In Case You Missed It (v31)

Here's what you missed last week, if you were too busy trying to learn elementary math, or middle school science, or trying to position your camera to hide your bunny PJs for that all-important teleconference with your boss's boss.

In the Sunday School entry, we heard from Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who did his level best to get people to understand what we're up against with the pandemic when he talked with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. 

Well, it's tragically fitting that we're talking at the beginning of Holy Week because this is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans' lives, frankly. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized. It's going to be happening all over the country. And I want American to understand that.  

Also in the classroom (via taped interview)? Bill Gates, who got into some of the numbers, including the estimate provided by the administration that we could potentially see between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths over the next couple of months. Gates thinks if we handle the social distancing stuff right, we'll be much better off than that, and he's happy the estimate it out for public consumption

because a lot of people are still thinking hey, "this is like normal," not waking up every day to a completely new reality... You know, Dr. Fauci is doing a very good job here of saying the numbers are what count here.  

And, he also said

But I do think if we get the testing fixed, we get all 50 states involved, we'll be below that. Of course, we'll pay a huge economic price in order to achieve that.

On Monday, after ingesting too much craziness, too much conspiracy theory, too much MAGA, I lost my mind and started Ranting and Raving, and it probably wasn't pretty to some people, but hey - for far too long in my life, I put things in little boxes, out of the way, just setting things aside instead of really letting loose and taking out the trash, as it were. Now that I'm older, and tired of carrying around all those boxes, sometimes I just have to yell. And, when I do, sometimes strange things happen.

So yes, regular readers, at this moment I'm actually siding with the politicians and yes, there's a chance that a little bit of hell might actually have just frozen over, but have no fear - there's more than enough hatred and fear and ill will to thaw it out pretty darn quickly and now I'm going out in my garden and getting the heck away from all this BS and pulling the weeds I can pull, vs. staying inside trying to pull the ones I can't control. (Takes breath and stiff drink).  Have a nice day. And don't forget to wash your hands.

Mid-week, I was Wondering on Wednesday, I shared a mix of good news, cool things people are doing to keep themselves healthy during shelter-in-place or quarantine or social distancing or whatever it's being called where they are, and some political news about those same topics, particularly when the desires of one level of government get in the way of another level of government. Like when a governor overrules what a mayor wants to do, for example.

I compared that to what's happening where I live - my local officials are being more stringent than the governor, and I'm glad they are.

The state has social-distancing orders in place, supposedly with fines although I'm not sure any have been handed out. But our County Executive, with the support of the mayor of our area's largest city, has added another layer, calling on people to stay at home except on designated days based on whether they were born in an odd or even year.

I think it's just fine, and I don't know that I'd want my Sonofa Gov to come in and tell us that we can't do what we need to do here for our own safety. And I'm glad I don't have to wonder what would happen if he did issue a conflicting and less-safe order.

Honestly, if all politics is local, this seems like a good time to let the local people figure out what makes the most sense for their constituents - as long as I agree with the decision, of course. I'm not blind to my own bias here. 

I had two entries for the semi-retired Email of the Week feature. You may recall that series, in which I'd highlight emails from the many Dem candidates - for a long time, only the top ten of them - and as that number dropped down to two, the reasons for continuing the series dropped as well. But, now that we're down to one - Papa Joe Biden - it seemed reasonable to bring you a couple of key emails.

The first is the one sent by That Guy From Vermont, Bernie Sanders, who has suspended his campaign, but kept beating the drum about the evils of corporations and the political establishment, the latter of which was the 'entity' to which he had conceded - because, as we know, he did not lose, he was robbed by a rigged system and whatnot. 

WE HAVE WON THE IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE

As many of you will recall Nelson Mandela, one of the great freedom fighters in modern world history, famously said; "It always seems impossible until it is done." And what he meant by that is that the greatest obstacle to real social change has everything to do with the power of the corporate and political establishment to limit our vision as to what is possible and what we are entitled to as human beings.

In the face of that, how did Papa Joe respond? Honestly, he fell sort of expectations, in my opinion. There wasn't any direct outreach to TGFV's supporters, just a general 'coming together' message that, I think, did nothing to garner support from those folks. 

Bernie has often said that his campaign was not about him. It was about “us.” That goes for me, too. And now more than ever, that rings true. This primary is over -- but this campaign is just beginning. And it’s a campaign bigger than whose name is on the ballot. It’s a campaign about people like us coming together to not only defeat Donald Trump, but to ensure that America lives up to its founding promises once we do.

And two direct requests for money, too. Sigh.

So there you have it - a veritable pastiche, as usual.

I'll be back later with Sunday School.