Monthly Archives: March 2020

No Confidence Vote

14 Saturday Mar 2020

Posted by in Viruses

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Many scientists have said the United States was not prepared for the Corona virus after it had hit China so hard. In the first few days of his Administration, President Trump dumped the group who had been working on preparing for a pandemic that was sure to come.

Some unknown person persuaded Trump to put scientists in charge of the virus battle which is good. However, he gets on the podium first to make the virus an attack cooked up by the Democrats and media. He actually said to not let a cruise ship dock because it would make his numbers bad. Today he said the testing kits were perfect but not as perfect as the transcript.

To soften the economic impact of the virus on our economy, Trump met only with the Republican leaders of the Senate – not the Democrats. His proposal is a payroll holiday until his re-election. First he says the virus is an inconvenience and now it is a plot to keep him from being re-elected. The virus isn’t about the 230 million Americans, it is all about Trump!

This may be his first test as a leader. Will this be his Katrina, or Chicago Snowstorm, or will spin the health and economic disaster into a plot against him and him alone? How will he be able to convince his brain washed followers he is on top of the situation?

During the first Friday in March, I watched a group of politically conservative heads of hedge funds talking about the virus’ impact on their funds, one which I had seen a few days before sitting at a table with Trump. He said Trump should stay off the stage and quit tweeting because he has lied so much, he has no credibility. He and his political people should stop talking and conflicting the scientists he has put in charge. He looks incompetent speaking and then having his scientist contradict him.

One Senior worth Ten Kids

11 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Voting

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The political campaign mantra is that seniors vote and young voters may not. A good campaigner can get kids all wound up- but few actually get out to vote. Seniors look at the possibility of not only getting elected but getting their ideas put into law. The Biden followers are older and black. His followers are known to vote in large numbers.

We older voters don’t usually vote early in a Presidential election primary year because the choices will winnow down well before the Illinois primary. Those kids who voted early for their soul mate choice probably wasted their time since Pete and Liz are out. In November I picked Biden for the Democratic finalist and Klobuchar to be his vice-President. I admit before Super Tuesday I was getting a little nervous about my prediction.

We will be voting in the Primary and in November at our regular voting place.
Will the kids? Will you be voting at our polling place?

Crimes against Humanity

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Environment

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I wouldn’t say I am a tree hugger, but I do support several of the leading environmental groups. Maybe I am not a literal tree hugger, but I know we must all try to save the planet from ourselves. Perhaps it is just in our DNA to destroy where we live.

Often we try to make rules and laws to force us to do what is right even if we might not like it or it will cost some corporation money. The best local example is the Chicago River. People used to hold their noses while walking near the River. Today people paddle their canoes on the River.

These are a few of the rules this administration has decided to eliminate in order to gain favor with corporations and a few voting blocks. The new rules change the National Environmental policy act to reduce or eliminate environmental reviews on infrastructure projects. It eliminates climate change and sea level rise from FEMA’s annual review to satisfy real estate developers. Trump’s nominee to head FEMA says he doesn’t know how the climate is changing.

The new interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act means killing off birds by oil spills, chemical and construction activities will not be fined. BP’s Horizon spill or Duke Power’s coal ash spill would not be punished by fines.

The lessening or elimination of construction and infrastructure review is important to the President since 72% of the $900 million in infrastructure grants goes to states voting for him.

Savaging our environment for profit, ideology, or profit is more that immoral – it’s a crime against humanity.

The Truth about the Corona virus

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Economy

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As of March 1, the Dow Stock index has fallen over 12% from its high a few weeks ago. Why? Currently we do not have massive numbers of people infected but we do have thousands every day flying into our airports and then out to the cities, towns and hinterland that have come from or through an infected area. Maybe they sat next to an infected person who didn’t yet show signs of infection. Mortality is 2.5 to 3%.

The President has no credibility so when he talks about the likelihood of Americans being spared from contamination nobody believes him. Appointing Vice-President Pence to oversee the pandemic is not going to reassure anyone. The administration says we have 30 million masks in storage for a population of 230 million. Morris Hospital as one mask for each employee, and more are on back order. The world is desperately short of masks with 3-M Company trying to make more as fast as it can. Most manufacturers are outside our borders.

Trump is right about one thing, it will burn itself out in a few to several months. In the meantime this is what could happen. One of my friends is planning a vacation with her family to Michigan in April. If Michigan is an infected state she won’t go. It means she won’t be spending money on lodging, food, gasoline, and other things which hurts Marriot, McDonalds, Exxon, and other businesses a little bit. It also hurts their suppliers, and the people working for them.

The car manufacturers would shut down to limit the spread among their employees. That would mean all their suppliers around the world couldn’t send their products so they would shut down. Imagine all the other businesses that might be affected. Yes, it probably will just last a few months but it might cut the country’s GDP growth down to less than 1% or maybe into negative growth., That’s why fear is cutting your IRA in half.

Bench Sitters

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Republican Party

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I watched five Republicans on Chicago Tonight who want to defeat Senator Dick Durbin. Since spring training has started, I thought I would use baseball analogies to describe their performance. They were a mixed team of four men and one woman. Two were obvious racists who didn’t hide their bunts so they could draw in the infielders who felt the same. One used to play for the other team before becoming a Republican. One has struck out several times before and will be an easy out. One was an Indiana doctor who thought Vice-President Pence was a medical expert who was the right substitute to head the corona virus game.

Some were obviously coached and supported by the NRA because they hoped to hit a home run with the Second Amendment. Four of the five would swear loyalty to the owner while one would follow the third base coach on a play-by-play basis.

Most of the questions were softball lobs and fouled off. One player swung his bat and hit the woman about taking her gun to a school.

If these five are the best the Illinois GOP has in the bullpen, they should send them down to the miners to sit on the bench. Senator Durbin may have been in office for years and has trouble running the bases but this season is over before the regular season starts. It looks like the GOP needs to do some prospecting.