America citizens ramp up for war against an unseen enemy

Thousands of retired health care workers are volunteering to go to the front lines to protect America.

OK BOOMER  

AMERICA

  UNITED WE STAND

DIVIDED

**********************************

Jenny has now created 90 masks and I just ordered 4 more yards of fabric.   Pipe cleaners are needed to create an even better mask to go over the nose.   American civilians have decided to not wait for a government that still can't get it's act together as the President brags about his ratings in what used to be important pressers but now it seems only corporate hacks praising him instead of valid information.

Meanwhile deaths are being under reported for some reason (the numbers from front line workers and what WHO is reporting do not match up at all) and it seems 25% of the virus tests are false negatives (no virus).  

April 22 is suppose to be the peak in Wisconsin but we are much better then Minnesota.  We have enough hospital beds but not enough ICU bets - about 210 short along with 303 ventilators short.   

Minnesota the peak is April 18.  They have enough hospital beds but will be 360 ICU beds short and 570 ventilators short.

BUT - we are not New York      60,610 beds short  10,602 ICU beds short and 9,055 ventilators short. 

Michigan is in REAL tough shape also 4,400 beds short, 1,500 ICU beds short and 1,800 ventilators short. 

The wave is slowing approaching.

WEAR MASKS IF YOU CAN FIND ONE - The Chinese CDC is dumbfounded our government is not making all citizens wear masks in public. They do 4 things

1. protect others from your breath

2. you are protected from others breath

3. Keeps you hands from touching your face

4. shows others you HAVE A CLUE what is going on. 

*****************************************************

Finished PICARD - BRAVO what a fantastic show.  Not really a TV show, more like an 8 hour book actually.  And if you have not watched it yet makes sure you watch The Ready Room after each episode.  Wesley (yes that Wesley but grown up) interviews cast members and behind the scenes stuff  with writer notes on what just happened.  Fascinating 

I cannot wait for season 2.  

********************

SOM 365  OMG what fun it was to watch the games without knowing the results last night. I was not anticipating this would be so entertaining. 

 Of course my team won all three games on the road  6-0,  9-6, 4-0 so maybe that was why it was fun.   Tonight I play the other team in my division that is 3-0.  

From the site

Game #1 Hunter Dozier connected with a 'big fly' and had 3 RBI as the Columbus Iron Pigs defeated the Harris Field Warriors by a score of 6 to 0 at Citi Field.

The game started off with Columbus taking the lead in the first plating a single run. That early scoring was all that Brandon Woodruff(1-0) needed. Columbus had 12 hits for the game and Harris Field had 5.

The losing pitcher was Clayton Kershaw(0-1). He was touched for 3 homeruns in his 6 innings of work.

Game #2 The Columbus Iron Pigs put 4 runs on the scoreboard in the 1st inning and defeated the Harris Field Warriors by a score of 9 to 6 at Citi Field.

Gary Sanchez enjoyed a big day at the plate. He doubled plating two runs in the 1st inning and delivered a solo blast (his 1st of the season) in the 5th inning. Columbus had 12 hits for the afternoon.

Adam Kolarek(1-0) was the winner allowing no runs in 1/3 of an inning. Kolarek got relief help from Keone Kela who gained credit for his 1st save. Jacob Degrom(0-1) took the loss. He got hit pretty hard, allowing 11 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings.

Game #3 Matt Strahm had a strong outing as the Columbus Iron Pigs defeated the Harris Field Warriors 4 to 0 at Citi Field.

Harris Field was unable to recover after Columbus went ahead in the 2nd inning plating a single run using 2 hits. The early run support proved sufficient for Strahm(1-0) and Columbus. That was all the run support Strahm required. Harris Field was out-hit by Columbus, 11 hits to 4.

Keone Kela earned his 2nd save. Chris Sale(0-1) was the losing pitcher. Despite taking the loss, he whiffed 9 batters in 5 and 1/3 innings.

******************************

  

  

Kirk Kibson, 1000 steps a day - social distancing is working

It's getting really hard to get my 1000 steps in every day.   KIDDING.  Actually I was looking this morning and was shocked at my lack of steps but then I forgot I hurt my knee last week.  It's all good now, back to normal bone on bone but no pain it seems, remission. 

There is a guy I saw that ran a complete marathon in Italy . . . on his 30 foot balcony.  Back and forth and back and forth.  He said it was his worst time ever but he completed  all 20+ miles.

More good news from the Army Corp of Engineers as they are converting CenturyLink Field where the Seattle Seahawks play into a field hospital.  Every time I hear the General it calms me.  Instead of hearing the President complain that HE is the real victim but at least his press conferences are getting good ratings if not the best ratings ever.  Even though real networks no longer show him because it's just too much misinformation.

There is one site that always posts the misinformation he and Dr. Deborah Birx the head of his team spews daily.  For instance  she claimed that 19 states — “almost 40% of the country” — “have less than 200 cases” of COVID-19"    ummmmm  did you mean 17 states and 7.2% of the country?

Or when the President said Ford Corp is making ventilators at some plant outside of Detroit and Ford comes back saying we sold that plant 2 years ago.  Not happening.

or pretty much  ANYTHING the two say about testing numbers.  Just making up stuff for the gullable.

BUT I digress

The great thing is it seems despite the lack of valid leadership the country is rallying around the flag.

Jenny is producing masks daily that ALL people should wear in stores.  The  Chinese CDC cannot believe Americas are being told by our government that masks are only if you are sick.  SORRY - science and ALL OTHER COUNTRIES says otherwise.  When in enclosed areas these cotton mask reduce giving AND getting Corvid-19 .

I'm ordering material for Jenny with Brewer stuff and some cool designs as they will be the new fashion trend of 2020.  She can make 12 out of a yard of material.

GUS on the other hand seems to be ignoring social distancing EVERY MORNING.  He wakes up. stands on my chest and looks at me to see if I'm dead or something - typically there is a sneeze involved at some point and we all get up.

AGAIN - WASH YOUR MAIL BOXES - do the letter carrier a straight. One has died already.

***************************

One persons attempt to make windmill cookies

 MEANWHILE Sydney posted a question - I like option #4.   I guess she wants to be a model now instead of a chemical engineer for NASA.  All of those chemical engineering you tube videos she watched - wasted.

