July 8, 2020--Trump's Fish Story

Back in Washington Trump keeps his eye on the Dow Jones average. Though it doesn't at all, he claims it is the best measure of how well the economy is faring.

Up here in Maine we keep an eye on other things. For example, the wholesale price of lobster. It is thought to indicate how well the local economy is doing.

Trump was up in Maine a couple of weeks ago, visiting a factory that manufactures swabs that are used for coronavirus testing.

Of course he refused to wear a mask and thus after he left the swabs manufactured that day had to be thrown away.

At a meeting with lobstermen there was a lot of talk about the crustacean and the sorry state of the fishing industry. In response Trump told lie after lie.

No matter the subject, he obviously is incapable of telling the truth.

With the wholesale price of lobsters hovering at record lows, Trump blamed the collapsed market on Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Conveniently ignoring the fact that he has been president for almost four years and during that time the price has been declining precipitously.

Trump bellowed, "President Obama destroyed the lobster and fishing industry in Maine. Now it's back bigger and better than anyone ever thought possible. Enjoy your lobstering and fishing. Make lots of money!"

Fact checking reveals that Maine's lobster industry reached its peak in 2016, the last year of Obama's second term with 132 million pounds caught at a value of $540 million. But during the first three years of Trump's presidency Maine's fishermen sold less that $500 million worth a year.

At the end of the day, there is no evidence that Trump stopped on the way back to Washington at a lobster pound to pick up a couple of shedders. 

June 22, 2020--Flushing

Just when I thought I had assimilated everything I needed to know about avoiding the coronavirus, leave it to the New York Times, the "paper of record," to come up with more things to worry about.

According to the Times, I need to do more than wash my hands 20 times a day while singing "Happy Birthday." I need to do more than maintain a social distance when among people and wear a mask 18 hours a day. It seems I now also have to be careful about how I flush the toilet.

Yes, it's come to that.

In case you missed the Times article, here's what you need to know. 

First, like so much else, it's a gendered issue. Men and women potty differently and since one form of virus propagation is the product of launching infested water globules when flushing, the height from which one does that is critical. Women sit, men stand. Does more need to be said about that?

Scientists have found that flushing a toilet can generate a cloud of aerosol droplets that rises nearly three feet. Those droplets may linger in the air long enough to be inhaled by a shared toilet’s next user, or land on surfaces in the bathroom.

In addition, this toilet plume can carry infectious coronavirus particles that are already present in the surrounding air.

For the science-minded, there is more to know--

A computer simulation of toilet flushing showed that when water pours into the toilet and generates a vortex, it displaces air in the bowl. These vortices move upward and the centrifugal force pushes out about 6,000 tiny droplets per flush and even tinier aerosol particles. All waiting to ensnare us.

So, what is one to do?

Thankfully, people can easily prevent the spread of infections from the toilet plume.

To do so, it is suggested that one should close the lid first and then trigger the flushing process. Though the Times acknowledges this isn’t always possible in public bathrooms. But at least it's a start.

I wonder, though, what the Trump people in Tulsa did. Obviously no face masks, also no social distancing, but after a couple of six packs . . . flushing?

This is where my curiosity ends. There is a limit to what I'm willing to do to try to stay healthy.

May 1, 2020--That Masked Man Still At It

After reading my recent post about face masks, Vice Pesident Pence showed up yesterday at a GM factory in Indiana that makes ventilators.

And wouldn't you know it, he was wearing a paper face mask.

Glad to be of service Mr VP.

Oh, and Pence lied about the Mayo Clinic, claiming that he didn't know they had face mask rules. This after the director of the unit he visited, because of their policy, offered to give him one.

April 30, 2020--Who Was that Masked Man?

Masked Man?  Clearly not Mike Pence. 

He was maskless at the Mayo Clinic the other day when he and a delegation of Trump administration officials visited to thank doctors for their work on combating the virus.

The Mayo has a firm policy that anyone working there or visiting MUST wear a mask. When Pence showed up without one and declined to use one his hosts offered to provide, they pressed him and he continued to demure, asserting that the masks are to protect people from spreading the virus and since he is not infected (he claimed to be tested "regularly") he didn't need to wear one.  

And didn't. 

His hosts were gracious enough not to turn him away, as I would have.

What conceit, what arrogance. Or was it vanity--that he didn't want to mess up his $500 haircut?

Wondering about this, a panel of guests on Morning Joe Wednesday, searched for an explanation about why Pence insisted on going without a mask.

They came up with all sots of complicated speculation while a simple one was obvious.

