We Americans are about as dumb as we want to be. With one and a half million cases of the coronavirus
confirmed in the U.S. and covid-related deaths approaching 80,000, many states began re-opening private businesses and public places, and the populace emerged from their homes with a vengeance. In Memphis, when Mayor Strickland's "Safer at Home" executive order expired on May 5th, shoppers packed grocery stores, desperately searching for toilet paper and baby wipes, while complaints piled up over people neither wearing masks or social distancing, especially in the bleach and disinfectant aisle. In Ft. Worth, TX, police responded to a call that five people were shot at a party in a public park that drew over 600 people. In Arkansas, hair salons, barber shops, tattoo and massage parlors will open this week, while at the federal prison across the river in Forrest City, three hundred one inmates and fourteen staff members have tested positive. In Jacksonville, FL, crowds jammed beaches despite the mayor's directive limiting gatherings to ten people. Officials in Boca Raton tweeted images of crowded boat parties while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that municipalities should "feel free" to begin opening parks and beaches, only to "Do it in a good way. Do it in a safe way." Crowds in California continue to jam beaches and parks, defying the governor's orders to shelter-in-place. In Flint, MI, a security guard at a Family Dollar store was murdered by a disgruntled customer who took offense at the guard's insistence that a young girl put on a face mask in accordance with a state order And we haven't yet begun to mention the churches.
The Life Tabernacle Church in Central, LA, while cases in the state spiked, held services for over 550 parishioners because the pastor proclaimed the virus "is not a concern. The virus, we believe, is politically motivated." Over at the River Church in Tampa, FL, Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested after defying repeated orders to not hold services at his mega-church during the state's stay-at-home regulations. The good pastor, one of many Christian leaders who laid hands on the president during a prayer session in the Oval Office, told his congregation that the pandemic was of less concern than the flu and announced that "The whole thing is planned...to shut down Christianity." He also told his flock that God would replenish their toilet paper, and I wish that were a joke. Closer to home, the Cleburne County Church in Greer's Ferry, AR held a children's event in late March, after which thirty-four people tested positive for the coronavirus, including the pastor and his wife. If evangelicals insist on live-attendance church services, I'm sure the Lord will provide.
The newest viral hotspot is in the White House. Trump's personal valet has tested positive for Covid-19. This is the same guy who serves the president his food and yet, still, the Mad King refuses to wear a face mask for fear that it would make him look ridiculous. This would rank about 12th on the list of things that make Trump look ridiculous. A mask would only help. Press Secretary to Vice President Pence, Katie Miller, has also tested positive for coronavirus, yet Pence continues on his way, unmasked and mingling. Ms. Miller is also the wife of White House ghoul and architect of the "brown children in cages" policy, Stephen Miller. Ordinarily, I would not wish personal harm on anyone, but in this case an exception is warranted. Miller tested negative, which is expected of bloodless vampires. The only thing that could harm him is a wooden stake. The New York Times has reported that some senior White House officials believe the disease is already spreading through the offices in the West Wing. Two prominent doctors on the coronavirus task force are in self-quarantine after attending a meeting with Ms. Miller. Everybody else at the meeting is still showing up to work. Our own beloved senior senator and expedient convert to the dark side, Lamar Alexander, is in voluntary-quarantine after a member of his staff tested positive.
Our churlish president continues on his singular quest to reopen every KFC in the country despite the best advice of his experts. A recently leaked White House internal document, assembled by FEMA, projects deaths reaching three thousand a day by June 1st- a 70% increase from current numbers. The often-quoted University of Washington model projects 135,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus through the first of August- more than double the forecast from mid-April. When the country needs factual information more than ever, the squatter in the White House has forbidden any officials on the Coronavirus Task Force from testifying before Congress without the express approval of new Chief of Staff and former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows. Currently in Shelby County, there are over three thousand confirmed cases and sixty-four deaths from Covid-19. The virus is raging through nursing homes and jails while the 'essential employees" of these facilities fan out into their respective communities after extreme working conditions. And yet some people still believe the coronavirus, as the president said, is "a hoax." Personally, we're not going anywhere until summer, or when medical experts tell us it's safe to visit patients in the hospital again. On a positive note, Carnival Cruises will resume their excursions in August and I understand tickets are a real bargain.
