti-mask activists punching strangers in the face; to have a political party who've had to openly oppose Science and reject data in order to ingratiate itself with a unhinged despot; to have a White House decimated by the virus millions people have been trying desperately to avoid—in a self-inflicted wound of reckless hubris.
But America is here in this unnecessary chaos and senseless death, and we're here because we lack a president in a year when we could least afford to be without one; when the vacancy in leadership could no longer be masked by its inherited prosperity or a lack of genuine adversity.
We're here because in the highest places of our Government we have such a staggeringly small man, and it is getting people killed as you read this. Tens of thousands Americans would be alive in this moment if not for this president and that's simply reality.
Trump supporters, who even now have to finally admit that we are one of the only nations still unable to get control of this pandemic, would tell you that Trump is a victim of the unprecedented virus, he is not. He is a victim of his own ignorance and vanity and his inability to rise to the occasion when needed.
Every president faces the unexpected and the unthinkable during their tenures: international conflicts, terrorist attacks, public health crises, financial downturns, natural disasters—and these emergencies as much as any moments of national prosperity or peace, define them.
More than any star-spangled photo ops or staged displays of phony patriotism or carefully crafted paper tiger strength theater—real crisis reveals the character and competence of a leader.
Over and over, Donald Trump has fallen to the occasion.
He has stumbled over himself for the better part of a year even as the case numbers and death toll rose exponentially: covering lie with lie, tweeting abject nonsense, proffering deadly fake cures, purposefully peddling misinformation, daily generating distractions, doubling down on false claims, belittling his own health experts.
He has violently argued with himself in real-time: publicly denying the severity of a virus he would later tell us would bring "lots of death" and soon after pretending it would soon vanish.
He refused and ridiculed masks for months, then showed up wearing one for a veterans hospital photo op after 147,000 Americans had already died. He discarded it later that day and resumed soon holding large, non-distanced, unmasked rallies and mocking mask-wearers—just days before announcing he and much of his staff had contracted the virus.
This president has blamed the Media and the Democrats and China and the Radical Left and inexplicably, his opponent Joe Biden for his current failures as a leader. He has passed the buck to every other place but where it belongs: in his hands.
His own sycophantic supporters can't even keep up with the lie they're supposed to believe now: is it a Democratic hoax, a deadly attack from China, an overblown seasonal flu that "affects literally nobody?" Even his base is unsure who to be angry at anymore.
Bad leaders leave this kind of confusion in their wake when they are counted on to bring clarity. They engineer this kind of chaos when they are relied on for calm. They stoke this jagged division when unity is paramount.
This will not be the end of critical moments for America.
This virus will still be here next year, and there will be other emergencies: foreign threats and domestic terrorism and racial injustice and climate crises and natural disaster and public health dangers and economic collapse—and we cannot afford to face such things without a president again; without a stable, decent human being who not only can lead a disparate nation, but desires to.
This could have been a president's finest hour: a moment where he became a better version of himself and did the simplest things to protect and unite our nation and be the easy hero—but he was unwilling and incapable of this, which is why we have so many funerals to plan and why we are a global cautionary tale on how nations collapse quickly.
Donald Trump has fallen to the occasion.
America can't afford more of him.
It didn't have to be like this, America.
It doesn't have to be like this anymore.
0 -
ErenTo, I certainly didn't see this one coming -- kidnapping. A governor. I was amazed. What next. I really thought the next thing would be something more to do with Trump since to me he is as un-reliable and maybe a lot more so than ever now with his drugs cocktail.
Well, he has said that he will not participate in a virtual debate. He has to be in control and he would have almost no control at all in that type of venue. I don't think he can afford to skip ANY of the debates, but if he leaves the impression of the first one hanging in the air I think it would be a super mistake. For those few ( that is amazing as well ) who haven't made up their minds, I would see his refusal as very weak. That either he can't control the debate or that he is actually afraid of Joe Biden. Either one would tend to make me think maybe he is NOT the one to vote for.