It is not just because the person he is making a career out of sucking up to, Trump, also refuses to wear one. Though they both insist on never being seen with one.

Let me suggest a stretch of a comparison to how President Franklin Roosevelt, who was paralyzed from the waist down from polio, did all he could never to reveal the steel braces he needed to wear on his legs.

Doing so was political--FDR wanted to project strength and thus this "cover up."

The last thing Pence and Trump want is to appear fallible. And they do not want to remind voters that there are complicitous in the spread of the coronavirus. Their agenda is to deny its reality and obscure their series of policies that have it much worse, much deadlier.

Wearing a mask would underscore that the pandemic is still very much with us and until and before there are effective treatments, including vaccinations, they are desperate to vamp their way though the crisis by using theatrics, distortions, and lies to cover up their failures.

For them, business as usual.

As Jared Kushner just said, It's a "great success story." 

April 28, 2020--The Andrew Cuomo Show

New York governor Andrew Cuomo is having a moment.

New Yorkers I know who for years have not paid any attention whatsoever to the politics of the Empire State are setting kitchen timers to remind them to tune in to his seven-day-a-week Andrew Cuomo Show about the status of coronavirus and what he has encouraged and ordered us to do to reduce the chances that we will catch it and how to seek help if we do.

Unlike someone we know, he is not recommending Lysol enemas. 

That's some of the point--Cuomo is looking good in part because he is not Donald Trump. He is so outperforming the odious president that comparisons can be painful to watch.

Many have become so cynical that they are wondering if Cuomo is mainly interested in positioning himself to scoop up the Democratic presidential nomination this summer if 77-year-old Joe Biden falters. Or, they suspect, Cuomo may already be thinking about 2024 when he will be only 65. 

But even a glance at Cuomo's record reveals he is more than just the latest political heartthrob who gives good press conference. Though that in itself is welcome.

He record of accomplishment, especially when it comes to big and bold infrastructural projects, is more impressive than that of any recent governor as well as any president since Franklin Roosevelt. Yes, that FDR.

Let me list the top five or six--

In the news yesterday there was a report about the L-Line subway in NYC that runs from the hippest part of the new Brooklyn to Union Square Park in Manhattan. The L's tunnel under the East River was badly damaged by super storm Sandy. For seven years the city struggled to come up with the best way to restore it. The ultimate plan included suspending service for three years and was budgeted to cost upwards of a billion dollars.

Cuomo stepped in, claiming that was too long to wait and too much to spend. He offered an alternative plan that he claimed would take 12 months and cost less than a billion.

He was right. Though the governor was mocked by experts who insisted he was overreaching and didn't know what he was talking about, the L Train will be reopened this week, six months ahead of schedule and $100 million under budget.

And then, after languishing unfinished for many decades, the massive project to extend the Second Avenue Subway, Andrew Cuomo got it back on track (pun intended). Relentlessly pressed by him the work was completed, ahead of schedule and again below budget.

Also, there are two massive bridge projects that he pushed to completion--the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River (now named for his father, former governor, Mario), and in Brooklyn, the replacement of the perpetually traffic-clogged Pulaski Bridge.

Another project that was stalled for decades is the conversion of the 42nd Street post office to a new Penn Station, the nation's busiest railroad terminal. Pressed by the governor, work is finally underway.

Even more remarkable, also talked about for decades, is the replacement of LaGuardia Airport, which then Vice President Joe Biden, not inappropriately, compared to a "third world airport."

To quote Barack Obama, at a time when many wonder if America is any longer capable of doing "big things" in eight years, Andrew Cuomo has demonstrated that with the right leadership we can.

So, if he's running for president, more power to him.  

Mario Cuomo Bridge

April 27, 2020--I'll Have A Double Clorox

You probably know all about this but in case you don't, from the New York Times, here is how our very-stable-genius president is thinking about a cure for the Coronavirus--By having patients ingest bleach or injecting them with disinfectants such as Lysol or Clorox--

President Trump has long pinned his hopes on the powers of sunlight to defeat the Covid-19 virus. He returned to that theme at the White House briefing on Thursday, bringing in a science administrator to back up his assertions and eagerly theorizing about treatments involving the use of household disinfectant that would be dangerous if put inside the body, as well as the power of sunlight and ultraviolet light.

After William N. Bryan, the head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, told the briefing that the agency had tested how sunlight and disinfectants—including bleach and alcohol--can kill the coronavirus on surfaces in as little as 30 seconds, an excited Mr. Trump returned to the lectern.

“Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous--whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but we’re going to test it?” he added, turning to Mr. Bryan, who had returned to his seat. “And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, either through the skin or some other way.”

Apparently reassured that the tests he was proposing would take place, Mr. Trump then theorized about the possible medical benefits of disinfectants in the fight against the virus.  

“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute--one minute--and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning?” he asked. “Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”

Tremendous? Interesting? What more is there to say?

Dr. Birx

April 20, 2020--My Friend Frank Brecher

We met for the first time when we were both in our ninth decade. 

Not the best arrangement, many would claim, with so little time presumably remaining, to be thinking about making friends. 

For folks our age, likely settled in our ways and beliefs, there is usually not much psychic space left to make the adjustments required for a relationship that seeks to become a friendship. Much less provide the motivation to even consider it.

But Frank Brecher and I quickly discovered that though we in fact were set in many ways, enough of them were complementary and thus what was developing between us might turn out to be deep and substantial.

We grew up on the streets. He in the Bronx, me in Brooklyn. In many ways at the time there were few differences between someone who hung out on the Grand Concourse or on Eastern Parkway. A Jewish kid was a Jewish kid.

Our neighborhoods were middle-class ghettos, rife with street crime but with enough opportunity to make something of one's self. If we were lucky enough to survive. Survive physically, and do well enough in school to make being admitted to college a possibility, with a college education seen as a ticket out, which in both of our cases turned out to be what happened. 

As our friendship developed we discovered that a love of history was a common denominator. Though a Foreign Service officer for decades, Frank was also the author of a half dozen books, including most recently, the highly-regarded Securing American Independence, that focuses on John Jay, a senior diplomat during the Revolutionary War and America's first Chief Justice. And I am a voracious reader of history, wanting to learn all I can from the past about what it means to be American.

But more profoundly, for the few years we shared before he died two days ago from the coronavirus, thinking in friendship terms may not be the best way to consider our relationship.

We became more than friends. Rather, members of an intentional family. We spoke the same meta-language, our instincts were aligned, and over time we became brothers.

April 16, 2020--On Wisconsin

Under the radar, while understandably all attention has been focused on the coronavirus, the presidential campaign is gearing up. 

Trump's rambling press briefings have dominated the news as the death totals soar and the evidence accumulates that he wasted as much as two months denying there was a danger lurking.   

What concerns him is not the pandemic. To Trump that's a distraction from his real agenda--his reelection. It is also a mirror into what's important to him as well as what he fears.

Three things, directly related, terrify him--

(1) He might lose his reelection bid;

Which means (2) he would be vulnerable to criminal prosecution and, if so, could wind up jail; 

Then (3), always on his mind is money. Defending himself would require many millions while the Trump Depression is costing him a fortune in lost income from his real estate and entertainment empire.

No better example of the political trouble he is facing are the results from the recent Wisconsin elections.

For him there were at least two scary outcomes-- 

At the national level, though Wisconsin Republican leaders did all they could to suppress the vote, tens of thousands turned out, many risking their lives while having to wait up to two hours in packed lines to cast their ballots. 

The virus did not deter them nor did the fact that Republican election officials opened just five of nearly 200 historically available statewide venues for in-person voting.

Biden won in a landslide--he received 62.9% of the vote while Sanders attracted just 31.8%. Turnout was high even though a Biden victory was all but certain. 

Between the two candidates nearly 1.0 million votes were cast, about the same number as four years ago when the race between Bernie and Hillary was hotly contested.

This signaled to Trump that Democrats are fired up and willing to assume bodily danger to vote him out.

But, creating much more agita for Trump were the results of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court election.

In spite of a huge infusion of out-of-state money to support his reelection, ultra-conservative judge Daniel Kelly was trounced by more than 10 points by Democrat Jill Karofsky.

Wisconsin may turn out to be 2020's Florida. Whoever carries the state is likely to become president. And with Biden well ahead of Trump in the polls, it is no wonder Trump is unraveling. 

April 3, 2020--Where the Boys Are

As reported in yesterday's New York Times, determined spring breakers are carrying on as usual. 

One quoted had a defiant attitude--

At a time when millions of Americans were hunkered down at home and staying away from school, work and relatives, [that attitude] was embodied by Brady Sluder, a young man on spring break in Miami who declared from a packed beach: “If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.” 

As my friend Al Trescot says--"A lot of people are just plain stupid."

Ft. Lauderdale

March 27, 2020--Jack: The Epicenter

On the phone Jack said, "Just checking to see how you're doing down there at the epicenter."