Greetings from Sector 7. Things have been pretty quiet around here. Too quiet. Sometimes at night all I can hear is the ticking of the grandfather clock. At times it seems so loud it makes my ears ring. I could relax if I could only stop that infernal ticking. Wait. I remember. We don't have a grandfather clock. Then it must be a heartbeat. I'm not the only one in this house with a bass drum for a heart. Which one is doing this incessant pounding? I get it. It's not them. It's me. It's just the blood pulsing in my inner ear, through the cochlea and on to the cranium. Maybe it's time to remove the banana. Have I slipped into an Edgar Allan Poe story? Let me think. Oh yes. This is more like the novel White Noise by Don DeLillo, when a chemical spill from a railroad car created "The Airborne Toxic Event," which forces the evacuation of a college town. Time is measured as before and after the "Event." An experimental drug called "Dylar" is used to treat the widespread fear of dying, but it has unpredictable side-effects. If all this sounds familiar, it is yet another example of life imitating art. DiLillo's novel was published in 1985. Who knew thirty-five years later we would be living it?
We're making the best of our quarantine from the rampant spread of Covid-19, or as Trump calls it, the flu. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee didn't help matters when he was about three weeks later than other states to issue stay-at-home orders. My Nashville pals tell me that Lower Broadway was packed long after other cities had taken the health warnings to heart. When the bars finally did close, the only holdout determined to keep his saloon open was Trump devotee Kid Rock. As a result, Nashville is now a "hot-spot" for the virus. Memphis would be in decent shape if the virus wasn't being trucked in by our neighbors from Mississippi and Arkansas. Do you think there might be a connection between viral outbreaks in states with Republican governors who ignored the experts' warnings and a president who called it "the new Democratic hoax," with the legitimate press "in hysteria mode," designed to hurt his re-election chances? Fox News echoed the malignant disinformation, so now the virus has been confirmed in all fifty states and shelter-in-place orders have been issued nationwide while Trump is still issuing "travel guidelines." The "fake-news" New York Times reported that the president was warned of an impending pandemic in early January, but he played down the crisis not wishing to disturb the stock market and because of his suspicions over the motives of the "Deep State."
All that's left to do is to make the best of an unprecedented disaster and practice social distancing until, or if, a vaccine is found. Actually, this isn't too much of a stretch for me. I'd make a great candidate for house arrest. Other than visit with friends, eat at a restaurant, or go hear live music, we didn't leave the house that much before the pandemic. I have Facetimed with more friends and relatives in the past month than I have in the previous eleven. Facebook has been a great tool to keep up with the other shut-ins, if they would only stop sending me videos on Messenger. Some of my relatively elderly acquaintances were unaware of the many food delivery services. OK BOOMER. Download apps from Postmates, Grubhub, DoorDash or Bite Squad and they'll deliver meals from your favorite restaurants right to your door. In fact, they'll leave it so no human contact is involved. But then again, some of my technically challenged friends don't know what an app is. Such is the generational divide. Also remember, you're not trapped in your house. You can still go for walks. If not for you, do it for the dog.
We've begun a walking routine after I passed by a mirror naked and saw a beer-belly that suddenly appeared out of nowhere- and I don't even drink beer. People are really friendly out there. If you see someone coming, this is the only time you can cross to the other side of the street without offending anyone. We even stopped to talk with a couple sitting on their font porch. I don't recall that happening, ever. Now I understand how people passed the time during the 19th Century. After the plague is over, there could be a renaissance of front porches. We've also been watching a whole lot of television. We got a smart TV but we're too dumb to figure out how to use it properly. The news reminds us that the real heroes of this scourge are the front-line medical workers who risk their lives in ill-equipped hospitals to treat the afflicted. But we've also realized which jobs are also truly "essential." They're not so much accountants or lawyers as they are grocery store employees- folks that stock the shelves, mop the floors, and make minimum wage. Then there are the drivers who bring you your food, chefs and cooks who prepare it, and restaurant workers, many who have been furloughed, who pack it up and send it out. My heart goes out to the club owners and all the great musicians who have lost their venues but post "virtual" concerts online, because we need them now more than ever. This virus won't last forever. Perhaps with the arrival of hot weather, we'll get a respite. But come November, I will crawl through an infected field of dead Chinese bats just to cast a vote against this evil, bloviating bastard. I can stand unlimited quarantine for the Coronavirus, but I can't take four more years of this man-made horror show.