Also, despite its not being entirely rational to me that you don't know by now I would be likely influenced at this point by the fact that Trump and the WH are full of infection and how could that happen with all the protections that it sounded like were in place there. I read that Trump got tired of doing the covid tests and felt like if he had others tested that was good enough. Well, if no one around has the virus that could work, but it only takes one to get it started. Whether that was Trump ( likely we will never know for sure ) or he was second with it, it would bother me that he could not even protect himself. Pavlovitz is right -- once again he has fallen to the occasion and I hope that is how people are seeing things these very, very odd days.
0 -
ABOUT TIME.0 -
0 -
Don't flies poop when they land?
0 -
0 -
0 -
Celebrities speaking out:
*******
“Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Thursday toasted to his reaching a milestone of 200 million followers on Instagram, which makes him the most followed man in America on the social media platform.
The feat comes little more than a week after the action star and former WWE wrestler endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris in the upcoming presidential election against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Since then, he's gained about 200,000 Instagram followers, according to Trackalytics, which provides statistics about social media."
*******
(CNN)Taylor Swift is choosing to be fearless about endorsing her pick for president.
The superstar singer has announced she will be voting for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the upcoming November election
*******
LeBron James has previously said that he would hit the campaign trail for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, and in August he voiced his support for Sen. Kamala Harris as his VP pick. So it came as no surprise when James used a viral moment from Wednesday night's debate to knock Vice President Mike Pence.
A pesky insect landed on Pence's head about halfway through this election's only vice presidential debate and lingered for a few minutes -- unbeknownst to the vice president.
James shared an image of the moment on his Instagram saying "Y'all know what flies favorite destination is right!!?? Yup you guessed it," adding several suggestive emojis after.
(Ladies, you know which emoji he used!)
0 -
And the fly said, "I helped! I made Mike Pence actually interesting for a change!!!"
0 -
0 -
Jason Miller, why don't YOU look in the mirror! You're a jackass spieling FOR a jackass! Plus that beard does nothing but make you look like a hairy turd!"
0 -
0 -
0 -
0 -
Uh. . . .run that past me again........
0 -
0 -
0 -
A "virtual" debate? "I don't wanna have to sit in front of a computer so they can cut off my mic," said the Idiot-Vector-in-Chief.
Well, guess what? We've already had a "virtual" Presidential debate--in 1960! That's right: the third Kennedy-Nixon debate. The candidates sat in separate TV studios an entire continent apart: JFK in NYC, Nixon in L.A. Worked out pretty well, IIRC. (Yeah, I was only 9, but we were a very political family). Idiot doesn't even know that it doesn't have to be a Zoom meeting using laptops or iPads. He probably doesn't even know how to use a computer--just goes on Twitter using his phone (probably a Blackberry).
And it gets worse: HHS Sec'y Alex Azar took a meeting today with three rogue scientists to discuss (and endorse) Trump's desire to induce "herd immunity" by fully opening everything, discouraging masks, and encouraging closely-spaced mass gatherings so that as many people as possible get infected. Never mind that it would kill millions of Americans--likely as many as or more than the deaths caused in the 2-1/2 yr. "Spanish" flu pandemic a century ago. (Among those dead? Trump's paternal grandfather...and mine, who was only 36). And never mind that it's not a given that the immunity from surviving the virus (for those who survive it without lifelong disability) is permanent or even long-term. Remember--nobody has permanent immunity to flu either, which is why annual vaccination is a must.
And while flu attacks only the lungs, COVID attacks multiple systems from its home base in the lungs: circulatory, kidneys, heart, nervous system, among others. When the flu viruses die after attacking the lungs, game over for the bugs, and a healthy person fully recovers. But SARS-CoV-2 is the gift that keeps on giving: long after the virus itself dies and the lungs start to heal, the immune system goes into overdrive and kills the patient: usually by kidney failure, stroke, or fatal arrhythmia--often suddenly, just as the patient actually starts to feel better.
