Medicynic

The midwest states followed Trump’s lead and doubted the seriousness of the COVID pandemic. They are now facing the consequences of their ignorance. This is a terrifying graphic.

Yesterday over 1900 people died of the COVID infection……that’s the equivalent of six 747’s crashing with no survivors. And Trump continus his denial, his lies and his misinformation.

Click on the graph to follow the changes since June.

Medicynical Note: Trump and Pence mismanaged the response to the pandemic. It didn’t go away like magic. It wasn’t under control in February, March, April, May or anytime. It didn’t stop during the warm months. The strategy of “herd immunity” is killing people.

Thousands of American Citizen deaths are a direct result of republican leaders, at every level of government, ignoring science. It’s the worst civilian disaster in modern U.S. history. Nothing else compares.

“Ms. Sussman, 51, took her whole family to get tested, and the results came back negative.”

“Then the paperwork came: $6,816 had been charged to insurance for four coronavirus tests. Ms. Sussman’s fees alone were $1,944.”

Medicynical note: a once honorable profession.

“McCarrick, 90, was defrocked by Francis last year after a Vatican investigation confirmed decades of allegations that the globe-trotting envoy and successful church fundraiser had sexually molested adults as well as children. The Vatican had reports from authoritative figures dating back to 1999 that McCarrick’s behavior was problematic, yet he continued to rise to become an influential cardinal, kingmaker and emissary of the Holy See’s “soft diplomacy.””

Medicynical note: Yes, I know we’re supposed to defer to religiosity no matter how flawed. But The Catholic Church is a special case. Yes the ritual can be view as timeless and moving but the church itself is a rotting hulk. After all, for centuries, apparently even our current one, it has condoned and hidden abusive behavior of clergy towards women and children on every continent even elevating deniers and abusers to “sainthood.” In the U.S. it wields absurd power considering that five Supreme Court justices (a majority of the court) and the attorney general are conservative true believer members of this archaic relic of the Middle Ages.

Supporting their candidate to the bitter end.

Medicynical note: Loyalty goes both ways

“Remember as well that the efficacy levels we’re seeing this morning are after the second dose. If everyone magically got the vaccine this morning, we still wouldn’t all be able to breath easy for nearly a month. And we are not all getting it this morning, for sure. It’s obvious that the pandemic is ripping through a long list of countries right now – cases are rising steeply, hospitalizations right behind, and although we’re better at treating the patients than we were, deaths are inevitably going up as well. This is all going to get worse before it gets better – but the good news here is that it really is going to get better. Keeping your head down, wearing masks and keeping your distance is more valuable than ever, because there’s an actual finish line in sight that you have to reach. Hang on for the vaccine – for the vaccines – because they really are coming.”

But

“The Pfizer/BioNTech candidate, last we heard, needs -80C storage, and that is not available down at your local pharmacy. Pfizer has been rounding up as many ultracold freezers (and as much dry ice production) as they can, but there seems little doubt that this is going to be a tough one. I know that the press release talks about getting 1.3 billion doses of this vaccine during 2021, but actually getting 1.3 billion doses out there is going to take an extraordinary effort, because you’re getting into some regions where such relatively high-tech storage and handling becomes far more difficult.”

Medicynical note: Delusions of grandeur, paranoid ideation, unaccepting reality, uncontrolled emotional reactions. 25 th Amendment time. For the sake of the nation let numb nuts novocaine Mike handle the next three months.

“While Democrats aggressively pushed to turn Texas blue this election cycle, they were banking on help from people like Barbara Ocañas, a highly educated, 37-year-old Latina voter from the Rio Grande valley.”

“But, after Donald Trump faced backlash for using the word “coyote” to describe human smugglers, Ocañas was turned off by liberals focused more on semantics than the actual realities of the migrant crisis affecting her home. As the daughter of a Mexican émigré, she believes that undocumented immigrants are “just people, like you and me”.”

“However, when it comes to earning US citizenship, “there is a right way and a wrong way to do it”, she said.”

Medicynical note: An interesting phenomenon among Latinos in southern Texas. Despite all the invectives and hate about Latino refuges from Trump and many of his supporters, a significant number of S.Texas Latinos voted for Trump. Driven by slowly declining petroleum industry jobs, abortion and perhaps simple contrariness they abandoned the plight of Latino refuges, separated immigrant children, asylum seekers and even DACA beneficiaries. They join others who have shut the door behind their own good fortune (most notable example Clarence Thomas) to oppose progressive policies. Sad, but it’s really happening.

Trumps emphasis in shutting down immigration brings Melania’s Einstein Visa and other work visas into focus.

“Melania Trump obtained US citizenship on a visa reserved for immigrants with “extraordinary ability” and “sustained national and international acclaim”, according to a report in the Washington Post.”

“Nicknamed the “Einstein Visa”, the EB-1 is in theory reserved for people who are highly acclaimed in their field – the government cites Pulitzer, Oscar, and Olympic winners as examples – as well as respected academic researchers and multinational executives.”

Medicynical note: Melania’s abuse of the visa system– everything legal but clearly Trump’s wealth and influence greased the skids– is consistent with the Trump family’s lifelong monied privileges. None of them have ever worked for an hourly wage. None have ever had to apply for a job without a fix having been in place. Donald and his children including his son-in-law were legacy admissions (paid for by donations by parents to colleges and grad schools of choice). And lastly their business success was paid for largely by their millions in inherited wealth, not hard work and diligence.

And these privileged folk maintain that they represent the working people of the country. In reality, their reign has destroyed the economy, our health care system and our products’ access to overseas markets. Their tax cut benefitted mainly corporations and billionaires. It increased the Federal debt by trillions, even during the time the inherited (from Obama) economy, was doing well.

In America money rules.