LET’S BE VERY CLEAR…we’re bracing

Just about ALL media, press and cable news outlets, since late Thursday night, have been reporting that US hospitals and their respective medical systems are NOT close to the proper preparedness necessary for the appropriate care and training to combat the Coronavirus.

Now this morning, the LA Times, Washington Post and New York Times are indicating that the country’s rural hospitals/healthcare facilities are bracing !!! for the early brunt.

Hospital executives are warning routine care and elective surgeries – such as knee replacements and gallbladder removal – could be scaled back if the Coronavirus spawns a pandemic.

Rightfully so, these hospital administrators are saying their hospital system/practices are mandated first to deal with: a) the protection of their own health-care workers; and, b) deal in most professional/experienced way(s) with those stricken with the virus.

Well, it ALL says wonderful until you stop and catch a breath of reality.

What do I mean?

Our rural hospitals, of which most across the Prairie and in my native state of Maine, are terribly under-funded and under-staffed.

Rural hospitals could bear the early brunt of this reality.

They sit furthest from international airports and urban hubs where outbreaks are more likely, but they are at the tail-end ! of supply chains for vital medical goods such as protective masks, gowns and applicable training and supervision.

ALL, I’m sure, Pastor Pence has taken under consideration, don’t you think???!

Rural facilities, far from medical warehouses, are ALREADY feeling the effects first as the health systems have begun rationing ! certain supplies.

Small hospitals, within these regions, according to the WaPost, report that their storeroom shelves are emptying !!! of protective masks and gowns.

If they run out, the routine business of caring for patients will have to be curtailed, they warned.

Think our 45th president will arrive with the rolls of paper towels?!

 

WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT?

News is just breaking, in last 30-plus minutes, that the US signed a deal with the Taliban that may set the stage to end ???! America’s longest war.

The nearly two-decade-old conflict in Afghanistan that began after the September 11 attacks, killed tens of thousands of people, afflicted three White House administrations – Bush 43, Obama and now Trump.

My first thoughts go to The Angler, aka former VP Dick Cheney.

Wonder how the Dick feels?

Personally, the war in Afghanistan in many ways echoes the American experience in Vietnam.

In the case of BOTH, we bet heavily on brute strength and the lives of young men and women, then walked away with seemingly little to show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Extreme hardship is NEVER rewarded properly, by the right people.

Rest assured, this signing of the agreement in Doha, Qatar, which followed more than a year of stop-and-start negotiations and conspicuously excluded !!! the American-backed Afghanistan government [bear that fact in mind], is NOT a final peace deal and could still unravel.

The war cost $2 trillion and took the lives of more than 3,500 American and coalition troops and tens of thousands of Afghans.

Based on my quick understanding, the withdrawal of American troops – roughly 13,000 are still in Afghanistan – is dependent on the Taliban’s fulfillment of major commitments that have been obstacles for years, including its severance of ties ???! with international terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda [will prove impossible to monitor].

So now we’re negotiating with terrorists?

Once again, American lives lost for NOTHING!  

The old Lobsterman wonders if Cadet Bonespurs could find Helmand Province on an unmarked map?

3:10 to KONIEC?

As my Polish friends have reminded me this week, this is “koniec” for Uncle Joe Biden.

Koniec means ‘the end.’

Today is the day for Biden…the South Carolina primary…maybe.

Based on everything we’ve ALL read, listened to and watched over the last ten days, Joe’s broke.

Old-time pals and pols love him but…NO one is filling his campaign coffers!!!

Joe has to come away from the Palmetto State with a big win – double-digital, as matter of fact.

South Carolina politics is where loyalty can outweigh ideology, hiring an elected official’s cousin or nephew makes a difference, and candidate visits are critically important.

Thus, that loyalty may actually be an massive asset for Joe in South Carolina, because it reminds voters of his long history in the state and deep personal relationships [especially with many critical Blacks, such as Jim Clyburn – House Majority Whip] that allowed him to declare this primary his “firewall.”

Black voters are expected to make up around 60% of the SC primary electorate, if they vote.

“How ya doing?” – Joe loves to yell that out everywhere, and anywhere…

We may well being asking Uncle Joe that later tonight.

HERE’S JOHNNY…again

Trump said Friday that Representative Johnny Ratcliffe (R-TX) would NOT be his nominee for Director of National Intelligence, after lawmakers and former intelligence officials raised concerns that the Texas Republican would politicize the nation’s spy agencies and key senators quietly lobbied against his selection.

Remember that fiasco last August?

Well, aunts and uncles, are you ready to sit back and watch/listen to the sequel??!

It about to get under-way…

At roughly 4:25 yesterday, the Orange Whale tweeted that he intends to revive that aforementioned selection that tanked last year over concerns about his qualifications, stating that Johnny as “an outstanding man of great talent!”

To ALL the ships at sea, stay off-shore!!!

If confirmed, Ratcliffe would replace Dan Coats, who served in the role overseeing and coordinating the nation’s intelligence agencies until August 2019.

The Weave announced earlier this month that Joseph Maguire, a retired Navy vice admiral who served as “acting” Director of National Intelligence, would step down [more like pushed head-first down the stairs!].

Remember, when Johnny was under consideration for the job last year, Dems in Congress questioned ! his credentials and warned !!! that he would politicize ! nonpartisan intelligence agencies.

