It''s Like Talking To A Wall

At Vox today, I saw the link to this open letter to the people of Wisconsin from University of Wisconsin health care workers. Change "Wisconsin" to the name of your state.

"Wisconsin is in a bad place right now with no sign of things getting better without action. We are, quite simply, out of time. Without immediate change, our hospitals will be too full to treat all of those with the virus and those with other illnesses or injuries. Soon you or someone you love may need us, but we won’t be able to provide the life-saving care you need, whether for COVID-19, cancer, heart disease or other urgent conditions. As health care providers, we are terrified of that becoming reality.

But like many families facing a crisis, we can rally together and take action to get through this one. You’ve heard these recommendations a thousand times, but if the thousand and first time makes an impact it’s all worth it. If you stop the spread to one person, it’s worth it:

• Avoid gatherings that put you at risk, not just with strangers but extended family members, too. Not just big parties and rallies, but happy hours, conferences and sporting events.
• Wear a mask. They really do work, and they save lives, including your own.
• Wash your hands, often."

Just how many times do adults have to be told the things that they should know well by now? It's extremely infuriating and isn't likely to get these defiant idiots to cooperate.

I've also heard a suggestion that Americans be paid if they agree to get a  COVID  vaccine. That's a pretty outrageous idea and says a lot about the lack of character of the antivaxxers.

The Return of John Kerry

Oh, this should be good: John Kerry is now Biden's "Climate Envoy".  We can look forward to more claims like the one from 2016 that air conditioners and refrigerators are as big of a threat to life as the threat of terrorism posed by groups like the Islamic State. Don't forget 2014, when he said that climate change was the most serious threat we face.

It's scary to think that, during a devastating pandemic, he still feels that way.

Comics That Encourage

From My Modern Met: "Sometimes we can all use a little reassurance that things are going to be okay. Artist Hector Janse van Rensburg, aka Sh*itty Watercolour, delivers these gentle reminders in the form of endearing four-panel comics. In his illustrations, Van Rensburg is comforted by a small gray feline who offers soothing tidbits that are sure to calm anyone’s anxious mind. The cat does this by reminding us that we’re human and doing our best to make it through each day."

I loved this instantly and have been forwarding the article to others. Above are two of the comics.

A Public Service Video That Should Shame Americans

 

This PSA from the Cleveland Clinic is called "Every Mask Up | #MaskUp". It begs Americans to wear masks on behalf of our heroic healthcare workers.

Unfortunately, the Americans in question are still too selfish, ignorant, and self-absorbed to care about anyone but themselves and their "freedom", and not even this plea will change that.

Still Think COVID-19 is a Hoax? You're Dead Wrong!

I saw the CNN interview this morning with South Dakota ER nurse Jodi Doerning and have even more admiration for our healthcare professionals and less sympathy for COVID-deniers than I had before.

She had tweeted, "The ones that stick out are those who still don't believe the virus is real. The ones who scream at you for a magic medicine and that Joe Biden is Going to ruin the USA. All while gasping for breath on 100% Vapotherm, They tell you there must be another reason they are sick. They call you names and ask why you have to wear all that 'stuff' because they don't have COVID because it's not real. Yes. This really happens."

Dr, Leana Wen, who I always watch when she's on CNN, tweeted in response, "It's not how anyone should spend their last days. This is the cost of disinformation." It's also the cost of your own stupidity. Whatever happened to common sense and using your own head? Nobody's brainwashing you; you're choosing to believe nonsense, and you've made the wrong choice. Now you're paying for it with your life.

Lots 'o Links

Check out the latest editions of Larwyn's Linx; Stephen Green's Insanity Wrap #86; Maggie's Farm; and Stephen Kruiser's Morning Briefing.

And don't forget Harold Ticktin's Yiddish Vinkl column! Here he discusses one of my favorite words: nosh!  "Title of article by a British journalist about his memories of the old London Jewish Hospital: 'Yiddish nurses, a rabbi, kosher nosh: the hospital had it all, except great doctors.' (thejc.com/news/features)."

A Tsunami of COVID..and COVIDiots

This photo is from a huge anti-lockdown protest march in Manchester, England in which people were packed together, maskless. If the morons in this country & around the world still don’t get the seriousness of COVID after all these deadly months, maybe this headline will enlighten them.  But I doubt it. What WILL it take? A million dead here?  These selfish fools need to read the data more, and shout less.

