7.19.20: More Human Wood on the Fire / Comment on the Passing of John Lewis

To begin, this column, inspired by individuals such as Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), is reminded to keep going despite being spit in a rain storm of politically-based content. Well, sometimes and at some point there is the thousandth cut, the final blow, the poison pill, the glob of spit in the rain... We enjoy the status and to keep writing it as we see it.

Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said there was no greater force in the civil rights movement who personified the goodness of this country. Today's cover of The New York Times:

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We would suggest that instead of the "conscience of congress" it should be the Conscience of America. Mr. Lewis taught this country at a time it didn't want to learn, but he recognized that it needed to. He sacrificed in blood for this country and stood of the right side of history when others just stood by. He overcame injustice and made his voice heard in the very halls of justice. In congress, he was a inspiring and inspired leader for all Americans.

Mr. Lewis embraced nonviolent protest and resistance to "restore America's goodness," as Congress Clyburn said the two spoke about. He also said that the Black Lives Matter movement reminded them of the 1960's. It can be bigger by invoking this hero to America, because there would be no progress without John Lewis.

Another principle that Mr. Lewis held close to his heart was his desire to help others. With that in mind we're going to nakedly transition into discussing the national disaster that is the corona virus running almost out of control across the south and west of the United States.

As of this writing, the White House is actively trying to block the Senate from additional federal funding for testing and tracing, which the states desperately need.

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Above are the blocks of states in the 'red zone' for infections leading the way to a one-day milestone of 75,000 plus cases. Chuck Todd interviewed two governors that aren't in said red zone, but are seeing cases spiking. All this, we remind you, with a president who is in denial that any of this is even happening.

But there is some good news... and some bad. The good news is that we can trust the science and the data coming from the refreshingly candid Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins. The bad news is that the science and the data are not good.

Dr. Collins explains the turnaround time for test results nationwide is an average of three days, but in some states it's as long as eight days. Either way, it makes contact tracing and tracking of the virus an exercise in futility. Again, with a president in denial, we have no plan for a federal tracing and tracking program. Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) explained that when his state sends out tests to federal labs the response time is eight days; through private instate it's 1 to 2 days.

Dr. Collins explained that NIH is developing 'point of care' tests, the first of which is being deployed in nursing homes where the wait time for a result would be an hour. He explained that individuals should wear a mask when out in public, socially distance, et al pointing out that the data shows it helps. He also flatly stated that the wearing of masks should not be politicized and that everyone should do it.

However, Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota said there's still a lot of human wood to burn in this corona virus firestorm. (What a way to put it.) The way we're going, we're looking at 60 percent of the population, he said.

But he's not wrong. Take the mask example: Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) said he is very concerned that Ohio is at a point where 'we could become Florida.' Everyone's dissing Florida right now, because Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) took one in the face, courtesy of the Covid-19. He went on television how great Florida was doing while doing nothing, and now the state is the epicenter for cases. Yet, Gov. DeWine has anti-mask protesters outside his capitol and his house. Though he talked around it, it's the reason why he hasn't instituted a statewide mandate on masks.  In Ohio, 60 percent of the counties the population has a mask mandate, which is 19 counties. Here's how it breaks down:

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The largest red zone is in the center of the state and has no where else to start burning but outward. Soon, all those red dots will be connected. Governors, especially ones in states like Ohio, not only need federal money, they also need federal muscle to rally and educate people about public health, specifically how wearing a mask protects you, your family and your neighbor. (Again, president in denial.) But if we kept in mind, just for a moment, John Lewis and the spirit of helping one another, it would have been (shouldn't have been) an issue to ask people to do it.

Sadly, until we have leadership from the White House, one that cares about the public health of Americans, we're needlessly throwing more human wood on the fire.

7.12.20: The Plight of the Pitied Helpless Giant

A "pitied helpless giant" is how George Will described the perception that other countries around the world have of the United States because of our dismally tragic respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Will explained that politically for the president, this is worse than a 'Katrina moment' because we can compare our response to other countries and it's clear that we're failing at the task.

The last results from the CDC website, as of today, are as follows:

The total number of deaths just yesterday was 811. Even if the United States were to lower that number to 500 a day for the next 100 days, that would still total another 50,000 deaths by November.

The Asst. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Adm. Brett Giroir, M.D. said that we can bring this virus under control, but it has to be a collective effort with 95% compliance with community mask wearing. But that's simply not going to happen. Take for example, Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) who recently mandated mask wearing in his state, but the citizens of the state aren't buying in, not at this point. Adm. Giroir also made it very clear that all the health professionals in the administration have been very clear and consistent when it comes to mask wearing. This clear and consistent message certainly hasn't come from Mr. Trump.

