WON’T BE POLITICAL

Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who has been under fire from the White House to speed Coronavirus treatments, told the Financial Times, that his agency would be willing to approve a Coronavirus vaccine before Phase 3 clinical trials were complete !!! if the agency found it “appropriate” to do so.

“This is not going to be a political decision,” Hahn said.

Of course NOT, Dr. Stevie.

Hahn told the newspaper that a vaccine developer could apply for approval before the end of Phase 3 clinical trials, which are the largest and most rigorous, but that the agency would make “a science, medicine, data decision” and might issue emergency authorization for use for particularly vulnerable groups rather than a blanket approval.

Hahn’s comments, published online yesterday by FT, were NOT his first indication [nor will it be his last] that the agency could fast-track a vaccine under the right circumstances [there’s been NOTHING right about any of the circumstances spewing from this administration from Day One], which would NOT be out of line with the agency’s standard protocols.

This ALL coming from the same agency who last week made erroneous claims overstating !!! the benefits of plasma treatments for COVID-19, setting off alarm bells with a wave of scientific disbelief, criticism and mass confusion.

Trump has seen his political fortunes plummet over deep unhappiness among mature voters about how he and his administration have handled the pandemic.

Now is NOT the time to grade on a curve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEIR CALENDAR is BOOKED

Social distancing will be applied…

This duo will appearing at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre on the first Friday in November…

 

EXPLOITATION of FEAR

The strategy remains exactly the same.

It, the strategy, closely resembles the one Trump and his demonic cabal employed, in the final run-up to the ’16 election, when he spent hours warning/tweeting of swarming hordes of migrants trying to reach the US border through Mexico.

Those “bad hombres…”

Well, the band is back together again trying to depict protests over racial injustice as the campaign issue, attacking Democratic leaders, refusing to condemn deadly vigilante violence and touting a purportedly tranquil “Donald Trump’s America.”

Aunts and uncles, it’s law-and-order time again in America.

This time, the effort is aimed at portraying urban Democratic strongholds as lawless and threatening.

Against the backdrop of a still-raging Coronavirus outbreak [approaching 185,000 US deaths], the White House has/is offering the clearest signal yet of their calculated plan as the campaign against Joey Biden enters the final stretch, with The Weave trailing in the polls [but, keep in mind, he trailed Grandma Clinton at this point of campaign in ’16].

Over the weekend, the White House announced that Trump would meet with local law enforcement and survey the damage from recent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Yesterday, leaders in Wisconsin asked Trump to “seriously reconsider” such a trip.

In a letter, Governor Tony Evers, a Dem, penned that the 45th president’s presence in Kenosha would “only hinder our healing.” 

Trump, yesterday morning, posted or reposted a barrage of tweets about the clashes in Portland, Oregon, with many of them assailing the city’s Democratic mayor, Ted Wheeler.

The tangerine-colored Lucifer even retweeted a video showing his supporters shooting paintballs and using pepper spray on crowds in Portland before the fatal shooting.

Trump wrote that “the big backlash going on in Portland cannot be unexpected,” a remarkable instance of a president seeming to support confrontation ! rather than calming a volatile situation.

It’s my guess it was probably written for Trump by toy-boy Tucker.

 

HERE COME the BOOKS

We’re now 64 days out from Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

As of this week, expect droves of political books to be released, over that period of time, with Amazon and many independent bookstores [remember, buy local, if these wonderful places are still operating] offering tons of advance purchasing opportunities.

There are two that the old Lobsterman is particularly looking forward to: Legendary Bob Woodward‘s “Rage,” and Michael Schmidt‘s forthcoming book, “Donald Trump v. The United States.”

Woodward’s book which is a sequel to 2018’s “Fear,” is due to be released on September. 15th.

If you haven’t read “Fear” – get a copy today. Most libraries open between 9-10.

“Rage” is expected to address Donald John Trump‘s thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement, the Coronavirus pandemic, the economy, and details about 25 letters exchanged between the Orange Whale and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

New York Times‘ Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Michael Schmidt in his book reports on the day after Trump fired former FBI boss James Comey, the 45th president phoned John Kelly, who was then Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, and offered him Comey’s job.

This previously unreported conversation sheds additional light on Trump’s mindset when he fired Comey – L-O-Y-A-L-T-Y.

