Cry-babies just Can’t Handle the Stress of Staying Healthy

“Waah, it’s not fair. I want to go out and shop. I don’t care who it hurts.”

Los Angeles County on Saturday reported 81 new deaths related to COVID-19, the county’s highest one-day death toll from the disease by far. In the last week, deaths among L.A. County residents have roughly doubled and now stand at more than 570. This was reported in all the local newspapers.

Meanwhile just 40 miles away in Orange county California (really part of metropolitan Los Angeles) a group of more than 100 protesters converged on Huntington Beach on Friday in a demonstration against California’s coronavirus stay-at-home rules, part of a series of national demonstrations organized by conservative groups. One demonstrator carried a “Live Free or Die” banner and another reading “Defy Fascist Lockdown.”

I guess cry babies are just that. Do these people wash their hands after using the toilet?

U.S. Jobless Claims Top 20 Million Since Start of Shutdowns

New jobless claims reported today totaled 5.2 million filings for this past week. That brings the total seeking aid in a month of coronavirus-related shutdowns to 22 million workers and showing a broad shock for the U.S. labor market.

This graph shows the unemployment claims is off the chart. Notice where the unemployment rate was during the Great Recession. The graph goes to 6 million initial claims showing how disastrous the situation is now.

Thursday’s report also showed 12 million Americans received unemployment payments in the week ended April 4, a record. That is up from 7.4 million the prior week, which exceeded the highest level set in the 2007-2009 recession.

The maximum benefit in California is $450 per week.  An additional $600 will be added to that amount thanks to the CARES act passed by congress regardless of the California unemployment benefit.  It’s anticipated that the additional payments will last four months.  If your salary was $40,000 per year your weekly benefit is $385.  To qualify for the $450 benefit your annual income must have beeen at least $50,000 per year for the past year. Incidentally CARES stands for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security.

Who is to blame?

Coronavirus Deaths by Nation

Sadly the United States is the country with the most deaths, 26,064 and the most cases of this disease.  Italy is second and China has had 3,342 deaths.  While the number of cases word wide now exceeds 2 million, the United States also leads that number at over 640,000.

Our institutions have failed to protect our population.  Lack of leadership at the top is to blame.  Donald Trump can try to lay the blame elsewhere but he claims total authority when he comes to claiming a success.  When things don’t work out it’s always some one else’s fault.

The April Fool – A President Divorced from Reality

Quest Diagnostics had about 160,000 coronavirus test orders waiting to be processed on March 25, which amounted to about half of the 320,000 total orders for the tests the company had received up to that date, according to Quest internal materials obtained by CNN.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that there’s no longer a shortage of coronavirus tests, calling the assertion “just not true” and warning that no state has enough tests.

New Orleans Mayor appearing on MTP Daily said they needed 5,000 ventilators but have received about 150.

CBS News obtained audio of a call Monday between Pres. Trump and rural state governors about coronavirus. After Montana Gov. Steve Bullock discusses difficulty getting testing equipment, Trump says, “I haven’t heard anything about testing being a problem.”

At Tuesday’s coronavirus briefing President Trump said that there are almost 10,000 ventilators being “held back” from distribution because “the surge is coming.” Why would the government hold back ventilators that are needed now?

What is the first order of business in today’s briefing is an issue warning of deploying naval vessels searching for drug cartels trying to bring drugs into the United States. It was at that point that I turned off the press briefing and so did MSNBC.

The Blame Game – The Buck Does Not Stop Here

Donald Trump in the East Room discussing health care

The sign “The Buck Stops Here” was on President Truman’s desk in his White House office. In his farewell address to the American people given in January 1953, President Truman referred to this concept very specifically in asserting that, “The President–whoever he is–has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.

Sadly our current president takes no responsibility. It’s always someone else’s fault. That is strange considering he repeatedly refuses to listen to the specialists in intelligence, health care, and every other department.

As president, Trump blamed “liberal judges” for rejecting his initial travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries. He blamed Obama for his own policy of separating families seeking asylum. He blamed the media and Democrats for perpetrating a hoax about the dangers of the coronavirus. He then blamed China for failing to apprise us about the pandemic, even though he was briefed on it before he took remedial action. He blamed a nonexistent Obama era regulation for his own failure to provide medical professionals with adequate testing kits for the coronavirus. He blamed governors for the lack of protective equipment for health care workers.

March 13: “I don’t take responsibility at all,” Trump said defiantly, pointing to an unspecified “set of circumstances” and “rules, regulations and specifications from a different time.”

March 27: The president blamed General Motors and its CEO, Mary Barra, for not manufacturing more ventilators to treat patients.

What’s next for our very “stable genius?” Or perhaps the question should be Mr. President, When will you take responsibility?

A Failure of Government

We’ve been to three super markets and Costco in the past seven days.  People are in panic mode as they buy bulk quantities of water, paper goods, fruits and vegetables, meat and many other items as if there are or will be shortages.  The lines are long as their shopping carts are filled to the brim.

Today we called three markets to find ground beef.

The government has failed to assure the public that there should be no fear that the things they need will not be in short supply.