Happy Friday!! We’re creeping up to what would normally be the first holiday weekend of summer activities, like camping, neighborhood barbecues, picnics, beach outings, and all those fun things we do with friends and family. It’s not going to be happening this year, or at least shouldn’t be yet. I was looking at some data last night and saw a very disturbing graph that illustrates what I predict will be a big problem for all of us in the near future. Take a look at this graph.

This graph shows me distinct differences in the cumulative cases of the coronavirus in a comparison of the United States and other major countries. They have all flattened and reached a peak, but as you can see, the U.S. just keeps climbing. Whatever data our leaders are using to make reopening decisions, I do not know. I realize that we can’t shut the economy down forever, but this short sighted decision is going to lead to further economic and human disaster, in my opinion. The number of infectious cases is continuing to climb, leading to an increase in deaths (human disaster), and as that death count travels across America, a sane person isn’t going to be rushing to the shopping mall, bar, restaurant, gym, or beauty salon, resulting in a Round 2 hit to the economy (economic disaster). And what will that lead to? An economic depression as people save every penny they can, not knowing when this thing will ever end. Although the “stable genius” says he is not going to shut the country down again, my prediction is that it’s going to happen on it’s own. And that, comrades, is going to be the prolonging of this sad period in America.

Okay, I’m on a FedEx rant again. Second time this week I was supposed to get a wine delivery, but the package was not delivered. I received a message from FedEx yesterday informing me that I had a package being delivered on that day. No delivery. Received another email today informing me I had that delivery coming today. At 2:27 pm I had an email that they attempted to deliver at 2:14 pm, but couldn’t because no one was there to receive. That is an out and out lie. I was sitting in my living room at that time and have an unobstructed view of my door. I have learned that at least three other community members have had issues similar to mine this week. I tried to resolve this issue at the Troutdale facility, but to no avail, so I submitted a complaint form to FedEx corporate. When I was still working and would attend the annual law conference in Eugene, one session that I attended was titled “Cowboy Law: (I don’t remember the subtitle), but over the years it turned out I had several legal cases with the attorney who presented at that session and learned lot’s of good strategies. FedEx has just f****d with the wrong retiree with too much time on his hands. Yippee ki-yay!! This cowboy’s coming for ya’ FedEx.

Hope y’all have a great Memorial Day Holiday, but don’t forget the meaning of this day as we honor those who died serving in the Armed Forces of our country. Ramble at ya later. Ziggyman

So now the wearing of a face mask while in public, at the recommendation of the CDC I might add, and the death count by the coronavirus has become politicized. The two memes above were from Facebook post’s by an individual whose introduction states, “I am a Christian and wear my faith on my shirt sleeve. I am also a Constitutional Fiscal Conservative.” Yep, I guess most of us libtards, as he describes us most of the time, are just too stupid to see what a hoax this whole thing is. If we were tRumpian Christians we wouldn’t be dying and wasting our time putting on that stupid mask. Several articles I have read over the past couple of days speak to this partisan behavior and have shown data supporting the idea that mask wearers are more than likely to be a Democrat and fewer Republicans choosing to wear one. Remember, cloth face masks are not meant to protect the wearer, but rather to protect others from disease transmission if the wearer has the virus but is asymptomatic. Robert Kahn, a University of St. Thomas Law School professor who has been following the mask debate said differences between Republicans and Democrats on the issue could be explained by Republicans and tea-party conservatives rejecting government control over their lives, while Democrats and liberals are concerned about community health and security. I think he pretty much has it right. One group’s mantra is “I live in America and expect to be able to exercise my ‘life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness’ rights, so f**k the rest of you cowards.” The other group is trying to show that freedom requires some obligations and responsibilities to each other. Just common decency.

Holy s**t! My opening paragraph was focused on national foolishness, but now I see we have our very own Oregon idiots. It looks like Jo Rae Perkins will be the Republican candidate for the seat currently held by Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat. This lady is a supporter of the batshit QAnon conspiracy theory, and what is the QAnon conspiracy theory you ask? Well, Q is an anonymous person or group of people who claim to be privy to government secrets that is secretly plotting all sorts of nefarious schemes against the Trump administration and its supporters. The character uses lingo that implies that he or she has a military or intelligence background. Last May, the F.B.I. included QAnon in an intelligence bulletin that warned of potential violence stemming from “fringe political conspiracy theories.” A concise summary of this movement can be found here. And it you go here you can read yesterday’s New York Times piece on Ms. Perkins and her nomination for the upcoming November election.

