"The Great Pause"
By Hank Silverberg
I had hoped that the United States, in the midst of it's biggest crises since 9-11, or more comparative, World War Two, would pull together to fight the corona virus without any political nonsense. But that has not happened, and it has simply made the pandemic worse.
President Trump has shown once again his inability to listen to the advice of experts, and has in fact increased resistance to protective measures by basically making things up. And then when the media points out that he has been contradicted by very credible scientists, he attacks the media for reporting it with his usual crude tone.
Trump's vindictive attacks on governors like New York's Andrew Cuomo, have been counter-productive and misleading, making the job more difficult for a number of local leaders.
His minions haven't been much better. His son-in- law, Jared Kushner, said perhaps the stupidest thing I have ever heard from a White House podium in my lifetime. When talking about the federal stockpile of medical supplies he scolded states for not building up their own backup equipment and said, "the notion of the federal stockpile was, it’s supposed to be our stockpile, it’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use."
That makes no sense, of course. The federal stockpile exists to help out Americans in need wherever they are, like in any one of the 50 states, D.C. or territories that need the supplies.
When the media pointed that out the next day, Trump attacked them, and then all of a sudden like magic, the definition of what the stockpile was for, was changed on a federal government website.
https://lawandcrime.com/covid-19-pandemic/hhs-website-changes-definition-of-national-stockpile-just-so-happens-to-reflect-kushners-legally-inaccurate-description/
Here is what it used to say:
But then, according to Law and Crime, and other news sources, shortly after Kushner's remarks, the description on the HHS website about the stockpile was rewritten to come closer to what Kushner had said. Here's the rewrite:
"The Strategic National Stockpile’s role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available."
There is a difference, demphasizing the help for states.
The bottom line of the politics: it's more than just what Trump has done since the outbreak of Covid-19. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy put out this tweet which voters should remember when November rolls around. No matter how this crises ends or what Trump does or doesn't do in the next few months should be put into context with facts like this.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Translation: Trump made this pandemic worse before it even began because he had no understanding of what the federal government does.
When the crisis started I thought I would ease off on my frequent attacks on the President's lies, distortions and his various nonsense comments like, "I was number one on Facebook" and his ridiculous attacks on the media.
I was going to stick to more important things, like how to get food at the supermarket without bringing home the Corona-virus. But three weeks of Social Distancing has weakened my resolve.
So far, Trump's only real accomplishment has been sending two hospital ships to Los Angeles and New York and getting the "MyPillow" guy, one of his big contributors, to make face masks instead of pillows for a while.
All this nonsense has confused the public. Some people just don't get it, probably because of the mixed messages they are hearing from the White House. The latest example this week came Saturday night when a crowd gathered on the District of Columbia wharf near the city's famous fish market. Crowds are not exactly Social Distancing. The city stepped in later in the evening and officially shut down the wharf just like they did last week when folks started gathering on the National Mall. No crowd bigger than ten people. Why is that hard to grasp? (And yes, TV preachers, that means no crowd in your mega-churches either.)
History will eventually be the final judge on Mr Trump's action or inaction. I suspect it will not be kind.
Here are a few things that happened while we were all hunkered down at home driving our relatives crazy and gobbling up every sub-par offering on Netflix that we had rejected weeks ago.
Trump is firing the intelligence Inspector General who flagged the Ukraine whistle blower complaint. NBC News reported the firing, which came in a letter to Congress and will take effect in 30 days. I.G. Michael Atkinson had determined that the whistle blower's complaint was of urgent concern and that he was required by law to tell Congress. It was the whistle blower's complaint that eventually led to Mr. Trump's impeachment, though the Senate voted not to remove him from office. Payback time from Trump while nobody is paying attention?
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-firing-inspector-general-flagged-024106222.html
Also this past week, the federal government stopped enforcing federal environmental laws using the Corona-virus outbreak as an excuse. This means no monitoring of pollution and no fines against abusers until the crises is over.
https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2020/03/citing-coronavirus-pandemic-trump-administration-stops-enforcing-environmental-laws/164201/
The Administration's convoluted logic? There might be staffing issues in the gas and oil industry because of the outbreak. This doesn't sit well with a lot of folks, even in Texas where the oil and gas industry are king.
Catherine Fraser, Clean Air Associate for Environment Texas, told the the Texas Tribune that the Clean Air Act depends on monitoring and reporting and without that, there's no way of telling what is being released into the air we all breathe. She says 135 million pounds of illegal air pollution were released in 2018 even before this latest roll-back.
So, as people across the country battle Covid-19, which is basically a respiratory illness, our government has stopped all monitoring and fines for air or water pollution.
Finally, as promised, I will offer some entertainment at the end of edition of my blog. We lost musician Bill Withers this week. His best known song actually fits what the nation needs right now. I found Withers doing "Lean on Me" on Youtube but unfortunately copyright prevents me from posting it here. But you can click on the link below to hear it.
With my blog written it was time for my wife and me to take a walk around our neighborhood. I debated whether I need my homemade mask for that but I didn't use it. It's okay I guess. We saw some folks out in their yards, but all were more than six feet away. Such is life in the era of Covid or what some people have started called "The Great Pause".
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome. See the comment section below)
(And if you've run out of books to read by Social Distancing, my book "The Campaign" is available on Amazon.com, BN.com now at a lower price or by emailing me at HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a signed copy at a reduced price. )
By Hank Silverberg
I had hoped that the United States, in the midst of it's biggest crises since 9-11, or more comparative, World War Two, would pull together to fight the corona virus without any political nonsense. But that has not happened, and it has simply made the pandemic worse.
 |
| (Microscopic Covid-19. Courtesy of CDC) |
Trump's vindictive attacks on governors like New York's Andrew Cuomo, have been counter-productive and misleading, making the job more difficult for a number of local leaders.
