April 20

Good morning, all. I wasn't sure I was going to post but I am finding some interesting items.

Tomdispatch this morning has a piece by Rebecca Gordon that hit so many chords. We may also be part of the so-called ratings that #45 touts. We started out tuning in to see if any good medical information was going to be announced. Unfortunately, the real experts have been pushed to the end of what is a long diatribe which is either an exaggerated brag session featuring his own "greatness" or a sickening pity party. We turn off the second variety more quickly than the first but haven't sat through the entire campaign-rallies-by-another-name shows for weeks now.

This is an outrageous situation that is continuing. A friend who lives in Colorado had a link to one of the local newspapers that ran the story of the "theft" of 500 respirators the (Democratic) governor had ordered by Federal agents and the "generous" gift of 100 respirators from #45 at the behest of embattled (Republican) senator Cory Gardener who is run for reelection is in trouble. Governor Pritzker of Illinois arranged two shipments by private carriers from China and kept the details secret so the Feds wouldn't interdict (steal) the supplies the states or hospitals traced down and paid for.

I have to be a bit fair to #45. Like a stopped clock that is right twice a day, he can be right every once in a while. Last night at a meandering news conference of the "buff the ego" variety he did make an extensive remark about the problem of supply lines. I don't believe for a moment that he, in his infinite genius and wisdom, had been warning about the fragility of our extended and narrowly sourced supply lines. Sometime ago we remarked that if we ever got into a major war--not the brushfire wars of the past 40 years or so but against a major enemy like Russia or China--we would have to totally rebuild our manufacturing capacity almost from the ground up. Almost everything we need is produced off shore.

We went out today because Mom needed blood tests for her doctor's appointment next week. We went to the small hospital (the local part of a larger regional chain) instead of the other hospital we normally go to because her doctor changed affiliation as of the first of the year. About half of the patients wore masks and all were maintaining their social distancing. Interestingly the nurse (?) who drew her blood said that because we weren't under 18 and obviously weren't pregnant (at ages 71 and  88 I should hope not!) the hospital didn't require masks for us. All the employees were wearing masks and disinfecting pens and surfaces between each patient. We also took the opportunity to go to the dairy which we were going to do anyway tomorrow. All customers waited their turn to enter and wore masks. There isn't really enough room to maintain distance inside--it is a really small space. For the first time in 20+ days (our last 2 visits) the meat freezer was full so someone got production and/or deliveries up again. The clerk told us that another hospital was taking everyone's temperature (not done at the other) and giving the person a tracking device with the warning that if they wandered off the prescribed path to their destination they would be arrested!! Shortly after we got home we got a call from the doctor's office. The nurse asked about her blood work because the doctor needed the results before he would renew her prescriptions and if she would mind doing a "phone visit" for her appointment instead of an office visit. Evidently they are doing that when they can for their willing patients until the coronavirus situation is resolved. No problem.