Special counsel Bobby Mueller NEVER learned of this information because the president’s lawyers limited the scope !!! of his team’s two-hour interview with Kelly.

It’s a shame Deplorables can’t read nor comprehend!!!

OUR ‘LAW and ORDER’ PRESIDENT

Throughout this lawless presidency I’ve been astounded at how easily Donald John Trump and his cadre of brown shirts have move through the penal code, whether civil or governmental, or even constitutional, with NEVER a mutter from so-called Republicans.

Dems, as well as critics of ALL stripes, who stand up for the rule of law here, are called, “trying to undermine” Trump’s presidency, or “trying to reverse 2016.

That rubbish is as tiresome as a Milli Vanilli video.

“Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, and agitators, and criminals,” the Orange Whale warned in his acceptance speech.

It’s one law he doesn’t want to uphold, however.

When asked about the Hatch Act, corn-fed White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, remarked, “Nobody outside of the beltway really cares.”

Just for a moment, imagine if Grandma Clinton had won the ’16 election, and given her daughter and son-in-law sofa-cushioned jobs in her administration, and used the White House as the backdrop for the last night of the Democratic Convention, as well as her acceptance speech???!

Holy Tallulah Bankhead!

For starters, this circus car of clowns would have made sure that people outside the Beltway were strenuously opposed to nepotism and cared deeply about the Hatch Act.

There are two kinds of laws in Trump’s America: the ones the Trump and his toadies can break with impunity [where’s Mike “Orca” Pompeo and his wife???!], and the laws that can only apply to Trump’s enemies.

Just a few days ago, a Trump supporter, Kyle Rittenhouse, allegedly shot two protesters dead in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

One has to wonder if Rittenhouse, an impressionable 17-year-old living in Illinois, was galvanized to take a long-gun and drive to Kenosha because of the panic promoted by Trump and his cheerleaders at FOX News.

Tucker Carlson of FOX seemed to defend the Kenosha killings, uttering, “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”

BURNT TOAST!

11-22…the immediate record of my Boston Red Sox.

ALL Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have to decide if they’re buying or selling by 4 pm ET, tomorrow.

That’s the trade deadline.

The 2020 Red Sox season is history and NO one seems to care, with two exceptions: Chaim David Bloom and the old Lobsterman.

Bloom is the 37-year old Chief Baseball Officer of the club, and I’m a 77-year old long-suffering passionate devotee of the Sox, who now wonders if I’ll get to see one more pennant before ‘dust to dust.’

For the wunderkind, it’s actually a good thing. It means for Bloom, he can trade anyone he wants and it doesn’t make one iota of difference.

This club as currently constituted is a disgrace, embarrassment, and an environmental landfill.

Just about anything, within the realm of cognitive thought, is likely to improve it !!!?!

Damn the life boats!

Don’t call the harbormaster!

Full speed ahead!!! Why not?

The Red Sox need to seek any and ALL opportunities to add young, uninjured and promising talent to the organization, NO matter the cost.

But…

Make the current contenders pay heavily!!!

Take their top talent(s) from them in return for your limited major league tools.

Lincoln was so-o-o right, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

 

 

 

 

MULTIPLE CONFLICTS – continue on

Tear gas, rubber bullets, real bullets, property destruction, dogs, human waste, arson, bull horns, long guns, moronic camo-clad weekend warriors, untrained National Guard personnel, untrained local police, and untrained federal agents in riot gear have made protests a national flash point.

In countless locales across the country, these protests – for whatever cause or reason –  have spurred debate over the authority of the federal government to respond to them.

More than anything else, the central focus has been: police brutality and racial injustice.

Once again, Portland, Oregon was front-and-center last night.

A man was shot and killed Saturday as a large group of supporters of the 45th president traveled in a caravan [must have gotten through border security?] across downtown Portland.

The individual killed was allegedly wearing a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a far-right group based in Portland that has clashed with protesters in the past.

The Portland Police Bureau, as of this moment, has NOT release any information about a possible gunman.

Tragically, as we’ve ALL bared witness to, in past 14 weeks, Donald John Trump has chosen to be tracking to the right of George Wallace at this point.

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”  ~  Marcus Aurelius 

THE RAT says “NO MORE”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said yesterday senior intelligence officials will NO longer brief Congress in person on foreign interference in the 2020 election.