Sadly very few people actually followed her instructions and she got a little miffed - instead of a heart people would write "really good".  NOT THE HEART - COME ON PEOPLE. FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.

****************************

I was in Madison Saturday night about 10:00. I LITERALLY saw 4 cars on East Washington.  So dead it was creepy (maybe "dead" was not the correct word to use). 

For the first time in 5 days the US total NEW infections did not eclipse the previous day. Probably a testing anomaly.   Still on pace for 1.4 million infected by Easter but the trend for whatever reported reason is slowing it's upward momentum.  Or it was teh weekend 

***************************

My SOM365 league starts tonight - not a clue how I will do and it's a daily thing for 8 weeks.  Not like REAL SOM where I only play 15 games a month.

and the WISCNEWS printed my article - click past all of the embedded junk. 

Before he was a doctor: Recalling Columbus native Bob Poser's time in Major League Baseball - by Rod Melotte

If you can't read it I'll put it on the blog later this week - There is one more MLB player from Columbus - Next year opening day I'll have something. 

***********************************

 There have been some outstanding shows on MLB network.  DJ and I LOVED the shows last night. It was the story of the 1988 World Series Game one where Kirk Gibson came out of the dugout with two bad legs and hit a game winning HR. 

SO SO many small stories.  Like how Vin Scully talked him into coming out.  Vinny told his producer to follow his lead and in the 9th inning the camera slowly panned the dugout as Vinny in his amazing way described what he was seeing and kept saying "No Kirk Gibson to be seen"   over and over KNOWING that Kirk was in the clubhouse listening.  "It looks like there is NO WAY Kirk Gibson will play today"  Vin said at the end.  

THAT DID IT.  

Kirk turned to the guy who was collecting dirty towels and told him to start teeing up balls!  

Dennis Eckersly who had 40+ saves and was un hittable was telling the story from his point of view. 

and was hilarious.  He had just walked a REALLY bad hitter and Kirk at the played kept fouling balls off and then almost falling down because he could barely stand on one horrific left knee and a horrible bad ankle.  

Then the count got to 3-2.   Eckersly say "the guy could not even stand up, I felt sorry for him".  

LaRussia the Oakland manager said "Kirk was one of the very best 2 strike hitters ever". 

Kirk said - I remembered something in The Book on Eck.   If you have worked the count to two strikes expect a backdoor slider.  

WELL - with 2 strikes Gibson would open his stance very wide and just use his arms to swing.  This took all the pressure off his legs.  

Eckersly threw a backdoor slider and Gibson CRUSHED it.  Conseco who was in right field took two steps and the ball was 40 feet over his head.  He said "Wha the f*ck was that".  

Eckersly said he hurt his neck following the ball  but the funny part is this. 

He said the fans were cheering like mad and here he is in the middle of the field and NOBODY, NOBODY would make eye contact with him. "Help me Help me"  was going through his mind as he stood there all alone in the middle of the field but as much has he tried one of the greatest Closers of all time could not make eye contact with a single human.  Help me  Help me.  and he breaks out laughing in the interview. 

That's it for today.

be safe  Be well carry on 

     

A fantasy INSIDE a fantasy. And Trump v. God trump wins

OH - IT JUST GOT REAL 

If you have been stressed by the total lack of a coherent response and constant misinformation to this Pandemic by our National Government check this out

It's by the leading General of the Army Corp of Engineers who REALLY gives some hope that SOMEBODY has a clue.  If you do not want to see it the Army corp are creating hospitals out of dorm rooms and convention centers and BY GOD they will get it down as if we were in a war . . . which we are.    

If you need and entire hospital that can hold 3000 people they will get'r done in 2.5 weeks.  THAT!  is how the ARMY works in war time - no foolin around. They are working on 103 at the very moment in 50 states.  Its reassuring that somebody has a clue. 

https://www.msnbc.com/a2e18ada-9712-459c-bfb6-b30ff9134a91

WASH YOUR MAIL BOXES  - America has already lost one letter carrier - do them a straight! 

 Interesting about the daily infections 

3/19/2020	7800
3/20/2020	13700	76%
3/21/2020	19100	39%
3/22/2020	25500	34%
3/23/2020	33300	31%
3/24/2020	46481	40%
3/25/2020	55238	19%
3/26/2020	69167	25%
3/27/2020	85996	24%

The Easter prognostication has been lowered to only 3.4 million infected.  Last Friday I said 100,000 infected by THIS Friday.   Tomorrow morning we should wake up to 110,000 infected.  Next Friday?  619,000 infected as the wave continues to cross America.

HOWEVER - The daily number percentage of infected is lowering but is it because America still does not have enough testing going on?  So many States cannot get enough test kits which the WH claims everybody has enough.  The unstable President is now complaining that the number of ventilators needed is way way overblown and he wants to stop the shelter in place before Easter.

     **********************

MEANWHILE - out of boredom I looked into SOM 365  

remember the movie Inception?  Where a group could go into peoples dreams and augment their inner thoughts?  And then they found out they could go into peoples dreams WHILE they were dreaming of being in a dream?   A dream inside a dream? 

Yea - that is SOM365  

It's like a fantasy game INSIDE of a fantasy game.   I'm in deep now.   It's fanduel of a simulated baseball season.        

******* 

yesterday Brew Crew Ball presented Opening Day by playing MLB The Show Cubs v Brewers.  it was actually entertaining.   Brewers won 6-3 with Smoak hitting an HR in the 2nd off Hendricks

And WHO ARE THEE Brewers?  So many players that were not on the Brewers last year 

here was the opening day lineups 

I had Garcia for a few years on my SOM team - I love that guy - REALLY good hitter.   Kipnis on the Cubs.  I signed him a as Free Agent and he is CONSTANTLY hurt.  Good fielding no hit always hurt.

If you want to see what the gamed looked like its on Twitch

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/575989006

Check out the Columbus Journal this weekend - I have an article about one of the two Major League Ball Players Columbus has produced.   Working on the next one, maybe for next years opening day.

 *********************

I think I found suet that birds don't like . . . hmmmmmm    Actually I've only seen woodpeckers eating it. We shall see if that come back.  Grackles and the other black birds don't seem to like it.  It has red with pepper in it.