Michigan just can’t seem to stay out of the national news lately. First it had their gun carrying citizens stop by the capitol to protest the lockdown orders by their governor, then the state got hit with some serious flooding over the past few days causing thousands to be evacuated, and now today tRump is visiting Michigan in an attempt to win this swing state in November. Not before he and the Michigan Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, had a little “tweet tennis,” however. Twice Wednesday, tRump issued tweets threatening to withhold funding from the state after Benson announced the state would mail absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. Both times, Benson responded to call the president out for inaccuracies, causing him to make corrections to his tweets. Another strong female that isn’t going to take his s**t. I also see he visited the Ford plant in Rawsonville, MI and, even after being asked by the state’s attorney general to wear a mask, he refused. The state’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, released an open letter asking Trump to comply: “Anyone who has potentially been recently exposed, including the President of the United States, has not only a legal responsibility, but also a social and moral responsibility, to take reasonable precautions to prevent further spread of the virus.” What a national fool.

Moving on to the Food & Dining Section. Last night’s gourmand delight started with the slow baked ribs I had mentioned in yesterday’s post finished off on the gas grill with some bbq sauce, a stovetop creation consisting of leftover Rancho Gordo scarlet runner beans, combined with leftover rice, diced onion, garlic, sliced mini peppers, cabbage, and cheese, and corn bread. The wine accompaniment was a nice cabernet sauvignon. Delish!

Have a great evening. Ziggyman

Grrrrrrrrr. On Friday I received an email informing me that a wine club order from Willakenzie Estate in Carlton, OR had shipped and arrived at the Troutdale FedEx Ground site, was scheduled for delivery on Monday, and required an adult signature. I wait at home all day Monday — no delivery by 5:00 pm, so check the tracking information and it says “Delivery Pending.” I get an email Tuesday morning saying my delivery is on the truck, out for delivery to arrive between 10:30 am and 4:05 pm., and adult signature required. Wait at home all day — 5:00 pm, check tracking information and have this message:

No attempt made, delivery scheduled for next business day Recommended action : No action required. Delivery re-scheduled for next business day.

Do ya think I’m just a little pissed and fired up by now? You betcha. So this morning I’m on the phone to FedEx and am told it is on the truck for delivery today. They can’t tell me why it wasn’t delivered Monday or Tuesday. They hope I get it today. “Holy S**t, you hope I get it today?” I proceed to call the wine shipping company that Willakenzie uses and had a satisfactory experience discussing my issue with them. I also received a call back from them and am hopeful it will arrive today. What really has me riled up is this is the 3rd issue with FedEx I have had recently. I see a new project on the horizon — Bust FedEx!! Go USPS!!!

I read an interesting article titled The Lincoln Project Effect by Mike Madrid this morning on the website Medium. The article begins with, “Trump Republicans are in deep trouble in Arizona. The President continues to be a drag on the national brand and an anchor on the GOP’s prospects of holding the White House, Senate and recapturing the House. Moreover, Republicans tying themselves to Trump are sinking faster than the President.” Madrid goes on to talk about the effectiveness of The Lincoln Project, a Republican organization created by George Conway (Kellyanne’s husband) to defeat Trump, and their ads targeting Republican Senator Martha McSally in her race against Democrat Mark Kelly, with a recent poll showing Kelly leading McSally, 51% to 38%; college educated Republicans fleeing the party; and the erosion of Trump support from senior citizens, mainly because of his failed leadership during the pandemic. “College educated and older Republicans have reached their limit and they are responding.” Check out the short read.

