The tRump administration’s game plan for communicating about the coronavirus whenever they are in front of a camera is pretty obvious right now. First, lie about it being contained and assure the American people and U.S. businesses that it is under control. Second, make untruthful statements that the number of new cases is on a downward trend. Third, claim that the country isn’t seeing a resurgence of the virus that would constitute a second wave of infections. This is partially true, because we aren’t even out of the first wave. Fourth, stress that the number of deaths from the virus is decreasing. So basically, rather than dealing with this realistically, either lie about it, or act as if there is not a problem with the virus. tRump continues to say a vaccine is right around the corner and will be here soon, but health experts say it will more than likely be 2021 before the public has access to a vaccine. “It’s going to fade away, but having a vaccine would be really nice and that’s going to happen,” says Dr. Trump. In reality, new cases hit a record yesterday, with more than 37,000 cases reported by state health departments, surpassing the old peak of 36,188 on April 24th. Florida, Texas, California, and Arizona are seeing a sharp new wave of cases resulting in the rethinking about reopening plans. But hey, Larry Kudlow, tRump’s economic adviser isn’t too concerned. After all, in February he said the virus was contained. Yesterday he says that there is no second wave coming and Americans “are just going to have to live with it (the surge in cases).” This morning at the first coronavirus task force press briefing in two months, Pence tried to soften the reality of the situation by saying, “We slowed the spread, we flattened the curve, we saved lives.” The European Union doesn’t seem to agree as today they voted to ban most Americans from entry into Europe. Even though that decision will have a huge economic impact from loss of tourism, the E.U. deems the health and safety of their people more important than a loss of money. This is exactly the opposite of how tRump has managed the pandemic in America — the economy is more important than the health and safety of it’s citizens. Sad, very sad.
Meanwhile, last night at 11:00 pm Eastern Time, one hour before midnight, amidst the most serious health and medical crisis we have experienced for centuries, the Trump administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court to abolish the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. This move, if successful, could eliminate coverage for as many as 23 million Americans. At a time when many people are losing their company sponsored health insurance due to the economy or losing their job entirely, it just doesn’t seem to make much sense to eliminate a program that has been a life saver for so many. “Publican’s’ have had a goal of “repealing and replacing” Obamacare for years, but I sure haven’t seen a ‘replacement’ alternative, so let’s go ahead and get rid of something that has been a benefit for so many people and not have a program to replace it with. Splendid leadership, just splendid, boys.
A few blogs back I talked about my repurposing projects with some old solar light parts. I finished two more projects today. The first was a chandelier for our outdoor timber frame structure. Our friend Connie gave me a round ring from, I think, a planter base about a year ago to use as the base for a light fixture. Any hoo, a couple of pieces of chain and some outdoor edison lights and voila — a chandelier.
The other project is a Tiki light from a bourbon bottle, some plumbing parts, some marbles, a wick, and some citronella lamp oil. Gettin’ the creative juices flowin’.
This writing was just to give me a break from my outdoor projects, so gotta get back to it. Stay healthy. Ziggyman
Mountain Man Musings 