Even Republicans, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (NC), were unenthusiastic then about the choice of Johnny for the intelligence czar post.

Known and confirmed fact: Donald John Trump is entirely INCOMPETENT!

My question: Does everyone who surrounds him need to be incompetent as well???!!!

SUFFERING and UNEASE

Yesterday’s session was marked by turbulent swings that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 1,000 points before it rallied around 640 points in the final minutes of trading.

The Nasdaq Composite fell as much as 3.5% before bouncing higher to narrowly close in positive territory – the first time the index has fallen by that much and notched a gain for the day since November 2008, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

US stocks extended a punishing selloff, hauled to their worst week since the financial crisis by mounting investor unease about the economic fallout from the Coronavirus epidemic.

Late in the afternoon, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank was prepared to cut interest rates !!! to protect the economy from the widening global slowdown [he doesn’t have many arrows left in his quiver, folks].

According, again, to Dow Jones Market Data, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.4% this week, a drop of more than 3,500 points, capping off its worst month since 2009.

ALL 11 of the S&P 500’s sectors have fallen into negative territory for the year.

And, about 95% of stocks in the broad index are now down more than 10% !!! from their highs.

Those of you still in the arena may pick up your earnings at the first available window on the mezzanine level, and…please, drive home safely, with your seat belts buckled.

A GREAT LIFE MESSAGE

Driving to appointments around the metroplex this morning, I saw a reflective life lesson on one of the digital billboards, from a local funeral home…

DON’T TEXT WHILE YOU ARE BEHIND THE WHEEL

(We can wait!)

GIVE ME a JACK and BLEACH

Fear NOT, Brother Colbert will keep us ALL loose and laughing…

THE WHITE HOUSE VIRUS

And, aunts and uncles, it ain’t Coronavirus!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you might imagine, I’ve been eye-balling the Orange Whale very, very, very closely over the past ten days over his and the administration’s response to the aforementioned virus.

Several descriptive adjectives quickly flood my mind: Childish; Ignorant; Silly; Boorish; Non-sensical; and, even, Maniacal.

As far as this crowd of mongrels is concerned, the Coronavirus is solely a political emergency, NOT a public-health crisis.

Trump’s record/behavior speaks for itself.

Last night he declared his efforts, to date, a “tremendous success” and the Coronavirus risk to Americans “very low.”

Pastor Pence must be praying over this buffoon’s presence and words as I bang away at the keyboard this am.

Please grab your sausage biscuit, and sit down, for what I’m about to say next. Donald John Trump said that the prospect of a Democratic president, NOT fears of a pandemic, was the main cause !!! of the nearly 2,000 point two-day drop in the Dow, on Monday and Tuesday.

Why doesn’t someone just get a cold towel, take the rostrum away, dismiss ALL press conferences/appearances, and lead this obese specie off to a padded cell???!??

For the love of humanity, do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT a single thing Trump has said or done, thus far, bores any real-world relation to the public-health emergency, supposedly under discussion and evaluation by these imbecilic buffoons…Z-E-R-O.

The only reason he even held the press conference was political: NOT the number of known American Coronavirus patients [which he understated by 75%…reminiscent of his crowd size claims]; nor allowing the experienced medical professionals to speak without fear of reprisal from this moron-in-chief; but the f!#king numbers of Wall Street.

For Trump, the Dow is the second most important barometer for assessing his political standing after FOX News.

Just keep this nugget in mind, folks. In 2018, Trump fired !!! the entire pandemic chain of command !!! in the White House, and shut down !!! the global-health-security unit BOTH at the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security.

That form of ignorance can NOT be contained!

FEBRUARY ROUT CONTINUES…

Major stock indexes around Planet Earth posted another round of significant declines and uncertainty yesterday, over the impact of the Coronavirus heading down the path of fear.

ALL three major US indexes slipped into correction territory – a drop of at least 10% from a recent peak – and posted their biggest one-day point drops EVER.

The Dow industrials tumbled 1,190.95 points, or 4.4%, to 25766.64, bringing its slide this week to more than 3,200 points.

The S&P also declined 4.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 4.6%.

Sell-off was broad based, with some energy and technology companies showing especially large declines.

Microsoft had warned Wednesday that supply-chain disruptions from the Coronavirus would hurt sales this quarter, making it the second major tech company – after Apple – to lower expectations because of the epidemic.

As ALL the labels indicate: Please drink responsibly.

 

POSSIBLITY of CANCELLATION?

Suddenly, there is increasing concern…

2020 Tokyo Olympics.

If reporting is accurate, Tokyo is on the way to having spent more than $20 billion on hosting this summer’s Olympic Games.

NBC has a multibillion-dollar agreement to broadcast them.

Athletes, across Planet Earth, have been training for days, weeks, months, and yes, years for performing at the pinnacle of their sporting lives.

But…

As outbreaks of the Coronavirus spread through Asia and Europe, organizers made it clear yesterday that they have begun worrying about the public health implications ! of holding the Games, where hundreds of thousands of people gather in one place, spend two weeks in close quarters and fly back to some 200 countries.

The last time the Olympics were cancelled was during World War II.

The Tokyo Games are scheduled to begin on July 24th, but senior officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) raised the possibility of cancellation or postponement if the outbreak wasn’t contained in the next three months, setting an unofficial deadline around the end of May.