********************

Finally - this is FREAKISHLY funny and right on!  Click on it twice if it says "not available"  a glitch

This Guy's Impression Of Trump Talking About Coronavirus And Easter Is Uncannily Good

SOM 365 - SENIORS TEXTING CODES

OMG - it's been 12 days since NB (no baseball) and I'm going nuts!  WHEN WILL THIS STOP. . . . .  I heard one report that Easter was the date for everything going back to normal!  I believe the health care scientists at Fox and Friends informed the President so I'm pretty certain Easter is the get out of jail date.

The linemakers have the over under as for baseball as July 1st .  Who should I believe?  Fox and Friends seem to be have a handle on this pandemic.   I'm voting OVER July 1

The numbers as of today at 8:46  Confirmed cases and the daily increase percentage according to WHO (NO, that is not a intro to jokes).

3/19/2020	7800
3/20/2020	13700	76%
3/21/2020	19100	39%
3/22/2020	25500	34%
3/23/2020	33300	31%
3/24/2020	46481	40%
3/25/2020	55238	19%

****************

So now that many people are at home perhaps we need some TEXTING instructions

SENIORS TEXTING CODE : ...

ATD..At The Doctors.
BFF..Best Friend Fell.
BTW..Bring the Wheelchair.
BYOT..Bring Your Own Teeth.
FWIW..Forgot Where I Was.
GGPBL..Gotta Go Pacemaker Battery Low.
GHA..Got Heartburn Again.
IMHO..Is My Hearing-Aid On.
LMDO..Laughing My Dentures Out.
OMMR..On My Massage Recliner
OMSG ..Oh My! Sorry, Gas.
ROFLACGU....Rolling On Floor Laughing And Can't Get Up.
TTYL..Talk To You Louder

Seems about right

 ********************

I have started to deal with SOM 365.   this is an online fantasy "game" where you draft players who all have a salary and you have a $80 mil bankroll.  Then once you have a team you do all the things a normal manager has to do, make line ups, assign pitching staffs and anything you can think of.

You can choose how many teams are in your league and then people across the country join the league  12 teans 24 teams  whatever.  Then SOM plays a 3 game series overnight and you get all the results and so forth.

My sticking point was was there a limit you had to deal with as to IPs and ABs and so forth.  But I found out that all the players salaries are based on what they did.  a guy with 200 ABs and 20 HRs as the same "basic" salary as a guy with 400 ABs and 40 HRs if you get my drift.   It's all prorated.

So I took last night to "draft" my middle fielders,  SS, 2B, CF and catcher. 

Once you have your team then SOM auto drafts your players and you might get who you want or might not.  Depends how you rank your players.  If you REALLY want Yelich you better rank him #1  But remember that Yelich will be about 1/8 of your entire teams bankroll and you have 26 more players to draft.

And you have to deal with injuries so you need back ups at every position.  Right now you can get two teams for $14 (you don't have to play both at once).

And with 3 games a night an entire 162 game schedule will take about 8 weeks.   What else do I have to do.

********************

If you want to be depressed this is a great read about how the  #TrumpVirus was ignored.  OH sorry  "China Virus" I guess it's called now.

Warnings Ignored: A Timeline of Trump’s COVID-19 Response

***********
New data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission shows that federal prosecutions for marijuana trafficking continue to decline year over year as more states legalize, indicating that the illegal market shrinks when consumers have a legal place to buy cannabis.




+++++++++++++++++

A review concluded that "CBD has the promising potential as a therapeutic agent and might be effective in alleviating the symptoms of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome."

Have a great day - be safe!

And that is why smart animals have 4 legs

So yea - I've been feeling pretty cockie with my knee running up stairs, sprinting across the street like an agile human and everything has been going great.

I trotted down stairs yesterday morning and on the second to the last step my non-knee ankle twists and I lose my balance  . . however my wounded knee kicks into action and immediately misses the next step and crumbles as the first 5 pounds of downward thrust hits it and I miss the very last step and tumble unto the floor. 

Gus is immediately at my side saying "I told you so" (the two leg thing). 

Luckily with years and years of practice falling I have become pretty good at it.   A few years ago I was carrying a 50 pound bag of salt and my feet slipped and I literally saw my shoes and the street lights at the same time and landed on my back.   Nothing.  Not even a sore back.

ANYWAY - I wish it was like that this time.  OH - I'm fine but my knee got blowed out! LOL  My graph only goes back to when my TKR was suppose to be and at no time has the pain been above a 2    WE GOT SIX NOW!!    No worries.  I have not brought in the heavy guns pain pills yet.  I'm sure that by the time we can all go out to play next week it will be fine.

Well, the man on TV said it was ending next week so . . . . . . you know - the guy that last year fired the US epidemiologist who was embedded with the Chinese CDC.  He wasn't replaced. Not needed I guess.

HOWEVER - to be 100% fair and balanced . . . yes - the senior director of the NSC’s Office of Global Health Security and Biodefense was vaporized, however the duties did not evaporate  . . . the talent did though.  Which has been the real problem up and down the line.  Experts being replaced with rich political hacks with no government experiance.

OH there are some good ones you see on TV but the people running things are newbie to government which if you have ever been in government (me 25 years) you know that outsiders just flounder embarrassingly.    CALLED IT!! 

It seems in November the Center for Strategic & International Studies recommended restoring the original position in the NSC as one of seven key changes to better protect the American public from an impending global health threats.   UN HEADED. 

So there ya have it.

Virus count.   america is 5 days behind Italy in infections and 13 days behind China in the number of infections.  China went init total lock down which our government does not seem to want to do.

3/19/20 . . . 7,800
3/20/20 . . .13,700  76% increase 
3/21/20 . . .19,100  39%
3/22/20 . . .25,500  34%
3/23/20 . . .33,300  31%
3/24/20 . . .46,481  40%

At this rate America hits 1 million by April 4th and 10 million by April 11

*********************

How's that home schooling going! 

********************

for anybody that missed it Discover Wisconsin had a bit on Columbus starting at about the 15 minute mark and staring our esteemed former Mayor  AND LET'S HAVE A HAND FOR  KELLY  CROMBIE!! 

Columbia County | S32 Ep. 9

********

Weather - Once we get past the weekend NEXT week will be fantastic. We can all look out the windows and appreciate the sun with middle to upper 50s

Tally Ho.