I talked last week about the Lincoln Project and their “Mourning in America” television ad, causing the “stable genius” to go bat s**t over the ad. He ranted and raved for over a week. It seems that ad may have been the beginning of several tRump melt downs. Following that was the “Mother’s Day” tirade, followed by two females castrating him on stage. Back to the Lincoln Project. I’ve always liked James Carville, the Democratic political adviser, and his no bulls**t explanation of political strategy. Last week on MSNBC he said, “The way that you run a presidential campaign is you’re a pirate ship…you seize and you loot and you burn.” Referring to the Lincoln Project group, he says, “Let me tell you…these ‘Never Trumper’ Republicans, the Democrats could learn a lot from them. They’re mean. They fight hard. And we (Democrats) don’t fight like that.” I’m starting to think that the defeat of Donnie in November is going to be a result of some of the stuff these guys are doing and not from Democrat strategy. I think I’ll send some money over to them to help keep up the battle.

Took a little break after starting today’s rambling to start a fire in the woodstove (it’s 2:30 pm and the temperature is 48 degrees outside), and to throw some dry rubbed flanken-style short ribs in the oven on a low heat bake. While I was in the middle of that, the mail came and with it a package containing my Rancho Gordo Bean Club goods. Six packages of different beans and a jar of Mexican oregano. Yoo Hoo!! This was just shipped on Monday from Napa, CA and I have it today. Still haven’t seen FedEx today. Go USPS!! Bust and F FedEx!!

A couple of weeks ago I shared an article from the Irish Times that talked about how the United States is now seen around the world as the object of pity. We are not seen as great, and we are not seen as a leader in global matters. That was on full display at the World Health Organization virtual meeting on Monday where the meeting began with a speech by Chinese President Xi, that from accounts I read, was an effective performance. It sounds like he basically took the role of world leader that the United States would have had at one time. He was followed by France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel with messages of the need for global cooperation in fighting the virus. Four hours later, after speeches from other ministers around the world, the United States was given a turn at bat, represented by HHS Secretary Alex Azar, whose tone was markedly different than the other speeches according to Carl Blidt, a contributing writer at the Washington Post. Azar, “fueled the impression that the United States was far more interested in fighting China than fighting the virus. ” “This was the post-American world on display: China assertive and confident. Europe trying to save what can be saved of global cooperation. And the Trump administration mostly outside firing its heavy artillery in all directions, but with limited actual results.” We are losing respect every day, comrades.

Good news!! The wine was just delivered by FedEx, and the missus just finished the 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle she has been working on for the past two weeks. So with that bit of good news I will sign off for the day. Wash your hands, wear your mask, and think good thoughts. Oh, and listen to your mother and keep your fingers out of your nose. Ziggyman

Daughter, Jen, posted a pic of Mt. Saint Helens blowing when she was 5 years old from our house, at the time, in Gresham. Just had to share. Also, since my post earlier, BREAKING NEWS, Captain Clorox is on a hydroxychloroquine regimen. Not sure I believe it, but if it’s true, the best news I’ve had in awhile. Keep the defibrillator’s locked up. Okay, back to my cocktail.

Yes, it is May, not April. The missus noticed that I had made my heading yesterday April 17, 2020. Jeeeez, I can’t believe we are halfway through May already. Just think— Saturday will be the two month anniversary of the Oregon Stay at Home order. Yoo hoo!! Let’s have an anniversary party!! Speaking of anniversaries, today is the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. A day I will never forget, and was the last event that caused folks to walk around wearing face masks. I can still visualize the ash on the cars in the driveway and on the patio. Several months after the eruption we bought a cabin, with our Deli Barn business partner, up near Mt. Saint Helens on Swift Reservoir. The people who owned it never went back after the mountain blew. When we drove up to look at the cabin before buying it, everything up there was covered in about 8″ of ash and pumice. You talk about parties — we had some of the wildest parties ever up there and I still have scars to prove it. I suggest you never be on a small dock out on a lake on the 4th of July and have a drunken buddy come up behind you and light a bag on fire that is full of bottle rockets, M80’s and other explosives. When those first bottle rockets hit me and melted the back of my shirt resulting in a slow burn, I thought, s**t do I jump in the lake or what? The smell of burning skin, especially when it’s your own, is not fun. I can still hear those bastards laughing.

My Saturday post was a review of some of last week’s bigger stories, but how about just this weekend’s schtuff. 1) It looks like Karl Rove, one of George W.’s advisers, is in the background advising tRump’s campaign, according to Maggie Haberman of the NY Times.