"I appreciate that. All things considered, we're as good as can be expected. Though it's scary and a little boring."

"That's why I called--to perk you up."

"That would be a first," I said, half under my breath.

"No need to get your pants in a bunch. I consider myself one of your best friends."

I wondered if that were true and, if it was, wasn't entirely sure I liked the idea of it. I have to think more about that. But not right now. Too much going on. "So tell me," I said, "what's on your mind?"

"You."

"Me? Meaning?"

"Meaning you're in the high risk category and . . ."

I cut in, "I don't have diabetes or lung disease or a heart condition."

"But you're elderly. That puts you at high risk."

"I don't think about myself that way. Age is just a number. And a state of mind."

"But in your case that number is quite a number. And about state of mind, you've got problems with that too." I could hear him stifling a laugh.

"Get on with it," I said to one of my self-declared best friends.

"But then there's the Trump factor."

I knew we'd get there. 

"He's doing a great job, don't you agree?"

"Of course you're kidding. His delaying for well over a month to even acknowledge there was an impending problem makes him rsponsible for thousands of unnecessary deaths. Not that he ever takes responsibility for anything. And then when he did reluctantly admit it was more than a hoax, fake news, he lied about its being under control and that soon it would just disappear as a 'miracle'--he literally said that--which only made matters worse. His people believed him and carried on with their lives as if everything was normal."

I paused to calm down. Jack had me all agitated.

"To him," I continued, "it's been about two things, just two--neither one in the public interest--the state of the economy (really more how the Dow Jones average is doing) and, related, his own personal politics--how the economy and the pandemic would affect his reelection chances."

"In the meantime he's doing pretty good," Jack said, "Since he began those daily press briefing his approval rating has gone up at least five points. Almost to 50 percent."

"So you too only care about those two things. People are dying and all that's on your mind is his approval rating."

I took a deep breath  "You mentioned our so-called friendship. Your seeing things this way makes it very difficult for me to consider you as anything resembling a friend. I think I'm about to hang up."

In fact I did hang up. I was only sorry, to make it more dramatic, I didn't have one of those old-fashioned phones that you could slam into its cradle.

Before I could get a glass of water the phone was ringing. Jack's name came up on the caller ID. I let it ring and ring until it was picked up by the answering machine.

It rang two more times before I picked it up and, not saying a word, I held the phone a good two inches from my ear, as if I did not want to acknowledge or touch Jack.

Jack said, "I get your point. I replayed the tape in my head and I did sound stupid." Still, I did not respond.

"Of course it's not about his reelection chances or the economy. Not when so many Americans are hurting and worse. Please," I had never heard him this contrite, "Let me try again."

I finally grunted, "OK," but continued to hold the phone well away from my ear.

"At times he can be a jerk. Worse than a jerk. At those times I admit I have my problems with him."

"'Problems?'" I shouted. "He has blood on his hands and so do you if you continue to be an apologist for him. You and your kind are enablers of the worst sort. This is not about day-to-day politics but about life and death. Of Americans." 

I was soaking wet and trembling. Afraid for my health. To quote Jack, I am elderly, and, if I can avoid them, shouldn't allow myself to be put in such stressful situations.

Still with my heart pounding, I said, "Do you remember about three weeks ago there was that cruise liner, the Grand Princess I think it was called? There were people on board who had the virus and American authorities didn't allow it to dock on the west coast until there were facilities on shore to put them in quarantine. 

"When Trump was asked why it wasn't allowed to dock he said, 'I'd rather have the people stay to board. I'd rather that,' and I'm quoting him, 'Because I like the numbers being where they are.'" 

"In other word," I said, "not included in the total number of American's infected. That summed him up and how he was handling this--as PR. Not as a health emergency."

"Again," Jack said, "I'm don't disagree with you."

"So?"

"So I still think he'll be reelected."

For the second time, I slammed the phone down. This time on the table top.

March 20, 2020--Coronavirus

I've been wanting to write about COVID-19 but thus far have been unsuccessful.

Everything meaningful seems to have been explored, even what we might learn from Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel, Journal of the Plague Year, which is about the 1665 Bubonic Plague. Quit a bit, actually.

But when reading about the current flu season (as distinguished from COVID-19) I have a few questions. 

I am hesitant to pose them, concerned that I will be viewed as being insensitive or, minimally, not yet ready to go along with the conventional wisdom.

Let me begin by citing a few statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)--

As of yesterday morning in the U.S. there were between 36 and 51 million cases of the 2020 flu.