WWIII -

A decade ago I read 3 books of a series of 8? called  the Worldwar series in fandom.   "In the Balance",  "Tilting the Balance" and "Upsetting the Balance".

I knew nothing about these books except for they were well crafted alternate reality books meaning . . . what would ACTUALLY happen if aliens attacked earth during WWII.  How would governments around the world already in a World War REALLY react.

The very first page stunned me.  It's about a solder who is driving down East Washington in Madison Wisconsin past Breeze Stevens and the author is describing what Madison was like in WWII.

WHAT?

Its a great series and we start to defeat the enemy by the 3rd book as they seem to REALLY like ginger and become addicted it.  It's like a Game of Thrones series with many many characters from all over the world and outer space and none of them are all good or all bad.   In fact there are some aliens that I really liked.

ANYWAY - it came to mind when I was thinking about our current situation which is we are in WWIII against an unseen micro enemy.  But our esteemed leader is NOT, I repeat, IS NOT a "war time" President except in his dreams.  Nice attempt.

What the President got wrong is that he is trying to fix the economy BEFORE the health issues which is totally backwards.  It's a guns and butter situation.  You cannot fix both at the same time.  One has to suffer according to Larry Brilliant (great name) the doctor that helped defeat smallpox and the Chairman of the board of Ending Pandemics.

He had a TED talk in 2006 he warned all that would listen that a pandemic was coning.  Obama listened and took steps creating the National Pandemic Response Team . . . before the current President disbanded it last year.

In the interview Brilliant had just gottin off the phone last week with a "very high government official who commented.  “How the fuck did we get here?”   

The very very first thing that needed to be done before anything was testing.  There is no human being in the world that has any immunity to this virus. That is the big problem, that is why testing is the tip top #1 thing to do and start AS SOON as another country shows problems, not 2 months later after denying it even exists and saying it was a Democratic hoax.

You don't know where you are until you can start REALLY testing. As of Sunday night America has no clue where we are because of a slow and lackadaisical government response.

He answered the question about  how long this will last and he had 3 criteria

1. "we figure out whether the distribution of this virus looks like an iceberg, which is one-seventh above the water, or a pyramid, where we see everything. If we're only seeing right now one-seventh of the actual disease because we're not testing enough, and we're just blind to it, then we're in a world of hurt".     we are in a world of hurt. 

2. "we have a treatment that works, a vaccine or antiviral".

3. "maybe most important, we begin to see large numbers of people—in particular nurses, home health care providers, doctors, policemen, firemen, and teachers who have had the disease—are immune, and we have tested them to know that they are not infectious any longer. And we have a system that identifies them, either a concert wristband or a card with their photograph and some kind of a stamp on it. Then we can be comfortable sending our children back to school, because we know the teacher is not infectious."

ME?  on a personal note. I'll know we turned a corner when the first Major League Baseball game is played . . .I'm a simple person

And NO - the President DID NOT CALL the virus a hoax.   He did say that any worries about

large scale infections in the US were a hoax by the Democrats who were trying to politicize it, and that the administration had done "a great job" in preventing that, as shown by the fact that there were only 15 cases in the US.

Quote of the day about Trumps constant fake news conferences

Fauci on Trump: ‘I Can’t Jump in Front of the Microphone and Push Him Down’

The trick is to get that curve of infected people to flatten out. THEN we know we have a handle on things.   As of 3/23/20 this is the chart for America.

those last 5 dots . .

7,800
13,700
19,100
25,500
33,300

Only one country in the world has leveled off and America is 1.5 months behind.  China had their first 1000 cases 1/21/20  America 3/9/20   

WWIII.

We will survive and the economy will return.

*******************

ON A BRIGHTER SIDE -

JoJo Rabbit is an OUTSTANDING comedy about a Hitler youth.   No really, we watched it last night and BRAVO!!   It's actually a humorous love story.  It's won and has been nominated for an amazing amount of awards

https://youtu.be/JjsWr7gNUAU



*************************

Cannabis sales have LEAPED  in the last week. Seems people are hoarding cannabis but more to the point - edibles sales jumped 18% last week while flower dropped 21%. 

In Illinois cannabis dispensaries are essential businesses and will stay open.  In fact all states that have travel bans cannabis dispensaries are essential businesses and most states now offer home delivery.

A review concluded that "combination of cannabinoids with opioids has been shown to "reduce opioid doses and "may be able to produce long-term analgesic effects, while preventing the opioid analgesic tolerance."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that U.S. opioid overdose deaths declined 2% from 2017 to 2018.  

Sales of aerosol disinfectants were up 518% last week compared to a year ago.  Rubbing Alcohol up 277%  perfume is down 17.7%  sunscreen down 17%   vegetable party platters down 7%.

I guess nobody is trying to impress anybody any more.

Be very safe out there! 





 

    
 

 

VOTE "NO" to Marcy's Law

On Wednesday the 4th America had 12 cases of Covid -19.  Last Wednesday the 18th there were 1000 cases so using simple math I "predicted" America would have 10,000 cases by Wednesday night which seemed ridiculous. WELL, as of Thursday there are 13,000 (14,250 Friday morning).

SO - by next Friday we should be in the 100,000 cases which seems crazy and by March 3rd America will be nearing 1 million cases.    

YET!  I had to block one conservative Columbus resident that was arguing with me that it was "only the flu" and the hospitals were NOT going to fill up and it was NOT spreading. sigh!   The good news is Ron Johnson said yesterday that Covid -19 would only kill 3.4% of Americans so stop worrying.   WHEW - only 3.4%  

GOP Senator Upbeat Coronavirus May Kill ‘No More Than 3.4 Percent of Our Population

BUT some interesting news. The death rate in America is much lower then most countries

China - 4.0%
Italy - 8.3%
Iran 6.9%
Spain 4.6%
Germany 0.2%
America 1.4%
France 3.4%
S. Korea 1.0%

OK - nuff said there.  I know people are tired of bad news so I won't constantly harp on what every news media is telling.   HOWEVER- COVID-19  HATES SOAP - soap is death and the key is 20 seconds.

it takes 20 seconds to break down the fat that protects Covid-19  TWENTY SECONDS.  Much MUCH better then anything else you can put on your hands.

MEANWHILE - a barrel of oil is only $21 and gas stations in Madison are at $1.65.  I'm keeping my car running all night so I can buy cheap gas tomorrow (I guess they won't deliver).