Sooo, 2) Donnie Jr., who has been described as his father on steroids, posts on his Instagram account an insinuation that Joe Biden is a pedophile, something that trumpanzies will believe in a heartbeat. Junior puts a picture of Biden saying: “See you later, alligator” alongside an image of an alligator saying: “In a while, pedophile.” From Rove’s message and Junior’s post it looks like the tactic will be to go on the offensive in nasty ways to shift the attention away from tRump and onto Biden and other targets, like #Obamagate and other conspiracy theories. 3) And not to be outdone by his big brother, the other tRump son goes on Faux and says that the virus is a hoax by the Dem’s to keep his daddy from holding rallies and that it will be gone after the election is held.

4) In a late night firing on Friday, another independent Inspector General is sent down the road. Steve Linick, the State Department IG, was informed Friday night he was being replaced without cause. It’s getting difficult to keep track of the count of IG’s who have been fired by tRump, but I know it’s a bigly number. 5) It appears this one might be a result of his investigation of Secretary of State Mike Pompass. And what makes this matter worse is that Pompass went to tRump and recommended the IG be fired. “A senior State Department official confirmed that Pompeo made the recommendation that Linick be removed.”

6) On Friday night and Saturday morning Captain Clorox reposted a video of a reporter being berated by anti-lockdown protesters in New York and in the first post tweeted, “FAKE NEWS IS NOT ESSENTIAL! Then on Saturday morning he reposted the video and commented, “People can’t get enough of this. Great people.” Here we have a sitting president stoking the divisions in this country on the same day that we approached 90,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus and Americans fearing for their lives and livelihoods. Unreal.

Wow, what a weekend. What is really pathetic about each of these events is the absence of any kind of negative response from the GOP or conservative media. Why they are so afraid of this guy, I just don’t understand? The only example of someone having a set of cojones this past week came from two female reporters, who don’t even have cojones. You go girls!!

I’m really tired after all that, so think I’ll go take a nappy-poo. Keep smilin’ and remember to wear your mask out in public. And thank you Mikel Roi for your comment reminding me of the Greenneck Daredevils song about “I love my gal in her fishing waders.’ Ziggyman

Well, we’re coming to the end of the weekend and getting ready for another week of “same s**t, different day.” Hope you’re having a good one. We went down to the flatlands of Sandy on Friday to meet Whitney from Carlton Winemakers Studio to pick up our wine club order and to get a couple of prescriptions that were ready. She was nice enough to drive our wine to Sandy so we didn’t have to drive all the way to Carlton or have it shipped. I was amazed at the number of cars on the road going down and coming back. I would guess 10 times more than just a couple of weeks ago. We also went to Freddie’s and Safeway to do some grocery shopping and I was surprised at the price of groceries, again from just two weeks ago. When we got home I happened to read a news article on CNBC.com and saw that prices U.S. consumers paid for groceries jumped 2.6% in April, the largest one-month increase since February 1974, according to the Labor Department. The article said the spike in supermarket prices was broad based and impacted items from broccoli and ham to oatmeal and tuna. While in Safeway looking at the cartons of eggs, I caught some movement coming from behind me and turned to see a 30-something woman wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of fishing waders that ended at mid-thigh. It looked as if that was all she was wearing. It was the craziest outfit I have seen since my sister-in-law sewed me a pair of MC Hammer pants back in the 80’s. Anyhoo, I wanted to either get a picture of her or tell her ‘we’re in Safeway, not Walmart,’ but she looked like someone who would pop me a good one if I did either of those things. Back to grocery prices. Hang on, as the demand continues to be high because we’re all at home eating rather than in restaurants, and the supply has decreased due to plant shutdowns as a result of the virus and the increase in freight costs, food costs will probably continue to increase. How about those gas prices, though? Maybe they’ll balance each other out if oil prices remain at current price levels.

How about this guy? He was an administrative manager at law firm Thompson & Knight LLP in Dallas, Texas, and must have had a couple too many alcoholic beverages before posting this rant.

Karma!! He was subsequently terminated by his employer for the post. And yes, I did research to see if this was a true incident and found it did happen, as it has been all over the news in Texas.

Can’t leave you without a few dinner photos from the last few nights. I’m sure y’all are eating healthy and cooking up some gourmet meals. Ramble at you tomorrow. Ziggyman

We’ll start today’s post with The Week in Review, some of the headlines that made the week seem more like a month.

