THE OUTBREAK WIDENS

The death toll is at 213, and rising daily.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus outbreak a “public-health emergency of international concern” – an alarm it reserves for events that pose a risk to multiple countries and which requires a coordinated international response.

Chinese authorities claim they have locked down cities at the center of the epidemic, and researchers, we’re being told, are being quick to share data on the virus with the World Health Organization and researchers around Planet Earth.

The one big question that I watch and hear about is: whether the Coronavirus is here to stay?

If efforts to contain it fail, there’s a high chance that it will become endemic. As with influenza, this could mean that deaths occur every year as the virus circulates, until a vaccine is developed.

If the virus can be spread by people who are infected but don’t have symptoms, it will be more difficult to control its spread, making it more likely that the virus will become endemic.

With 213 deaths so far out of nearly 10,000 infections, the new Coronavirus has a death rate of 2–3%.

This is significantly lower than SARS, which killed around 10% of the people it infected. The known death rate for the new Coronavirus is likely to decrease as mild and asymptomatic cases are identified, according to the University of Leeds, UK, told the Science Media Centre in London.

My counsel, at this juncture, wash your hands with Dial anti-bacterial soap, and stay off !!! Facebook.

Only listen to the adults in the room!!!

LATER TODAY

Today is the day.

The UK will be finally closing the chapter, and quitting, with/from the European Union (EU) after nearly half a century of integration with its European neighbors.

It now looks to chart a new but uncertain course in the world…and, especially within the ancient kingdom.

Nearly four years of unprecedented political chaos triggered by the 2016 BREXIT referendum, marks a watershed moment for BOTH the UK and the EU.

“The most important thing to say tonight is that this is not an end but a beginning,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to tell the nation later this evening, according to pre-released remarks. “This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act.”

As of 11 pm, UK time, Britain will quit the club of 28 European nations and enter a transition period of at least 11 months [this may prove to be where the rubber really hits the road] as it negotiates future relations with the bloc.

During that time, the UK will legally be outside the EU but NOTHING will be different for citizens on either side.

Only once the transition ends does the start of a unique experiment in de-globalization truly begin – LIKE what happens when a country erects new barriers to trade with its largest commercial partner?

Scotland, of personal interest to the old Lobsterman, which overwhelmingly voted to stay in the EU during the 2016 referendum, is now pushing to hold a referendum on its membership of the UK.

Friends at the Russell Hotel are, and will be, on pins and needles for months.

For the first time since 2015, an opinion polls show a majority of Scots favor independence.

Boris, the fun is just beginning…

THE EXIT RAMP is just AHEAD

America’s descent into constitutional madness appears to headed for closure sometime today, or in the early hours of tomorrow.

As the late great Johnny Most was fond of telling ardent Celtics fans, especially one from the coastline of Maine, listening on the radio to the Celts clinch another World Championship in the ’50s and ’60s, “It’s all over…”

Such is the case of Donald John Trump‘s impeachment trial.

It is ALL over!

What are we going to be left with you ask???!

The president – any president – need NO longer yield documents or testimony to congressional oversight!!!

And, the president can ignore any law if it helps in his reelection – as long as he believes his reelection is ‘in the public interest.’ [Interestingly, Dershowitz, who abruptly resigned from Trump’s defense team, in a series of tweets yesterday, denied saying what he said, and his colleagues halfheartedly walked back his claim].

At the moment, I’m left wondering if this trial has officially opened the gates to:

• In the public interest, the upcoming November election needs to be cancelled;
• In the public interest, there should be “NO term limit” on the presidency;
• In the public interest, the government will take control of cable networks so as to eliminate “fake news;”
• In the public interest, the emolument clause is a complete restriction on individual rights.

Etc.; etc.; etc.

You get my drift.

I’ll just leave you with this, for moment…

Trump’s trial has exposed Republicans as a full-bore autocratic party that will chose to retain power even at the expense of the most fundamental principles of our democracy.

Those who proclaim themselves as independent voters – being above the fray of partisan politics – now need to ask themselves whether they can remain neutral between authoritarianism and democracy, or whether they need to decide which side they’re on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DEFINITION of “PUBLIC INTEREST”

Brother Colbert offers a tutorial of “in the public interest…”

WHERE is W.H.O.???

The World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting again today – third time in less than 2 weeks – to decide whether to declare the Coronavirus epidemic an international public health emergency, as China said that another 38 people had died from the virus.

China, announced earlier today, local time, that the total number of deaths from the Coronavirus had risen to 170, with cases now confirmed in every province ! and region ! in the country.

More than 7,700 people have been sickened in mainland China, while 68 cases have been reported around the world.

Cases of the mysterious new Coronavirus in mainland China now outnumber ! the infections that China saw during the entire SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003.

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, ultimately killed 774 people in 17 countries.

Perhaps I’ve missed something significant, but what is the difference between influenza and Wuhan Coronavirus in terms of potential impact ???! that necessitates the continued level of response and concern?

What interests want to see the virus spread?

Let’s ALL hope/pray there’s an active streams of data between governments, scientists and doctors throughout Planet Earth.

 

TRUMP is ABOVE THE LAW!!!

For the first time in months, America’s top hick rodent from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, has spoken the absolute truth, “For the sake of argument, one could assume everything attributable to John Bolton is accurate, and still the House would fall well below the standards to remove a president from office.” 

Thus, the impeachment calculation nearly ALL Senate Republicans are making is fairly obvious: They would rather look as if they ignored relevant evidence !!! than plunge the Senate into an unpredictable, open-ended inquiry that would piss-off Donald John Trump and submit each of them to eternal political peril and damnation.