In Columbus ORDER WISCONSIN is a tremendous help for restaurants.  I have been watching these guys grow and felt they were a HUGE bonus to the community and even more now.

ORDER FOOD - help restaurants  and tip generously. They literally need that money more then you do.

++++++

Marcy's Law - a law to "help" crime victims.  WELL - let's just throw out "innocent until proven guilty".   What this law does is give a "victim" an automatic label of "victim"  prior to the accused being tried/sentenced.  How can there be a victim before a crime has been determined. 

This does not give anybody more rights at all but opens the door for a bunch of GOP wants.

VOTE "NO" to Marcy's Law 

****************************

Strat-o-matic says  PLAY BALL - Using their " innovative Baseball Daily product powered by its unmatched realism in calculating player ratings" they will play all games in MLB and each day will publish results and stories with highlights - Stay tuned!   MLB starts NEXT WEEK and I will post all Brewer games here . . . . until real MLB starts . . . . . . if it starts.

A spokesman from the NBA said he did not think the NBA will crown a champion this year.  SAMN IT

About 10? 15? years ago ESPN published an article about every major sport teams in America and the chances of them winning a championship.  The Bucks were almost dead last and there was no chance in my lifetime for seeing a Bucks team win a championship.

HOW DID THEY KNOW!!!   

*********************

And we will soon know the natural hair color of so many people.

******************************

12% of all internet traffic is NETFLIX and because of that NETFLIX is reducing its bitrate in the EU.

Drive in theaters are doing  bang up business all of a sudden.

A study of rats suggested that "THC may be more beneficial than CBD for reducing inflammatory pain, in that THC maintains its efficacy with short-term treatment in both sexes, and does not induce immune activation." 

I am not a rat but will 100% agree about the inflammatory pain help . . I have heard. 

Michigan sold 34% more cannabis in February then January netting $14 million. 
   
This weekend we wil lsee some peeks of sun but it will be cool.  After a few weeks of my weather station being offline I found the problem.  All I had to do was unplug and replug a USB port!   sigh 

KWICOLUM2 is back online.  We had 1.52 inches of rain in the last 24 hours

Cheers and be safe.

FIX HEALTH CARE and the MARKET WILL FIX ITSELF

We have been watching PICARD and DJ was not really familiar with Capt. Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Back in those days people hated Next Generation because it was not REAL Star Trek.  That changed as the show kept getting better and better.

So we have been watching all the episodes that were rated 7.5 or higher (according to the IMDB database) and last night was S3E6  Booby Trap.  

As the Enterprise flew into a debris field three notes repeated over and over hauntingly.  I had heard those notes before.  Then it came to me.  Patton. There is a winter scene near the end of the movie  where Patton prays to God for good weather (he actually did that) and his Army is back on the move to rescue Bastogne the next morning.  The scene is ground level with snow and infantry is running across frozen fields   ta da da      ta da da    ta da da

I got chills both times I heard it.  ta da da      ta da da    ta da da   I heard it last night and I got chill but did not know why until I realized it was the same notes.  

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There was a cannabis stock I DIDN'T suggest ANYBODY buy called TLRY.  When I was purchasing my small amount of CGC for $20 TLRY was nearing $250 a share.  NOW?  it's at $2.75.  I would say that was the tip of a HIGHLY SPECULATIVE market. 

California has made 2 BILLION in cannabis sales in 2 years. 

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MEANWHILE - many people are at home now.   After Hurricane Harvey in 2017 it was found that there was a 60% rise in television watching during crises.   It was also found that normal office workers watch 21 hours and 56 minutes of TV per week.  HOWEVER people that work at home average 25 hours and 2 minutes   hmmmmmmm!  an extra 3 hours a week. 

+++++

US Airlines have spent a considerable amount of money in the last few years buying back all their stocks to reward investors instead of spending any money on things like equipment improvements, wage increases, or perhaps establishing a rainy day fund for a global travel shutdown.  And now they want a socialist style tax payer funded bail out from the government because they are poor at handling money.

But their investors got rich!  In fact 52% of all profits on the S&P 500 went to stock buy backs, not workers.  IN FACT American Airlines, Alaskan Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and United spent 95.8 percent of their free cash flow on stock buybacks.

And are now asking for a socialized tax-payer government bail out? 

Cruise lines? They only pay 0.8% tax anyway as most ships are registered to foreign lands even though they are based in Florida. - not our problem. You screwed yourself this time.

++++

There is a fight in the motorcycle industry as Indian (my favorite bike) is back in business as of 2014 trying to dislodge Harley.  The problem is bike sales are down 50% since 2006.  So far they have taken about 20% of the Harley market.  Meanwhile Harley dropped the ball and their overall market share has gone from 53% to 49% of all bikes sold.

Watch for a HUGE ad blitz by Indian as they are ramping up a bike war. 

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WEAR GLOVES if you go out!  No seriously.  It's a good way to keep germs away.  AND THEN - don't lick your gloves (perhaps more important then actually wearing them).

And don't forget - now more then ever order out for food.  order out Yum Yum, James Street Pizza or any restaurant that is closing to human occupation and if you can give a slightly better tip then normal. 

The good news is this is probably the end of the Orange ones Presidency as most people have now seen he is clueless.

When Trump became president there was a big national disaster hand off meeting with Trump and 18 members of his team and Obama's National Emergency Response Team.  Hurricanes, Earthquakes and PANDEMICS were all discussed in detail, what to do, how to manage it and potential problems.

From someone that attended the meeting it seems they were not THAT interested and of the 18 in attendance, 12 are no longer even in government leaving 6 who were not in government before in charge.  Perhaps SOMEBODY should have been paying attention as they were warned. 

The National Pandemic Response Team (which Trump disbanded last year)TOLD THEM there was a pandemic coming and America was not prepared.

 BAD NEWS - GO AWAY!  This is only a good news Presidency.

Now America is 9 days behind the Italy cluster f*ck situation.  SADLY because of Trump his team of businessmen who know nothing about healthcare. We are about to go where America  has never gone before.   

They keep putting all of their energy into trying to fix the economy and the "stock market" keeps telling them FIX HEALTH CARE and the MARKET WILL FIX ITSELF.  But being businessmen they aren't getting the connection.