Now, there are those who commend the president for finally wearing a mask in public on his visit to Walter Reed Hospital yesterday, but let's be honest here, that's 4 months late and 133,666 lives short. It's a failure of national leadership pure and simply.

Maryland's governor Larry Hogan said he didn't want to Monday morning quarterback, casting blame at who was to fault in February and March because it's a waste of energy and not where we are now, with which we agree. However, he was clear to point out that we needed a national testing and tracing strategy from the beginning. That's on the president.

The same president is now pressuring governors to open schools in their respective states irrespective of the data and community safety. Chuck Todd interview the public schools superintendent of Miami-Dade county, which at present has a 29% positivity testing rate. That's almost 1 in 3 people in the entire county. Mr. Carvalho said that they would be very aggressive with mitigation strategies, but that science would be guiding policy, not politics.

Speaking of politics, you may know that the city of Washington D.C. is literally built on top of a swamp, which makes adding to it much easier than draining it. Point being, our current president is "in his element," with his latest act of commuting the sentence of Roger Stone on Friday.  Read Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Op-Ed in The Washington Post today and you'll be concisely reminded of the crimes committed by Mr. Stone. Relieved of any jail time, which he deserves, Mr. Stone said that he would not 'roll' on the president meaning that he will not tells what he knows, clearly implying that the president is guilty of something. To again quote George Will, "This is mob talk."

As Kristen Welker said, Mr. Trump is trying to paint his opponent (Joe Biden) as a criminal while at the same time commuting the sentence of a real criminal. What do they say - that dog don't hunt.


Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC, George Will, syndicated columnist; Anna Palmer, Politico

7.5.20: America Has To Live with a Dual Viral Threat

The governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson (R) was right when he said that we have virus fatigue but he didn't internalize why that is because he also said that in his state the number of Covid cases were down then they went up, then back down and now they're seeing a rise again. This translates in what we're seeing in other states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona - governors who opened their respective states too early and are now having to shutdown many businesses once again.

The fatigue is frustration.

Whatever you want to call it, this result is due to the initial lack of a national strategy to curb the spread of the virus, along with the president's fanciful denial back in January and February that it would magically disappear. Even this week, Mr. Trump reiterated this thinking when he said that the coronavirus would "just disappear, I hope."

And now as NBC's Peter Alexander reported, the administration's message is that we just have to live with it. It's one thing that this administration has gotten correct, we do now have to just learn to live with the coronavirus because the administration created these conditions. And for those who are hoping that in November a Biden Administration takes over and tries to implement a national strategy, it will fail because of the fatigue and the frustration of changing protocols and messaging. Also, the poison pill that is Donald Trump is unlikely to go away and will continue to sew seeds of dissent.

What a new administration may be able to do is to nationalize contact tracing, but as infectious disease doctor Nahid Bhadelia explained, the amount of positive cases could be so many that it would render contact tracing ineffective. By the November election we could be staring at 200,000+ Americans dead from Covid-19. So yes, we are now in a position where we're going to have to live with it because of Mr. Trump's magical thinking and irresponsible actions holding rallies where there is no social distancing or mask requirement.

And then there is the other 'virus' to contend with - Mr. Trump and his continuing strategy to divide America and pit groups against one another instead of uniting people.

Saddest of all is the fact that this political 'virus' is now presenting compounded danger for our troops in war zones. The story of Russia's GRU paying bounties to the Taliban for killing U.S. and coalition troops has been called a hoax by Mr. Trump. Take about frustrating... nay, it's infuriating. First, administration officials said that the president wasn't briefed even though this information was in the President's Daily Briefing and then the president says it was a hoax? Well, which is it because it can't be both. Fmr. National Security Advisor Susan Rice was spot on when she described this situation as a clown show, consisting of sycophants and weaklings in the administration. The president has no plans for a response and once again we see him taking the side of Vladimir Putin over the U.S. intelligence community. Then he has the gall to speak about American patriotism?

Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute described this in two parts. First, she said that if the president wasn't briefed, this is a dereliction of duty. If? The White House has been guilty of dereliction of duty since January 20th, 2016. However, she also said that this was an incredibly damaging leak about extremely sensitive information. But again, we have to examine the 'why' here. Why was there a leak? It's fairly evident that this information was leaked because the administration has known about this going back to 2019 and the president has done nothing about it. There is extenuating harm from Russia facing our troops in a war zone and what does the president do? He advocates for Russia to be included in the G7 again. So while Ms. Pletka frets over the leak, it is justified to put this information out to the public to try and force the president's hand and say something. But once again, we've learned that Mr. Trump will not socially distance his lips from Putin's butt.

America is confronted with a dual viral threat, and unfortunately we are just going to have to learn to live with it.


Panel: Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute; Jeh Johnson, fmr. Secretary of Homeland Security; Peter Alexander, NBC News