The president makes me sick. Literally. After enduring relentless night sweats during furtive sleep, I felt light-headed and dizzy. Any exertion left me exhausted. I thought a nice shower might help, but I ended up having to lie down while attempting to zen away my rapid palpitating heartbeat. Walking from bedroom to den was encumbered with an equilibrium imbalance that left me clutching the wall. I didn't know what was happening to me. I tried to act calmly so as not to frighten my wife, but Melody could see through my charade and suggested we go to the emergency room. Rather than going to the ER on a Saturday night, we instead called the doctor's service which asked if we had a blood pressure monitor in the house. When Melody hooked me up and the cup finally loosened from my bicep, my blood pressure was off the charts. A Xanax ultimately eased the situation until I could call my doctor on Monday. By miraculous luck, someone had cancelled their three o'clock appointment and I was able to grab it. When my blood work was suspect, I was sent to a nephrologist, then a urologist, before returning to my primary doctor. The prognosis? Hypertension combined with acid reflux was disturbing my stability. So, now I'm on daily blood pressure and digestive medications. When I asked the doctor if he had any further instructions, he said, "Turn off the news and play more guitar."
It's hard to escape the American Horror Story sitting in the White House. After the thoroughly co-opted and corrupted Republican Senate aquitted the president from two articles of impeachment, the gaseous windbag felt emboldened enough to take a couple of victory laps. After President Clinton's impeachment, Wild Bill appeared in the Rose Garden alone, showed contrition and apologized to the country for his indescretions that prompted the R-rated ordeal that followed. Trump chose to show up at the annual prayer breakfast, ordinarily a non-political event that focuses on faith, and launched a diatribe against his perceived enemies, calling the top FBI officials "scum," and questioning Nancy Pelosi's faith while she sat just feet away. Trump addressed the gathering declaring, "As everybody knows, my family, our great country and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people." He could just as well have been referring to his rotted cabinet that cheared him on. Appearing in the East Room after the breakfast, Trump instigated a vendetta against impeachment witnesses that would have made Richard Nixon blanch. Referring to fired FBI Director James Comey as "that sleazebag," and Nancy Pelosi as "a horrible person," Trump gathered his minions to fan out on cable TV and prepared to get some payback.
Gordan Sondland, the million-dollar Republican donor recalled from his post as Ambassador to the European Union, was the first victim of Trump's retribution. Then, "simmering with rage," as his aides attested, Trump had impeachment witness, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman fired from his position on the National Security Council and escorted by security guards from the White House grounds along with his twin brother, who had nothing to do with the impeachment, just in case Trump couldn't tell them apart. Only a month ago, Trump pardoned an Army soldier convicted of war crimes, then dismissed a decorated veteran who had earned a Purple Heart in combat. Trump then asked the Pentagon to investigate Vindman for any potential wrongdoing. The Pentagon declined. The idiot man-child then demanded that the House "expunge" his impeachment, calling the whole thing a "hoax." Like the Bizarro Superman of comic book fame, Trump protects the guilty while punishing the innocent. Embolded by his acquittal, Trump began to purge the unfaithful from his administration, enlisting the Justice Department and Trump's slavish protector, William Barr, to exact revenge on his critics. Trump's obediant protector immediately appointed an outside prosecutor to examine the origins of the investigation into the former National Security Advisor and disgraced convicted liar Michael Flynn. After Barr interfered with the sentencing recommendations of convicted comic villian Roger Stone, all four government prosecutors resigned from the case, prompting more than 1,100 former prosecutors and Justice officials to call for Barr's resignation. Trump's enablers continue to ignore a litany of proven criminal activity by this lawless demagogue.
Impeach his ass again. Seriously. This bloated megalomaniac thinks because he was acquitted by a fearful Republican Senate that he's home free to continue his work as capo of the Trump crime family. There were least ten more charges of obstruction of justice outlined in the Mueller report. They weren't included in this impeachment go-round because Robert Mueller wasn't very telegenic and failed to move public opinion. Mueller clearly stated that the outlaw president could not be charged only because of a legal "opinion" that prevents a sitting president from indictment. Mueller told congress, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” He never said so. In fact, Mueller reported to the shyster Attorney General that his probe found "multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations," which translates into a profusion of abuse of power. Mueller's 448 page report was dismissed without anyone reading it. I ordered the report in book form, but the print was small enough to need a magnifying glass and was so dense, it was like trying to read War and Peace written in Sanskrit. All Mueller's evidence of criminality was ignored. No president in history has been more deserving of removal from office than this counterfeit con-man. Until this cruel fool is removed from our collective reality, I'll be here playing the guitar while medicated to assuage the daily onslaught of relentless outrage.