Meaning there will be z-e-r-o ability to ask ‘at that moment’ questions!

Instead, they will inform lawmakers of threats in writing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the fudge, Sparky…

The decision, made with Director of National Intelligence John “The Rat” Ratcliffe’s consent, arose out of concerns that briefings to lawmakers have resulted in leaks of classified information reports the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and New York Times.

Just another step forward by the mega-dopes of this administration.

Leaks on paper are just as fluid as those after soiling oneself in person!!!!!! – except for the ability to grill the other party/presenter – immediately.

One can only hope that true patriots within the intelligence community will make sure that ALL appropriate information gets to where it needs to go…between now and Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and the rest of our adversaries are licking their chops as they are now about to sit down to the main course…66 days before our election.

Lobster Newburg served as an entrée with double servings of disruption!!!

This dramatic change by “The Rat” threatens to undermine !!! the intel community’s pledge to be transparent with Congress and the public at a time when the aforementioned foreign antagonists are seeking to influence/confuse the American political process.

You know what Marx said, “There’s one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says, ‘Yes,’ you know he is a crook.”

That’s Groucho, NOT Karl.

THE BILL HAS ARRIVED

As millions of people were losing their health insurance and the administration was doubling down on trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, the law that had expanded coverage to more than 25 million people, Donald John Trump announced a ‘cure-all’ program this past Spring.

In April, Trump touted his administration’s plan to cover uninsured patients’ Coronavirus treatments by paying hospitals for their costs, on the condition that providers also NOT stick those people with separate charges, using money from the federal Coronavirus relief package passed by Congress.

As in ALL things Trump, the program has drawn little attention since, but a review by the New York Times of the program’s administration/payments made, as well as interviews with hospital executives, patients and health policy researchers who have examined the payments, suggest the quickly concocted plan !!!!!!!!! has NOT lived up to its promise.

Translation: Confusion, on a massive scale, at participating hospitals.

Few patients seem to know the program even exists, so they don’t question the charges.

And…

Many hospitals and other medical providers have elected NOT to participate ! in this so-called vision of wonder, which, obviously, bars them from seeking any payment from patients whose bills they submit to it.

Sounds exactly like the format of a plan that humankind should expect from a cretin who has filed personal bankruptcy six f!#king times…that we know of.

In addition, large numbers of patients have also been disqualified because COVID-19 has to be the primary diagnosis for a case to be covered.

As we know, countless numbers of hospitalized COVID patients often have other serious medical conditions, many have other primary diagnoses.

This “stopgap” fiasco called a program is proof-positive that Trump and his coven have NO vision for improving health coverage, and instead promote piecemeal solutions, even during a national health catastrophe.

Trump had promised a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act by the beginning of August, but NONE has been announced and he and other vermin barely mentioned health policy in the Republican National Convention this week.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization, has estimated that hospital costs alone for uninsured Coronavirus patients could reach between $13.9 – $41.8 billion – far more than what the program has paid out so far.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

 

 

GAMES RESUME…cautiously

The 13 teams remaining in the NBA’s bubble returned to practice late yesterday for the first time since the league postponed its Wednesday night games in response to the Milwaukee Bucks’ unprecedented move.

An agreement was reached between league governors and players on a series of social justice initiatives that will end a three-day shutdown caused by the Bucks’ decision NOT to take the court for a playoff game this past Wednesday to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Three rounds of talks over two days, including an emergency meeting of the NBA’s Board of Governors on Thursday and multiple meetings within the National Basketball Players Association, produced an agreement to continue with the balance of the playoffs, which are set to run through mid-October.

National Basketball Association playoffs were halted for three days, but the games will resume today.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts announced in a joint statement that the two parties engaged in a “candid, impassioned and productive conversation” Thursday that produced “commitments” between the league and its players that will allow play to resume.

Given the billions in lost revenue because of the pandemic and the more than $100 million spent to construct the Orlando bubble, walking away from this season could have triggered a protracted labor battle that might have placed next season in jeopardy.

Always remember, the only answer to any question is $$$.

Just don’t be lulled into a sense of relief because, in this current climate of social justice, that can be only an ephemeral feeling.

The games continue, but the discomfort will intensify!