His minions haven't been much better. His son-in- law, Jared Kushner, said perhaps the stupidest thing I have ever heard from a White House podium in my lifetime. When talking about the federal stockpile of medical supplies he scolded states for not building up their own backup equipment and said, "the notion of the federal stockpile was, it’s supposed to be our stockpile, it’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use."
That makes no sense, of course. The federal stockpile exists to help out Americans in need wherever they are, like in any one of the 50 states, D.C. or territories that need the supplies.
When the media pointed that out the next day, Trump attacked them, and then all of a sudden like magic, the definition of what the stockpile was for, was changed on a federal government website.
https://lawandcrime.com/covid-19-pandemic/hhs-website-changes-definition-of-national-stockpile-just-so-happens-to-reflect-kushners-legally-inaccurate-description/
"Strategic National Stockpile is the nation’s largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out.
When state, local, tribal, and territorial responders request federal assistance to support their response efforts, the stockpile ensures that the right medicines and supplies get to those who need them most during an emergency. Organized for scalable response to a variety of public health threats, this repository contains enough supplies to respond to multiple large-scale emergencies simultaneously."
But then, according to Law and Crime, and other news sources, shortly after Kushner's remarks, the description on the HHS website about the stockpile was rewritten to come closer to what Kushner had said. Here's the rewrite:
"The Strategic National Stockpile’s role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available."
There is a difference, demphasizing the help for states.
The bottom line of the politics: it's more than just what Trump has done since the outbreak of Covid-19. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy put out this tweet which voters should remember when November rolls around. No matter how this crises ends or what Trump does or doesn't do in the next few months should be put into context with facts like this.
______________________________________________________________________________
The U.S. had a program - PREDICT - that identified lethal viruses abroad to prevent their spread to the U.S..
It had found 1,200 viruses (and 160 coronaviruses) in 10 years.
It was actively working in China.
Two months before the Wuhan outbreak, Trump shut the program down.
It had found 1,200 viruses (and 160 coronaviruses) in 10 years.
It was actively working in China.
Two months before the Wuhan outbreak, Trump shut the program down.
______________________________________________________
Translation: Trump made this pandemic worse before it even began because he had no understanding of what the federal government does.
When the crisis started I thought I would ease off on my frequent attacks on the President's lies, distortions and his various nonsense comments like, "I was number one on Facebook" and his ridiculous attacks on the media.
I was going to stick to more important things, like how to get food at the supermarket without bringing home the Corona-virus. But three weeks of Social Distancing has weakened my resolve.
So far, Trump's only real accomplishment has been sending two hospital ships to Los Angeles and New York and getting the "MyPillow" guy, one of his big contributors, to make face masks instead of pillows for a while.
All this nonsense has confused the public. Some people just don't get it, probably because of the mixed messages they are hearing from the White House. The latest example this week came Saturday night when a crowd gathered on the District of Columbia wharf near the city's famous fish market. Crowds are not exactly Social Distancing. The city stepped in later in the evening and officially shut down the wharf just like they did last week when folks started gathering on the National Mall. No crowd bigger than ten people. Why is that hard to grasp? (And yes, TV preachers, that means no crowd in your mega-churches either.)
History will eventually be the final judge on Mr Trump's action or inaction. I suspect it will not be kind.
Here are a few things that happened while we were all hunkered down at home driving our relatives crazy and gobbling up every sub-par offering on Netflix that we had rejected weeks ago.
Trump is firing the intelligence Inspector General who flagged the Ukraine whistle blower complaint. NBC News reported the firing, which came in a letter to Congress and will take effect in 30 days. I.G. Michael Atkinson had determined that the whistle blower's complaint was of urgent concern and that he was required by law to tell Congress. It was the whistle blower's complaint that eventually led to Mr. Trump's impeachment, though the Senate voted not to remove him from office. Payback time from Trump while nobody is paying attention?
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-firing-inspector-general-flagged-024106222.html
Also this past week, the federal government stopped enforcing federal environmental laws using the Corona-virus outbreak as an excuse. This means no monitoring of pollution and no fines against abusers until the crises is over.
https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2020/03/citing-coronavirus-pandemic-trump-administration-stops-enforcing-environmental-laws/164201/
The Administration's convoluted logic? There might be staffing issues in the gas and oil industry because of the outbreak. This doesn't sit well with a lot of folks, even in Texas where the oil and gas industry are king.
Catherine Fraser, Clean Air Associate for Environment Texas, told the the Texas Tribune that the Clean Air Act depends on monitoring and reporting and without that, there's no way of telling what is being released into the air we all breathe. She says 135 million pounds of illegal air pollution were released in 2018 even before this latest roll-back.
So, as people across the country battle Covid-19, which is basically a respiratory illness, our government has stopped all monitoring and fines for air or water pollution.
Finally, as promised, I will offer some entertainment at the end of edition of my blog. We lost musician Bill Withers this week. His best known song actually fits what the nation needs right now. I found Withers doing "Lean on Me" on Youtube but unfortunately copyright prevents me from posting it here. But you can click on the link below to hear it.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome. See the comment section below)
(And if you've run out of books to read by Social Distancing, my book "The Campaign" is available on Amazon.com, BN.com now at a lower price or by emailing me at HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a signed copy at a reduced price. )
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