Testing

This is basic math. And just like with masks, obvious.

It comes in waves, my pissed-offness. I wake up in the morning and I immediately go to my phone, for the latest news. And then I go to the physical papers to read yesterday's news. And then all day long I have incoming, from friends and subscribers, their heads twisting, wondering just how this can be.

You've got to read this story in the "Washington Post," "Trump's attempt to enlist business in reopening push gets off to a rocky start": https://wapo.st/2VrY85W Only you can't, it's behind a paywall.

Did you read the insane news that staff from the L.A. "Times" is being furloughed? I thought the owner was a billionaire, Patrick Soon-Shiong is buying a hospital, he can't afford to pay his newspaper staff? The journalists are our friends in this fight. This is not a matter of opinion, this is a matter of fact, and the only people who can distribute these facts are journalists. Your opinion? My opinion? They don't mean much if we don't have the facts.

And speaking of facts, the story on Laura Ingraham's show last night was the encroachment upon our freedoms. Yup, that we can't leave our houses and die (and infect others!) willy-nilly. That's what happens when you listen/watch Fox News, you end up knowing less than nothing. Just like Trump is getting his comeuppance, so is Fox, it will never be trusted again.

So, you've got wankers in Michigan and Oklahoma protesting that business must open! You know Trump is in a snit with the governor of the Wolverine State, and therefore it's license to pile on.

Speaking of playing favorites, you might have heard that Nebraska gets 300k per coronavirus case while New York gets 12k. Can you explain that to me? Oh, of course, Nebraska is a red state!

And yesterday Trump said he was all powerful and the governors and the legal experts pushed back.

Undeterred, Trump today said he was gonna shut down Congress so he could fill his administration's vacancies, but the truth is he never even nominated people.

And if you read the "New York Times," the "Washington Post," even the "Wall Street Journal," you'll learn all this. But no, if it's in a paper it must be fake. Better to trust those you have a relationship with, Rush, your friends, your buddies on Fox.

And I know, I know, the left is tearing its hair out. Then again, the left had a rousing victory in Wisconsin the other day. Does this presage victory in November? I think so, but nothing is clear, because Democratic turnout was high because of the Presidential primary.

So, Trump could be evicted and both houses of Congress could go blue and...it'd just be a matter of time before they flip again. Those tax and spend Democrats are gonna push it too far, and then because they're sick of paying taxes, Americans will give the reins back to the Republicans. However, if the Democrats play within boundaries, they'll still be excoriated, so why not try and gerrymander and get some pork while you can? (Meanwhile, once again the Republicans are framing the debate. The nature of government IS taxing and spending!)

It's hard to have faith in the system.

But one thing is for sure, we need the system, despite what we've been hearing for all these years from the right. You've got to prepare for a crisis. If you lose your job and you can't pay next month's rent...either you had a very low-paying job, which is quite possible, or you thought the gravy train would never end. The Republicans want to blame you. But one thing's for sure, doesn't the buck stop with the government? I'm not saying that the government should make everybody absolutely whole, but I am saying with the best and the brightest it should be prepared for contingencies. Then again, even the airlines were unprepared, they blew all their income on stock repurchases.

So I don't know about you, but I want to live through this experience.

And for me, that means taking no risks. I can't live in a bubble, but I can be smart and do my best not to come in contact with a carrier.

And it would be very simple to achieve this. By having everybody in America tested.

The first tests manufactured failed, and Trump blamed it on Obama. I thought Hillary was the culprit, it was in her e-mails, but the second rule of credibility, after being honest, is to own your mistakes. If you're always right, if you never lose, we stop believing you, because no one wins all the time.

Yup, America is so sick of winning we're willing to DIE for Trump!

As for putting young people on the frontlines... Sure, their odds of getting infected are low, but not nonexistent. And young people need old people, for shelter and food. So, students come home and...THEY INFECT THEIR PARENTS! So, the whole system breaks down.

But we've got to open America for business!

No, they do that in South Korea, where they tested everybody, where they were prepared for a pandemic!

So, if you read that WaPo article, you'll find that people on Trump's blue ribbon panel were never asked to be on it. And they keep telling Trump it's too soon to open!

This is kind of like Chernobyl. Do you want to enter the reactor?

We don't have that level of self-sacrifice in America, no one ever wants to die. So, you've got to make it as safe as possible.

But, safety takes a backseat, the right has convinced the public that the problem with torts is the greedy attorneys, when that is completely untrue. The attorneys keep the corporations in line, and the amount of money they cost the corporations is de minimis in the overall picture. But the people at home are stunned when they see a seven or eight figure judgment.

No one is keeping anybody in line. Except for some governors and mayors. There's no oversight. Make too many mistakes on the test and you fail, they kick you out of college. Blow governing and you get a free pass. Can you explain this to me? And that three branches of the government, the checks and balances...Dick Cheney hacked away at it and Trump has taken it even further.

And don't give me that quid pro quo nonsense. Of course the Democrats have made mistakes, of course they haven't always been morally perfect. But it's like comparing the kid who burns down the school with the one who stuffs the commode with toilet paper. The level of egregiousness is just that much worse. And just because you've got some high-paid talking head saying it's otherwise, that does not make it true.

So forget all the problems at the end of the story, let's go back to the beginning. Which involves self-quarantining and tests.

Most people are staying home, at least in California and New York.

Now, ramp up the tests, whatever it takes. Yes, save the ill first, but then we've got to find out who has got it and who has not. And then we can start talking about opening up the country for business. We want to make this decision based on science, which is anathema in the White House.

There, I said it.

Let me tell you how this works folks, the right are working the refs 24/7. They're always telling you you're out of line, they're always telling you to be quiet, their goal is to inhibit you so you don't speak.

But one thing is for sure, individuals are gonna make a difference here. And the coronavirus knows no political party.

Look at the ruckus made by Greta Thunberg. Forget the climate deniers, more people are talking about climate change than ever before.

We need someone to stick up and form an army. Someone who's got no skin in the game other than that they're human. Someone who doesn't want to be part of the media/political circus as a career, just someone who knows right from wrong who can stand up and rally the people.

I ain't going out until it's safe.

And despite all the publicity about those who will, most of you are like me. We are the majority. We want safety. We don't want to take undue risks. When are we gonna get control?


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