Sunday, May 10th. The day is Mother’s Day and my brother’s birthday. King tRump lost his Mother’s Day mind beginning his day with over 50 tweets by 8:20 am and over 100 tweets and retweets by 4:00 pm. That would be a tweet every 7.5 minutes. As you can imagine, none of them mentioned the 80,000 deaths in the U.S. we were at on that day, but we did see the start of #Obamagate and the deflection campaign.

Monday, May 11th. The tough man with them thar bone spurs that kept him out of the military, and who said he would have charged into a school during the shooting at Parkland even if he were unarmed, got bitch slapped by a couple of female reporters at a press briefing and ran off the stage in a fit of anger.

Tuesday, May 12th. The federal judge hearing the Michael Flynn case indicated he was not ready to dismiss the case after AG Barr dropped all the charges against Flynn for lying to the FBI. So, it ain’t over til the fat lady sings. Also, a coalition of nearly 2,000 former DOJ attorneys signed an open letter calling for Barr’s resignation over what they called an “assault” on the rule of law. “If any of us, or anyone reading this statement who is not a friend of the President, were to lie to federal investigators in the course of a properly predicated counterintelligence investigation, and admit we did so under oath, we would be prosecuted for it,” they wrote. Amen.

Wednesday, May 13th. Paul Manafort, tRump’s former campaign manager and now a convicted felon, was released to home confinement over concerns about the spread of coronavirus in prisons. He will spend the remainder of his 7.5 year sentence in home confinement after serving just under 30% of his time in the prison. Meanwhile, the Donald thinks that we should open up the schools and send kids back to school before the end of the school year. Not too concerned about the kiddos. Unbelievable.

Thursday, May 14th. Senator Richard Burr stepped down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the FBI launched an investigation into a series of stock trades he made at the beginning of the pandemic. Burr dumped between $628,000 and $1.72 million’s worth of holdings on Feb. 13, shortly after Congress began receiving intelligence briefings about the threat of the coronavirus. At the time, Burr had been assuring the public that the government was prepared to respond to the threat. 

Also on Thursday, Dr. Rick Bright, the ousted director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), testified before Congress. He basically gave the administration a big red grade of F, and said there would be dire consequences if the government doesn’t take swift action. “Our window of opportunity is closing,” Bright said. “Without better planning, 2020 could be the darkest winter in modern history.” And of course Captain Clorox had something to say about it. Trump wrote, “I don’t know the so-called Whistleblower Rick Bright, never met him or even heard of him, but to me he is a disgruntled employee, not liked or respected by people I spoke to and who, with his attitude, should no longer be working for our government!” Following Dr. Bright’s testimony, a Republican vice-president of a medical supply testified and also slammed the administration. Mike Bowen, the congressional witness, sent an email to Dr. Bright in January warning about the completely decimated supply of N95 respirators and the government’s refusal to ramp up production. In the email he wrote, “We are in deep shit. The world is.” When Bowen was asked directly about the administration’s lack of action, the downplaying of the pandemic, and the ouster of Dr. Bright, Bowen responded with, “Now that you ask, again, I am a Republican, have been a lifelong Republican. I am embarrassed by how that’s been handled.”

At last, Friday, May 15th. At an event in the oval office yesterday, Defense Department officials presented Donnie a flag for the newest branch of the armed services, The U.S. Space Force. The Commander in Space then went on to boast how the U.S. is developing a “super duper missile,” something the Pentagon was unable to confirm. Gawd, we are now officially in the Idiocracy timeline.