Yup - getting people outside of government is such a great idea. Let crooked businessmen run the country.

sigh 

Everything has been said about Corvid-19

There is not much a person can say about The Virus that has not already been said.   A Creative Planning Company sent an email to us called

NAVIGATING A PANDEMIC – PART 3  

 A few of the takeaways if you don't want to read the entire thing it is to remember that in 2009 the stock market lost 53%.

SO - the DOW need to get to 12,000 for a 50% drop and even then it will come back.  SUCKS but it will be all good and remember - if you are dollar cost averaging - you are buying cheap.








Investors will  need to see some GOOD news before the market rises again which it will!

This can happen several ways, including:

1. A vaccine is announced.

2. A cure is announced.

3. A treatment that can stem the effects is announced

4. We find out millions of people have it. Strangely, this would be incredibly reassuring because it would mean that far more people were infected than first realized. This in turn would mean many that are infected don’t get sick, which obviously means a far smaller percentage of those that are infected are dying. If we find the mortality rate is .2, for example, the markets could react very positively. The virus runs its course quicker than expected.

5. The virus is seasonal (giving everyone time to get back to items #1 and #2).

6. All sorts of things not listed above that slow the spread of the coronavirus or indicate that it is not as deadly as feared.

MEANWHILE Norway is urging students to get out of America with its poorly developed health infrastructure and lack of a coherent response by our government.


The TODAY show only has two people on the show - everybody else is sick.

+++++++++++++++++++++

I was naive.  We needed some RumHaven for the weekend.  The best coconut rum we have tried.  Seems the local gas stations in Columbus don't carry RumHaven - WHO KNEW!!  So I decided to go to Woodmans.  yea yea - I heard they were "busy" but how bad could it be at 1:00 on a Friday afternoon!  Right?

VERY CROWDED!  In fact ther ewas a line of cars tryign to get into teh parking lot.

However - it was the most polite crowd I have ever seen!   I was proud that we did not need toilet paper. We had the only cart without a ton of TP.  So so proud. So we are in line (for like a half hour) and as we get close the people ahead of us had too many toilet papers.  TWO PER CUSTOMER! 

Well . . . . . guess who snatched up a package  WE ARE RICH WITH TOILET PAPER!   LOL

DON'T FORGET KITTY LITTER!!  Once a cat goes somewhere else . . it's hard to get them to go back.

*****************

Only one more pick in the draft - Mr. Inconsequential.  Last Year Mr. Inconsequential turned out to be Danny Santana  who hit 28 HRs in 470 at bats.  Not bad for Player #40 on my team.  OH - Player #39?  Greg Garcia  who had a .358 OB in 300 ABs.

So while I feel my draft sucked last year because of a starting catcher problem my late rounds were fantastic.  This year was odd because I only had one player grabbed from my grasp right ahead of me.

Keep track of Drew Robinson this year . . . .  if baseball is actually played at some point.

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MEANWHILE we went to a restaurant that will soon be temporally closed - Tequilas Bar and Grill where The Capri used to be.  OMG it was GREAT.  I'm not a HUGE Mexican food person but they were outstanding and much better then any other Mexican place I have tried.

and they had Gus's favorite food on the menu

Yum Yum Thai Food by Minnie which is an  OUTSTANDING Thai food restaurant in Columbus is closing to in house eating.  Carry out or delivery.

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And this is what self quarantine looks like when retired

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This is me looking for sports on TV this weekend.

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Finally - some funny things to leave you with. Some bootleg products from other countries 

Stock market - R E L A X

I had a sad laugh last night.  Here I am calm, cool and collected when talking about the stock market.  Been there done that. Went through Black Friday 33 years ago and it all worked out over time.

So as I was filling in LAST weeks numbers on my spreadsheets I figured I'd just peek at the latest numbers, I had looked Wednesday and was fine, sad but fine.  We are now 35% stocks and 50% bonds because we are retired and it was time to get conservative so it was not SO bad.

SO . . . . .  about 9:00 last night once the numbers had been finalized for the day I called it up on the screen and . . . . . . . SHIT - I actually twitched uncontrollably for a second or too! 

DJ comes home from baby sitting after I made a few "we're fine" graphs and told her to take a peek.

I know she had peeked mid day and she said "Oh I know what it will look like"  and I said . . . "Oh I don't think you do".

 . . . . . . . . . she literally gasped, and then we both  LOL'd

SO - if we can have that reaction after having been through this once before I can't imagine people that have only watched the market for 10 or 15 years during the 11 year Obama rally are going through.

RELAX.  IT . . . WILL . . . . COME . . . BACK. 

 If you are 10+ years from retiring this should not be a concern AT ALL.  A non-issue.   If you are shorter then 10 years you should be diversified.  I know for the State there are special funds you SHOULD put your "401K" (not actually a 401K but you know) into that slowly puts you into more and more conservative funds.

When I started my State's "401K" in 1987 (before Black Friday) it was a new thing that they promised with dollar cost averaging  and I would have a million by the time I retired.  WELL . . . . . that was a lie but dollar cost averaging, where you put the same amount in every few weeks is a good plan.  ESPECIALLY now - stocks are cheap and you are buying a LOT of cheap stocks right now which will reap great rewards in the future.

SO  . . . .  I say if you are 5 to 10 years out AND dollar cost averaging and buying stocks every few weeks - this is GREAT!!!  NOW is the time when millionaires are made.   Every bad dip in the market was a joy when I was working as I knew I was buying cheap stocks that would rise in the long run.

If you are living on a 401K type thing you SHOULD have only lost maybe 15%, not the 25% the stock market has done and remember the stock market is 100% stock market, not bonds or cash. The stock market is the EXTREME.  With lowering interest rates bonds making money to offset the market.

++++

On a side note - remember when the GOP was floating getting rid of Social Security and telling Americans they should rule their own money and instead of giving it to the Fed - they invest it in the stock market.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG.  People with no idea about how the stock market works putting 100% into the market for retirement? . . . because it always goes up? 

Even I was a little fooled a few months ago and I have been watching the market since I was about 8 years old when my brother who wanted my mom and dad to buy stock in a weird company called Xerox (they didn't as we were poor but . . ).  Two months ago I was thinking maybe with Trump STILL in charge to get a little more aggressive but I procrastinated.  WHEW. 

Speaking of Trump and the economy and this is pure opinion.