A discouraging earworm persists in my brain on an endless loop since this afternoon: Moxy Fruvous' "Happy Birthday, Tricia. I'm in the Michigan Militia." (It was meant to be mocking and derogatory, of course--but too many armed incels apparently took it to heart, thinking the band was playing their song).
But another thing I find worrisome is that Pence may well have exposed (and infected) Harris and maybe Page. Those Plexiglas shields, 12 ft. apart? In an environment where everyone is masked, contact time and occupancy are limited, and ventilation to the outside is strong (e.g., medical offices, store and restaurant counters, conscientiously-run salons, nail spas, barbershops), they do work. But in a room where maskless people orate for two hours, and there's an audience, they're little more than splatter shields, stopping only droplets & spittle (the "viral hitchikers" of which usually fall to the ground and die). Aerosols--the much smaller particles exhaled during breathing, speech & singing (the louder the speech or voice, the more numerous the aerosols)--are lighter, can rise and travel about the indoor space, inhaled by others present rather than falling to the ground. It's been demonstrated in COVID patients' rooms that aerosols have been found as far as 16 ft. away from the patients. There was that (in)famous restaurant in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), in which one person in a private dining room with three tables infected at least nine others, some seated across the room--the air conditioning merely circulated the air about the room rather than venting it to the outside. The only Plexiglas that would have been protective would have to have been isolation booths, a la 1950s quiz shows. The shields might have ensured safety had each desk been equipped with an overhead updraft fan venting the exhalations up to and through the ceiling to either powerful HEPA filters or (better yet) the outdoors--sort of a primitive version of hospitals' "negative pressure" rooms. In that case, the shields might even have been unnecessary--instead, they were Infection Control Theater.
0 -
Let Trump have his second debate. Completely wall him off, install as much protection as possible. As a bonus, all that protection can be created so that he is only heard through his microphone, which is only on, when it is his turn to speak.
He will be roaming around spreading his germs as it is... maybe this could be done in a controlled fashion...
The debate will likely finish him...
0 -
I really don't think Trump will stop at trying to destroy the country. That is his end goal.
0 -
Also, with 2020 going as it is - I expect an Alien invasion is next. Maybe they will come to save us...
0 -
Ruth,
This is a virtual thank you for all the great memes. Fever -Tree is an excellent tonic water and the gin is from Scotland. My dd got it as a gift but she's not a gin drinker so she passed it on to me!
0 -
Caryn, I will be right over with a bucket of ice and a jar of green olives!!!!!
0 -
Oh goodness, can I come too? Except I've already have my limit of G&T's for the evening. Sigh. I have tasted Fever Tree and it's delicious.
0 -
I read through the Politicus USA newsletter and it sounded like Trump had a " frenzied " day. Crazy tweets and handing good things to Biden. As in refusing the virtual debate thereby giving to Biden the Oct 15th. date to have a nationally televised town hall by himself. Trump apparently will go have a rally. Will he keep him far enough away from those who will come. Likely doesn't matter -- some yo-yo from the audience will be a spreader as well. I'm sure for his support lots will come but I would laugh myself sick if he has another " Tulsa " rally.
He also can't seem to make up his mind about the stimulus -- don't have it, pare it down drastically, have it be huge. Who knows by the next tweet frenzy addition what it will be. I can see why Pelosi is talking about the #25. Really getting to Trump. Isn't he going to implode and end up a puddle on the floor or something at this rate.
Nothing much you can say, but just hope that someone is able to actually control some of what he is doing -- especially since he is SO well. What a scary person now.
0 -
0 -
0 -
0 -
I truly do not understand why people cannot see how Trump incites violence. The plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer is a horrible indication of the direction our country has now taken. Groups feel they can answer the rallying cry of their great leader with violence. It sickens me. People have lost their minds!
I do love the memes. It helps me see how humor is still there and can release the pressure of worry. Keep it up
0 -
Thank goodness for this group, or I might lose my mind!
0