Gonna leave you and go turn on the fake 5 ‘o clock news and pour myself a drink after writing this post reminded me of all the sheeeeeeeet from this week. Ramble at ya’ later. Ziggyman

Well, here’s the new diversion tactic for the crappy job tRump has done with the coronavirus situation. What the hell is ‘Obamagate?’ It sounds like Captain Clorox doesn’t even know. When asked by reporters what he meant and what specific crimes he was alleging, his response was, “you know what the crime is,” and when pressed, he wasn’t able to name any. Unfortunately, his obsequious sycophants are jumping on the wagon and are doing what they can to raise the specter of wrongdoing by Joe Biden after Richard Grenfell, the acting director of intelligence, declassified and gave out the names on a list of Obama era officials who had asked to have the names unmasked of some folks listed in intelligence reports. One of those being investigated at the time was General Michael Flynn. Right or wrong, intelligence agencies routinely respond to “unmasking” requests and it is legal to do so. What is not usual, however, is to share the names of the individuals requesting the unmasking. In this case, Grenfell declassified a list and gave it to Senate Republicans. On Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) released the list of Obama administration officials who submitted requests to unmask the identity of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. One of the names on the list was Joe Biden, and, done, I would suppose, to allege that Biden played a role in getting the FBI to investigate one of Trump’s allies. Here was one of the better replies to tRump’s tweet.

Meanwhile, there could be some bad news for Joe. New polling from CNN shows Biden trailing Trump in crucial battleground states even as he continues to lead nationally. The poll results, which were released Wednesday, show Biden with a 51% to 46% voter preference lead over Trump nationally. But in 15 battleground states, Trump averages 52% over Biden’s 45%. When I looked at the sampling size I felt better, however, as the poll only had a sampling of 1,001 registered voters and 583 in the 15 battleground states, and a margin of sampling error of + or – 3.7% points. As Yogi Berra would say, “this is deja vu all over again.”

It’s not surprising that The Donald is trying to deflect his failures in the pandemic situation as he doesn’t want his trumpanzies to know how other countries have handled the virus and their results. As of 2:00 pm today, the United States has 1,436,690 confirmed cases with 85,846 deaths. The number of cases per million people in the U.S. is 4,359. Compare that to South Korea, a country that has been used as the gold standard for their leader’s response and the numbers are strikingly different — 10,991 confirmed cases and 260 deaths, with 212 confirmed cases per million people (also as of 2:00 pm today). They did everything we didn’t do. South Korea had the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases after China in early March, but diligent tracing, testing and strict lockdowns allowed their country to control the outbreak. And, why is this important? Because, once again the gaslighting by Moscow Mitch to protect tRump has been on full display the last few days. He has criticized President Obama for not leaving “any kind of game plan” for something like the coronavirus pandemic. FACT CHECK:  Obama’s White House National Security Council left the Trump administration a detailed document on how to respond to a pandemic. The 69 page document is called the Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents. The playbook — 40 pages plus appendices — contains step-by-step advice on questions to ask, decisions to make, and which federal agencies are responsible for what. It includes sample documents that officials could use for inter-agency meetings. And it explicitly lists novel coronaviruses as one of the kinds of pathogens that could require a major response. And then on Monday he appeared in a tRump campaign chat online with Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law and campaign adviser for Donnie, and slammed President Obama for criticizing Trump’s response as an “absolute chaotic disaster.” King Donald has done a superb job for all but the 85,846 people laying in their graves, and if ya don’t believe it, just ask his trumpanzies who look at you with that big ol’ shit eatin’ grin as they spend their first stimulus check and are rubbing their hands together thinking another one might be right around the corner just in time to be able to eat at Arby’s again. I know, I’m just rambling now. Be more positive, Ziggyman. Okay, I’m going to take a few deep breaths; throw another log on the fire; and be back in a few.

I’m back. Just wish I could throw all three of these thugs in the fire.

Anyhoo, have a nice evening, comrades. Ziggyman

A big shout out to shock jock Howard Stern!! I’ve never been a big Howard fan, but I might have to change my mind. Yesterday he let Trumpanzies have it on his Sirius XM show telling them, “The oddity in all of this is the people Trump despises most, love him the most.” He goes on to say, “The people who are voting for Trump for the most part… he wouldn’t even let them in a f…ing hotel. He’d be disgusted by them. Go to Mar-a-Lago, see if there’s any people who look like you. I’m talking to you in the audience.” “I don’t hate Donald. I hate you for voting for him, for not having intelligence.” Howie’s coup de grace was “I do think it would be extremely patriotic of Donald to say ‘I’m in over my head and I don’t want to be president anymore.’ “It’d be so patriotic that I’d hug him and then I’d go back to Mar-a-Lago and have a meal with him and feel good about him because it would be such an easy thing to do.” And all of that from a guy who would have Donnie on his show frequently. Gettin’ crazy out there.