I believe democracy is on a sine curve in so many things when if comes to left and right. 

When the GOP are in charge they are all about money and will spur the economy with tax breaks and so forth while crushing social issues and not caring about actually helping citizens in need. 

Then when the DNC is in charge "we" want to help citizens with social issues, money is secondary. Help the poor, help the under privileged, help people that need help and are suffering because the economy did not help them at all.  So the left raises taxes to help the people that need help and the economy struggles. 

and it goes back and forth.  GOP = money  DNC = helping citizens.  As long as it keeps going back and forth America does well. 

NOW comes Trump who cares absolutely nothing about the citizens but will lower taxes for any excuse which help anybody in the stock market or with retirement 401Ks and so forth. Anybody with a 401K can't hate Trump 100% . . .only 95%.

SADLY - while most GOP Presidents have a clue about protecting America from the outside this one is totally clueless about National Security and put all of his financial eggs into one basket and then dropped it.

So now we have a crumbling economy that will only get worse as we are already in a recession and Americans are in panic mode BECAUSE OF HIM AND HIS CONSTANT NEVER ENDING LIES.   
Bernie and Biden were SO MUCH BETTER at calming people in their two latest speeches.

SIDE NOTE.  Opinion #2

Our medical institution was already over packed BEFORE CORVIS-19.  In Madison, hospital beds were already at max because there is a lack of  doctors and nurses.  Entire wings are empty because of the lack of help. 

Late last night from someone that works in the ER there was a literally 40 person wait  list to get to see a Doctor in the ER.   Toothaches, sneezes, headaches and all sort of NON-ER related issues (8 tests for the virus). 

This is what I worry about with "Medicare for all".  GREAT in theory and YES - every American should have access to health care.  But America does not have the capacity at the moment. That has to be fixed FIRST. 

I 100% agree with Bernie about Medicare for all but having family in the health industry . . it will be literally impossible to do logistically unless we build more hospitals, get 100,000+ more doctors and 200,000+ more nurses in the next 4 years.  How do we do that ???  Make physicians a 2 year collage? 

It's my pragmatism that gets in the of The Revolution.  Show me exactly how. Instead of vague theory's Bernie needs to explain NOT the financial issues but the logistical issues before I jump on board.

I will VOTE blue no matter who and smile on whichever candidate is chosen (except Gabberd, the young hot one from Russia  LOL). 

I'm totally NOT anti Bernie.  Bernie and Biden were my distant 2nd and 3rd choice but I'm not AGAINST Bernie at all, I just doubt his vision can be accomplished in 4 years.

I'm more of a small step towards a goal rather then a giant leap into the unknown. 

Nuff said.

Now I need to read this over as I was just typing out of my ass.                 

 



    

No bad news in America today - what a relief. FINALLY

 WELL - here is a rarity - I cannot find one thing to complain about.  It seems America is in a calm period "no bad news"  and everything is "ticking like clockwork". The government is running smoothly, citizens are happy like it's the first day of spring and all is well in the neighborhood.

Hold on - I need to Chlorox my keyboard.

sdfwqsdfgaSERSDYFDFIsdji9j90 ';'

I picked up my prescription of Prednisone from Forward Pharmacy and needed some hand sanitizer - NOPE all gone, what's up with that? 

I'm down to 3mg of Prednisone now and the doc says I'll stay on that for 2 or 3 months before going to 2mg. I started with 5mg in September because of the surprise flare up of PMR which I had never heard of before and the side effect is it is making my knee feel pretty darn good.  Maybe I can last the summer.

BTW - You do realize that UW Madison Hospital does NOT have virus test kits yet even though last week I heard from a very good source on top of this that over 1 million would be available by last Friday.  OH - sorry - I found one tiny bit of bad news. 

MY BAD!  SORRY SORRY!

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GOOD NEWS - snow will be mostly gone by tomorrow as a strong line of storms will move across the area later today. WELL - good news to some.

Gus will have to find some other place to poo.  His normal routine is to climb the largest snow pile he can find to poop and then make us climb up to get it.  He will have to hold it in for a few weeks or months.

Gus LOVES snow but HATES cold.

************************ 

Meanwhile I believe my draft is going well. We are in the hardest area now, rounds 4 through 6 where players are JUST good enough to MAYBE be helpful.  After round 6 it's all speculation.

I'm waiting for another hour to try to get a very sneaky pick, Trey Wingenter. Sneaky because last year he had an ERA of  5.65 but his DRA** which is what he SHOULD have had is 3.55.  He is a right handed bullpen dude that dominates left handed batters.   If I get him my bullpen is done.

DRA ** - focuses on the pitcher’s expected contribution and uses a mixed-model approach to isolate the work of the pitcher from other factors like defense, park, and quality of opponent.


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Awkward - Norwegian cruise lines have already paid $12 in advertising for this spring cruises that are airing around the world.   I want the cruise that waves the pretty yellow flags when they attempt to port . . . . anywhere.

The $5 billion American Dream mega-mall in New Jersey is about to open March 19th. It's been planned for 20 years. The vision  is/was to bring 40 million people to the mall every year.

HEY - The Big Bang Theory!  DJ and I love Young Sheldon so she wanted to see episode #1 of The Big Bang Theory, a show I can't stand.  WELL - I guess CBS ALL ACCESS is actually CBS ALMOST ALL ACCESS.   BBT costs $2.99 an episode to watch.

and PICARD is REALLY good. 

If you love music don't forget to constantly check out AXStv - so many great concerts and shows.  The Ronnie Woods show interviewed Alice Cooper, some of the stories are great and how did he live so long LOL  Accidental swords through the thigh with blood everywhere on stage. Everybody thought was a stage prop.

Last night we watched a show on Duran Duran.  Those guys are still hilarious.

Travel Insurance?  Does not cover pandemics it seems. What you need is a special add-on called cancel-for-any-reason insurance.  Maybe my friend up north in the travel industry can clarify.

SADLY I did not purchased any insurance for the Roger Waters Concert in August!  When I took out a 2nd mortgage to by the tickets it asked and I said "WHY would a concert every be canceled".  Has one EVER been canceled before?  What are the chances.

sigh

Meanwhile in London Britain’s Office of National Statistics said tree cover saved London $6.8 billion in cooling air.   I can't wait for Columbus to reap a billion with our downtown trees.  Think of what that billion will do to our roads and infrastructure.  Maybe even fix the swimming pool and it's 10 year leak OR we can make even a BIGGER dam.