The Covid-19 crisis in America is so dire now, international aid workers have arrived to help.
"'This is a humanitarian disaster -- probably one of the worst stories I've covered in my career here at CNN,' the network's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said Thursday.
Workers from Doctors Without Borders are trying to help the US get a grip on the pandemic, he said. More than 241,000 people have died from coronavirus nationwide -- a number that is rapidly growing every day.
'I mean, this is an organization that typically covers true disasters and medical crises all over the world,' Gupta said.
'And when they sort of look at a map right now and say, 'Where do we need to be?' they pointed to the United States. They were in nursing homes in Detroit. They went to Missouri. They're in these different places trying to offer their services. And still, the numbers are what they are.'
The numbers are simply staggering. On Wednesday, the US recorded 1,893 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The tally would reflect a new high since May, though it may be skewed by an outsized number from Georgia that could include backlogged deaths.
More than 110,000 additional people in the US are projected to die from Covid-19 in just the next two months, according to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The US has also topped 100,000 daily infections at least nine days in a row. Wednesday was the second consecutive day of record numbers of Covid-19 hospitalizations.
And new reports show the pandemic is only ramping up as the country approaches a critical holiday season."

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From STAT, reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine:  "With a meteoric rise in deaths, talk of waves is misguided, say Covid-19 modelers. The numbers have become both horrifying and numbing — and there is no end in sight."

The Wrong Time for Stolen Election Talk

I have to agree with the New York Post when they say President T ump, your legacy is secure — stop the 'stolen election' rhetoric.

"The math is looking near-impossible for President Trump to win re-election. But he should take pride in what he’s done for the nation and the world these last four years." 

If this were any other year, this legal battle wouldn't look so bad. But the optics of refusing to admit defeat and issuing legal challenges while a pandemic rages in our country look very bad. Accept the loss, help Biden with the transition, and be as gracious as possible these last few weeks in order to go out on a positive note.

This is what he should be focusing on now.  From USA Today: "The upward trajectory of coronavirus cases in the U.S. continued Wednesday with the country setting a new mark with more than 136,000 new infections, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
That development came a day after the U.S. reached 1 million cases in November alone and COVID-19 hospitalizations surpassed 60,000 for the first time. Hospitalizations have more than doubled in less than two months, the COVID Tracking Project reported Wednesday.
The number of Americans hospitalized due to COVID-19 has risen almost 50% in the last two weeks. On Wednesday, the U.S. surpassed 240,000 deaths caused by the coronavirus, the largest number in the world. The U.S. has 4.3% of the global population but 18.8% of the reported coronavirus deaths."

Biden Time

This is from the Washington Post e-newsletter I receive: "President-elect Joe Biden is planning to quickly sign a series of executive orders after he is sworn in Jan. 20, forecasting immediately that the country’s politics have shifted and that his presidency will be guided by radically different priorities on everything from climate change to immigration."  How wonderful.

I think the reason the people are celebrating in the streets tonight is not that Biden won, but that Trump lost.  I think if Jack the Ripper himself had been the Democratic challenger, the people would be celebrating.

Trump needs to leave office on a gracious note and not a spiteful one, even though he has good reason to be bitter after four years of incessant opposition.

"A Daily Spritz Up The Nose"

As Instapundit would say: Faster, please.

Per the New York Times:  "A nasal spray that blocks the absorption of the coronavirus completely protected ferrets it was tested on, according to a small study released Thursday by an international team of scientists. The study, which was limited to animals and has not yet been peer-reviewed, was assessed by several health experts at the request of The New York Times.

If the spray, which the scientists described as nontoxic and stable, is proved to work in humans, it could provide a new way to fight the pandemic, with a daily spritz up the nose acting like a vaccine."

Lots 'o Links

Here's some good reading about the fishy Presidential election and many other topics from the week: Stephen Green's Insanity Wrap #81; Maggie's Farm; Liz Sheld's Morning Greatness; and Larwyn's Linx.

Great Art as Stress-Reliever

Read this analysis of the beautiful Velasquez masterpiece Las Meninas.  Seeing things like this makes you wonder why anyone can possibly like modern art.

Election Day Eve: Get The Tranquilizers Ready

While we wait, you might want to read this column by Howie Carr titled After Trump., the lefty deluge. Here's an excerpt:

"I remember this weekend four years ago, when like so many others, I was worried by Hillary Clinton’s wide lead in the polls.

After all, she’d been openly campaigning for 'open borders,' and against the First and Second Amendments. And the Clintons, of course, are even more corrupt than the Bidens. (Although it’s much closer than we thought.)

But America caught a break in 2016. We got a four-year reprieve from Barack Obama’s 'fundamental transformation' of the United States into a banana republic.

Now they’re back, the barbarians at the gate. This time, if they win, they want to make sure that no true Americans can ever win another election in America.

They want to pack the Supreme Court, abolish the Electoral College, add more welfare-dependent states, allow felons and illegal immigrants to vote, lower the voting age to 16 …

What could possibly go wrong?"

Well, a lot, including more Islamic terrorism, and less friendly relations with Israel.

These days, the devil you know is better than the devil you really don't want to know. Let's hope that tomorrow night is a repeat of Election Night 2016. 

p.s. The stamina that Trump showed at his many large rallies over the weekend was amazing. For a 74 year old COVID survivor, his energy and the will to win has been extremely impressive.