In one of my posts recently I rambled about the good job Andrew Cuomo was doing leading New Yorker’s through this crisis and compared it to the poor job the president was doing. I still believe, for the most part, he has done a good job, but in the past two days I have seen articles from both sides of the political spectrum about him. In one he is being ripped by Republicans for his early policy about either keeping elderly coronavirus patients in their nursing home rather than sending them to one of the field hospitals and/or requiring the nursing home to take in test positive coronavirus patients. According to the Associated Press, since the start of the pandemic, more than 5,300 folks living in New York nursing homes have died from the virus. On Sunday, he did reverse that policy and said that patients cannot be sent to a nursing home unless they test negative for the virus and will be tested two times a week going forward. Today I read an article with the premise that Cuomo, under the mask of the coronavirus, is bringing in a bunch of billionaires to build a high-tech dystopian society in New York to be spread across the nation. Both articles had good points to consider and just goes to show you can’t please all the people all the time.

I meant to comment on the exchange on Monday at a press briefing between Weijia Jiang, a White House correspondent for CBS News, and our great leader. Ms. Jiang asked Donnie why he sees coronavirus testing as a global competition when more than 80,000 Americans have died. And his most presidential response to Ms. Jiang, who was born in China and immigrated to the United States when she was two years old, was “Maybe that’s a question you should ask China,” “Don’t ask me. Ask China that question, OK?” He then goes on to tell her that she asked a nasty question after she wanted to know why he made that comment specifically to her. He then called on another female reporter, and after a brief exchange with her abruptly ended the conference, walking off the stage. Perhaps he’s afraid of young, intelligent women who don’t take crap from him.

Okay, I can’t just close this post without a picture of last night’s dinner. That corned beef we were saving to share with friends needed to be cooked, so we had corned beef, colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage and green onions), roasted carrots and filone bread, accompanied by a 2010 Cana’s Feast Primitivo. It was delcioso! Oh, on AXS channel tonight there is an interview by Dan Rather with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Having been a flautist myself, this is a must see. Check your listings (8:45 pm at our house). Ziggyman

Quite the change in weather today from the blue sky and eighty degree temperature we had on the weekend. It is 54 degrees, gray skies, and raining, with three layers of long sleeve shirts replacing my weekend t-shirt. I guess the Saturday and Sunday weekend was just a teaser to give us a break from the lockdown. I will begin today’s post with an Arts and Entertainment suggestion for y’all. Last night we watched Green Book, a film inspired by the true story of a tour of the Deep South by African American classical pianist Don Shirley and Italian American bouncer Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga who served as Shirley’s driver and bodyguard. The movie won Oscar’s for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor in 2018. It was a film that did elicit some controversy from Shirley’s family and from some critics for the film’s stereotypical depiction of race. The missus and I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it if you are looking for a movie night suggestion. Put on your jammies, make yourself some hot buttered popcorn, pour a big ol’ beverage of your choice, and sign in to Netflix or how ever you get your movies, and enjoy.

I’ll stay on Arts and Entertainment and give you another suggestion for this week. The missus and I have been watching Top Chef on Thursday nights at 7:00 pm on the Bravo channel, mainly because Gregory Gourdet the executive chef at Departures restaurant in Portland is one of the chefs competing this season. He has been our favorite chef this season and just love his quiet, but very much in control demeanor. Click on his name to read a short biographical piece about Gregory.

Okay, you knew it was going to happen when states started opening up sooner than the medical experts were recommending. NBC News got a copy of a May 7th coronavirus task force report that shows data the task force is using to track rates of infection, and what it shows is the infection is spiking to new highs in several metropolitan cities and smaller communities across the country. The 10 top areas recorded surges of 72.4 percent or greater over a seven-day period compared to the previous week, with the winner being Central City, Kentucky with a 650 percent increase. You would think that Moscow Mitch would show some concern, since it is an area in his state that has the highest surge, but his response yesterday was that he has “felt no urgency” for Congress to approve another coronavirus response bill. And, our gaslighting president yesterday declared “all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.” Lies, Lies, Lies. These guys make my blood boil.

Gotta sign off. I’ll ramble at ya tomorrow. Ziggyman