The London trees removed 2,240 tons of pollutants.

The bright side of ocean pollution. All that crap is home to 133 different species.  3,590 pieces of plastic were trawled weighting 260 kilos.  50% of the plastic contained living species with eggs.

Starter homes are hard to find it seems.  In 1999 16% of all new homes were 1800 feet or less but now that percent is 8% (seems redundant).  As they say - go big or no home.

Ours was 1400 feet but then we finished the basement - does that double??? the footage?

MEANWHILE in Oklahoma, which seems to be more liberal then Wisconsin, you can now get home delivery of medical cannabis and all proceeds from medical cannabis goes to schools.

California passed the $1 BILLION mark in revenue from cannabis in 2 years. 

Nebraska will have medical cannabis on the ballot this year with the National Epilepsy Foundation endorsing the bill. 

enough good news for one day

OH - I got Trey Wingenter

Meanwhile in Italy and the Exponential growth of epidemics

Not sure if anybody else know but there seems to be a virus that is spreading around the globe.  I have been assured by trusted people in government that it will go away when the weather gets warm and don't worry . . .it will go away on it's own like the common cold..

It pisses me off when I hear pandemic deniers say "it's not as bad as the real flu" and don't panic it will all be fine.  One person that has changed her mind said - "we should not be THAT concerned because when a REAL issue happens people won't respond."    ummmmmmmm! 

Meanwhile in Italy a post on Twitter . . . . From a well respected friend and intensivist/A&E consultant who is currently in northern Italy:

1/ ‘I feel the pressure to give you a quick personal update about what is happening in Italy, and also give some quick direct advice about what you should do.

 2/ First, Lumbardy is the most developed region in Italy and it has a extraordinary good healthcare, I have worked in Italy, UK and Aus and don’t make the mistake to think that what is happening is happening in a 3rd world country.

3/ The current situation is difficult to imagine and numbers do not explain things at all. Our hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid-19, they are running 200% capacity

4/ We’ve stopped all routine, all ORs have been converted to ITUs and they are now diverting or not treating all other emergencies like trauma or strokes. There are hundreds of pts with severe resp failure and many of them do not have access to anything above a reservoir mask.

5/ Patients above 65 or younger with comorbidities are not even assessed by ITU, I am not saying not tubed, I’m saying not assessed and no ITU staff attends when they arrest. Staff are working as much as they can but they are starting to get sick and are emotionally overwhelmed.

6/ My friends call me in tears because they see people dying in front of them and they con only offer some oxygen. Ortho and pathologists are being given a leaflet and sent to see patients on NIV. PLEASE STOP, READ THIS AGAIN AND THINK.

7/ We have seen the same pattern in different areas a week apart, and there is no reason that in a few weeks it won’t be the same everywhere, this is the pattern:

8/ 1)A few positive cases, first mild measures, people are told to avoid ED but still hang out in groups, everyone says not to panick 2)Some moderate resp failures and a few severe ones that need tube, but regular access to ED is significantly reduced so everything looks great

9/ 3)Tons of patients with moderate resp failure, that overtime deteriorate to saturate ICUs first, then NIVs, then CPAP hoods, then even O2. 4)Staff gets sick so it gets difficult to cover for shifts, mortality spikes also from all other causes that can’t be treated properly.

10/ Everything about how to treat them is online but the only things that will make a difference are: do not be afraid of massively strict measures to keep people safe,

11/ if governments won’t do this at least keep your family safe, your loved ones with history of cancer or diabetes or any transplant will not be tubed if they need it even if they are young. By safe I mean YOU do not attend them and YOU decide who does and YOU teach them how to.

12/ Another typical attitude is read and listen to people saying things like this and think “that’s bad dude” and then go out for dinner because you think you’ll be safe.

13/ We have seen it, you won’t be if you don’t take it seriously. I really hope it won’t be as bad as here but prepare.

MEANWHILE in America the White House is making sure you do not get REAL information from the CDC as their scientists have recommendations and the White House will not allow them to speak.

For instance - the CDC WANTED to say that that if you are 60 or over so NOT to on a plane and this is REALLY serious . . . but the White House said you can not say that . . .it will all be good.

A whistle blower scientist at the CDC contacted NBC and said the White House is not telling the entire story because it will look bad for "him" and their incompetence.

As Neil deGrasse Tyson says. "This is a test. Will humans believe actual scientists? Or our governments spin".

*********************

In Politics . . . . it seems Bernie won so much last year because people hated Clinton.  The youth turnout is not happening and the entire left is coalescing around Biden.  If Bernie was in front the entire left is coalescing Bernie.

Exit polls say the #1 thing on peoples minds is getting rid of the woman groping president.

Two months there was a poll of only black Americans and the results were Biden #1   Bernie a distant second and Warren.  Seems to be how it's coming about.  What was their #1 issue? 80% said getting rid of Trump.

NOW it looks to me like the left will run the table with record and near record turnout in every states primaries.  The House, the Senate and the Presidency is now not out of the realm of possibility.

The only thing pathological liar had going for him was the economy and now that we are IN a recession that is gone. And of course with the total incompetence with the pandemic . . . . . .  I mean we knew this pandemic was coming 2 months ago but did not start making test kits until 2 weeks ago?  Because it would look bad?

This is a fascinating video on the Exponential growth and epidemics 

Current estimate is 10,000 cases in America by next week at this time.  remember - we had 12 at this time last week, now 1000

https://youtu.be/Kas0tIxDvrg



The Amazing Race was in their third leg of taping and production stopped because of this little known virus that no one seems to be talking about. Maybe the news should pick up on this. Has Fox Propaganda news mentioned it yet?

And then there is Ron Johnson the local country bumpkin who did not want to talk about the virus because it will all go away but instead wanted to talk about Hunter Biden.  OH - he did say we should not be concerned because the President, even though he contradicts the CDC, knows best and it will all go away.  Which it MIGHT  . . . or might not.

Johnson will go down with Trump - the guy is a complete 100% political nano-brained teaches pet.  I met him in DC.  WOW.  Talk about underwhelming pathetic trump ass-kissing sycophantic.   
***************         

Nuff Said