Translation: By allowing testimony by John-Boy Bolton, the former national security adviser, whose unpublished manuscript contradicts ! a central part of Trump’s impeachment defense, it would undoubtedly lead to a cascade of other witnesses.

These witnesses, in turn, could provide more damaging disclosures and tie up the Senate indefinitely, when the ultimate verdict – an acquittal of Trump – is NOT in doubt.

Pure math, aunts and uncles…

In essence, as we head toward a vote on “witnesses and documents” tomorrow, Senate Republicans are constructing a permission slip for NOT trying to get to the bottom of what happened, with the hope that voters will find their explanations satisfactory and reasonable.

The old Lobsterman’s response: Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

Unless there’s a huge political epiphany, over the next 24-30 hours, nearly ALL of the politically vulnerable Senate Republicans up for re-election in November have embraced their party’s strategy.

They would be making it crystal clear that they favor taking their chances defending their votes against witnesses over trying to explain to voters loyal to Trump why they backed broadening an investigation into a president who’s popular with the Republican electorate [Deplorables one and ALL!!!].

I hope history is taking copious notes, jotting down names, and recording those who said they were just “too busy” to hold a free and fair trial, because when history starts casting it’s votes – NONE of them will look very courageous as the ink dries on the pages with their names on them, as part of the recorded history of America – the day they cast their votes.

GRAND OLD PARTY’S DESCENT

This is so disappointing…

For the Republican leadership to be desperately trying to hold the party line to keep additional testimony from being provided, and for the rank and file Republican senators agreeing to such a “corrupt bargain” just does NOT compute.

The next 60-plus hours has ALL the earmarks of a Cecil B. DeMille production.

Trump’s defense team appealed to the Senate yesterday to disregard !!! a new account by the former national security adviser John Bolton that bolsters the impeachment case against the president.

But, by day’s end, Republican leaders working feverishly to block testimony !!! from Bolton or other witnesses, indicated they had NOT yet garnered the votes ! to do so.

Nothing left of the Grand Old Party, which once prided itself on honor, service and commitment to the country.

I’ve grow increasingly concerned for the future of the nation.

What’s on display, with certain members of this partisan tribe, is simply NOT normal, by any definition of the word.

Democrats, who control 47 seats, need four Republicans to join them to approve motions for new testimony or documents, which need a simple majority to pass.

Starting today, the Senate will have two days to ask each side questions, followed by a vote later this week on new evidence.

The Senate’s summary dismissal of each and every ‘inconvenient fact’ is so brazen, so contemptuous, so completely disrespectful to the common voter – that it’s hard to fully fathom.

Unbelievable that in something as important as the impeachment trial of the President of the United States there is debate as to whether witnesses should be called!!!

RIGHT on TARGET

Brother Colbert’s merry take on the elements of the Swamp…

WHO’S PICKING up the TAB?

With mounting legal bills from his impeachment trial, the Washington Post is reporting that The Weave is drawing on national party coffers flush with donations from energized Deplorables.

The law firms of Trump’s lead lawyer, Jay Sekulow [Keto Diet, Jay?], and attorney Jane Raskin [YouTube her performance yesterday, scary…very scary], have received a total of $225,000 from the Republican National Committee (RNC) through November, according to the most recent campaign finance reports, with more, much more when needed.

Because The Orange Whale is on trial as a result of his status as an officeholder or candidate, election law allows him to dip into campaign or party funds for his legal bills.

The president is benefiting from a measure in a 2014 law that dramatically increased how much national parties can raise by allowing them to collect large donations for separate accounts to finance presidential conventions, building renovations and legal proceedings.

According to the WaPost, Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee of the ’20 Trump campaign and the RNC, transferred about $2.7 million into the RNC’s legal account from September through November.

As Mike Reed, RNC deputy chief of staff for communications, put it, “This Democratic impeachment process is like the gift that keeps on giving.”

Basically, what little Mike is saying…the jury has been bought.

GRANDMA’S RULES don’t FIT

As many of you ALREADY know, my maternal grandmother was indeed the focal point as I was growing up.

My perpetual center of gravity.

There isn’t a day that goes by, where I don’t think of her…in some way or another.

She would be ‘over-the-moon’ with our 45th president, with complete disdain.

As each day of the calendar rolls along, truth, substance, and courage are drifting away from the American character.

We’re ALL living in Donald John Trump’s era and Trump’s Washington, and the old rules do NOT apply anymore.

During his three years in the White House, this narcissistic reality show cretin has survived writing checks to silence adult porn females [while in the White House!] to being impeached by the House for abuse of power and obstruction.

Surviving one politically-charged furor after another proving more durable than any national politician in a generation of American history.

Approval rating – steady as a rock – at 42%.

Deplorables have ALWAYS loved obese, ignorant bullies!!!

So when “John-Boy” Bolton, former national security adviser, and his leaked portions of his still unpublished book, confirmed that the 45th president, despite his denials, conditioned !!! security aid to a war-torn ally on its cooperation against his domestic rivals, the issue at the heart of his ongoing impeachment trial, we, once again, witnessed NO real profiles in courage.

Admittedly, it remains to be seen whether this will be a Watergate-style turning point or just one more revelation that his critics consider validation without changing other minds?

In point of fact, will it be a Watergate-type smoking gun moment, or just another “Access Hollywood?“

So, as I see it, with the cast of shallow characters in this movie, any Republican senator who votes to convict Trump may NOT just be jettisoning the base they need to stay in power, but also their place within the corporate elite and lobbyist industrial complex that awaits them after losing or retirement.

And that, aunts and uncles, is the Swamp personified!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!