And the hits just keep on coming. The President* killed an Iranian general in a drone strike last week and it's already old news. There's an old southern expression you've probably heard. When a bad person comes to a violent end, somebody's bound to say, "He needed killin'." If anybody needed killing it was General Qassem Soleimani, a brutal terrorist with buckets of blood on his hands. The President* might have basked in reflected glory but he couldn't resist embellishing the event by claiming that the General was planning "imminent" attacks on at least four U.S. embassies with absolutely no evidence. President* Norman Bates then threatened to target fifty-two Iranian sites, one for each hostage taken forty years ago, including cultural sites, which is against international law and considered a war crime. A shooting war with Iran on the eve of the House of Representatives' vote approving impeachment articles seemed inevitable and the world held its breath waiting for the Iranian response. Everyone exhaled a bit when the Iranians shot rockets onto U.S. bases, causing no loss of life, then accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet and lied about it. That may have tempered their retaliation for now, but your kidding yourself if you think this is over. Recent reports emerged saying Trump approved the strike seven months ago. That's a long way from "imminent." In return, the Iranians said they will no longer restrict the enrichment of uranium, something they had agreed to in the Obama brokered nuclear deal. I'll confess I never heard of Soleimani until they killed him, but I was stunned at how many of my Facebook friends suddenly became experts in Middle Eastern affairs.
On the cusp of the Senate impeachment trial of DonJohn the Cruel, I'd like to take back all the unflattering things I've written about Nancy Pelosi in the past. I sincerely apologize and freely admit that she is a badass. Her strategy of holding on to the articles of impeachment produced two beneficial results: she got under Trump's skin bigly, and every day has produced more incriminating evidence regarding the president's* crime-ring's dealings with Ukraine. The two-part interview with Rudy Giuliani's co-conspirator Lev Parnas by Rachel Maddow (BA Stanford, Rhodes Scholar, MA and PhD Lincoln College, Oxford) blew the lid off the entire shadow government conspiracy to coerce the Ukrainian President to publicly announce an investigation into the activities of Hunter and Joe Biden. An actual investigation wasn't necessary, just the announcement would suffice to dirty up Biden. Mr. Parnas said, "everyone was in the loop," including the president*, V.P. Pence, Giuliani, Pompeo, Rick Perry, and William Barr. This isn't an administration. It's a criminal enterprise that includes the Departments of Energy, State and Justice. Parnas claimed one of his reasons for going public was that he didn't trust William Barr. "Am I scared? Yes," Parnas said, making an end-run around the Attorney General to get the truth in the open. I understand Parnas is under indictment for campaign finance charges, but I'd believe him before the proven serial liar who claims he doesn't even know the guy who sat next to Rudy in Oval Office meetings.
Now that this mess is in the Senate's hands, I'll never understand why the House allowed government officials and the White House to stonewall their investigation. Trump instructed his minions not to cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee in any way, including document requests and appearances, and when nothing happened, it was correctly assumed that they got away with it. Doesn't anyone remember Susan McDougal? She was a Clinton associate prosecuted for fraud in the Whitewater investigation, which ultimately morphed into the Lewinski affair. She was offered a deal if she implicated Bill Clinton in wrongdoing, and when she refused she was declared in contempt of court and was incarcerated for twenty-two months, eight in solitary confinement. Shouldn't the same fate befall Mick Mulvaney and and Mike Pompeo? Getting numerous court orders might drag the process out until the election and since the president's* noxious behavior was becoming more erratic by the hour, they just impeached the morally challenged capo di tutti capi. Trump tweeted in all caps, "I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" It turned out to be the perfect justification for impeachment.
We're about to see if the Senate will hold a real trial including witnesses or if "the grim reaper" Mitch McConnell will bury the evidence and make it all go away. If witnesses are allowed and the Republicans want to call Hunter Biden, let 'em. What can he say that's relevant to this conspiracy? Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff said John Bolton's testimony would be a "game changer," although I wouldn't expect Bolton to do the Democrats any favors. One positive is that a subpoena from the Senate can't be ignored. If attempted by, say, the Attorney General, the Sergeant at Arms can forcibly retrieve him, or he can take the Susan McDougal approach and go to jail until he changes his mind. He wouldn't be the first Attorney General we sent to jail. Nixon's A.G. John Mitchell holds that distinction. The Trump bunch should take a close look at the Nixon example. Everything always comes out eventually. Even if Trump completes his term, a plethora of books will be written by insiders ready to cash in, just like the Trump family has from this aberrant presidency. The Senators who will decide the president's* fate have sworn an oath "to administer impartial justice..so help me God." Since Trump is fond of quoting scripture to his rapture-crazed devotees, here's something from Matthew 5:33- "You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn."