They have led to between 17 and 24 million medical visits.

In turn, there have been 37,000 to 67,000 hospitalizations.

Tragically, there have been 22,000 to 55,000 deaths.

In regard to the coronavirus, as of yesterday morning there were 10,691 confirmed cases in the U.S.

Of these, 10,424 were so-called "active cases" and 64 (or 1 percent) "serious or critical."

There have thus far been 160 deaths nationwide.

I am not good with numbers and even less adept at statistics. For example, in regard to the 2020 flu data, I do not know why there is such a wide disparity in regard to hospitalizations and deaths. But the comparative numbers between COVID and the basic 2020 flu are stunning enough to cause me to be skeptical about what we have thus far faced and what is ahead of us.

I know I am comparing apples and oranges--the 2020 flu has by now nearly run its course whereas COVID-19 is in its early or mid stages. And the viruses that do the infecting emerged from two very different kinds of pathogens.

But again, in spite of this they are both viruses and the huge difference in the numbers suggests that we should be talking publicly about this as it might contribute to refining our approach to data collecting and reporting and double-check to make sure our health policy is as effectively targeted as possible.

With that said, we should take every precaution that is recommended. It would be irresponsible to behave in any other way.

Still, can those of you who know how to run and understand numbers straighten me out? 

Or is it possible that we as a nation are doing a little overreacting? 

March 17, 2020--George Lindberg's Straw Dog

George Lindberg, a very good friend from Maine sent me this and I thought you might like to see it--

There are a few more coronavirus cases here in Maine.  Folks hunkering down, staying at home. Schools preparing for homeschooling on line.  As you know all the kids in Maine have PCs.  Sure. But they all don’t have wi-fi at home.   

Our kids calling to shop for us and whatever else we need.  I asked for $$$ but they won’t . . .

Stores are having a run on toilet paper and paper towels.   

What?

Crazy stuff this pandemic. 

I’m wondering if all this money earmarked for coronavirus relief will eventually be tapped for wall building.  I’m surprised Honduras hasn’t been blamed for it.  

Well, stay safe down there. We’ll get through it.  Our supreme leader is at the helm.  

Oh crap!  I just realized that must be the reason for the run on toilet paper.  

March 11, 2020--Germaphobe In Chief

Isn't it ironic that the world's best-known germaphobe, Donald Trump, may be in the process of being brought down by a whopper of a germ, the coronavirus.

I knew Trump was serious about running for president when he mingled in crowds and shook hands with people along the rope line without wearing gloves.

Years before that, occasionally in Manhattan, we would run into him and he always wore gloves, even in the middle of summer.

Even now, he is desperate to pretend everything is normal, claiming without evidence that the virus, like a "miracle" will soon just "disappear," the stock market will come roaring back, and in a romp he will win reelection.

Thinking about this and how Trump is behaving, a number of friends have been saying that the virus doesn't have to disappear to keep his supporters in line because, like his claim that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, he could bungle the response to the pandemic (as is currently happening) and none of his people would care.

They would go along with the talking points which assert there is no public health problem. Like Ukraine, like with North Korea, like behaving as an apologist for Vladimir Putin, it's all a media-generated "witch hunt." The coronavirus is a "hoax" intended to bring Trump down.

But what is unfolding is categorically different than "lock her up" or calling the press the "enemy of the people." By comparison they are benign.

What we are seeing now is hitting much, much closer to home. It is literally a matter of life and death. Not some insipid chant at a feel-good Trump rally.

For example, many of his followers have aging parents or are elderly themselves. They have underlying medical issues such as COPD or heart disease and they know if they contract the virus there is a good chance they will die.

This is not an example of a Trump-inspired cost-free political frolic but a deeply feared threat. So lying about this is very different than lying about Benghazi. Deception will not make the virus go away.

In crises like the Bay of Pigs or 9/11presidents are supposed to remain calm and help people get through the trauma, not make matters worse by being flippant or incompetent. They need to feel our fear and pain, not exploit it for their own political benefit.

There is one good thing--Trump has made such an obvious and blatant mess of this existential crisis that people are finally coming to realize he is a fraud and cannot be depended upon to make us feel safe. Even some of his own people. Making citizens feel protected is a president's most important responsibility.

The current situation then represents a huge political disaster for him from which there is no easy recovery. Even members of cults (or Congress) have on occasion broken away from their charismatic leaders. I expect that something similar will soon change the narrative for some of Trump's most fervent acolytes. 

The fun for them is over.