PLOG 84: Trump Stops Stimulus

 My PLOG continues...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/trump-ends-stimulus-talks/index.html

I'm just speechless about how Trump is being so transparent about his selfishness. Here's the quote:

"I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business," Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon.

I suppose surviving his bout with Covid has emboldened Trump all the more. But it's really sad news for all of the people, families, and businesses that desperately needed more stimulus right now.

Try to stay safe out there!

PLOG 83: 210,000 Deaths and Trump Infected

 My PLOG continues...

We are less than 1,000 deaths away from the US having over 210,000 coronavirus deaths. But the other numbers are staggering as well. There are 7.36 million infections in the US (which now also includes President Trump and his wife). Worldwide there are over 34.5 million cases and over 1 million deaths.

https://apnews.com/article/f6ba3a16ab9b74b161a3a7211248e97e

The lack of mask wearing seems to have finally caught up with Trump, who quickly had himself moved from the White House to Walter Reed Medical Center and thus alarmed the media. Is he there just as a precaution, or is there something Trump's people aren't telling us? He's an overweight 75-year old man with some health issues. Covid could hit him hard; maybe it already has hit him bad; CNN was reporting that they found out he had at least a fever before they moved him. My question is, where is the First Lady? Why didn't she go with him? It's strange.

Hopefully, if nothing else, this situation will at least get more people to take the pandemic more seriously. Also, it could be a great excuse to cancel the next debate between Trump and Biden; after that first debate turned out to be such a disaster, I don't think we need another one.

Be careful everyone! 

PLOG 82: 205,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues...

Within the next 24 hours the numbers will reflect over 205,000 US coronavirus deaths. Once again it looks like we have about 5,000 deaths in 6 days. In addition to that, we have been over 7 million infections in the US for several days now.

Meanwhile, with Ruth Bader Ginsburg having passed away, Trump has now nominated a new US Supreme Court nominee. At least Trump picked a woman, and a person who appears to have conducted herself professionally in the public sphere. But, if the US Senate manages to confirm this appointment, it will drastically unbalance the US Supreme Court to a position to be able to support the agenda of extreme conservatives. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Stay safe out there!

PLOG 65: 145,000 Deaths

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

I've been trying to escape into video games and Lego, but the news and numbers are impossible to ignore. In the US we are now at more than 145,000 deaths (probably at 146,000 by the end of today), with more than 4.1 million people infected right now. There are so many people who need help and the government seems ambivalent; instead of passing stimulus directly to the people, the US Congress continues to stall and are about to let the unemployment pandemic benefits expire.

The first major hurricane of this season is about to hit Texas. The combination of the pandemic and a hurricane means really bad news; storm season has heated up with lots of dangerous possibilities. People who may be in quarantine and self-lockdown are now going to need to potentially evacuate and get help from the community. And if the hurricanes don't get them, then the coming tornadoes might.

As for the protests, it sounds like Trump's administration is going to take its act from Portland (with the hired private security forces) to more cities. The plan seems to be to intimidate the protestors with these illegal grab and snatch operations.

Meanwhile I've got teacher work/prep to do, but I also have some Lego sets and some Minecraft goals. Oh, and I have some ice cream. I think this would be a good time to cook up some jambalaya and have some ice cream. The stress eating continues. The night time anxiety and difficulty falling asleep continues.

Be safe out there and I'll be safe at home!

PLOG 61: REAL RISKS!

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

Let's get real here. Listening to the news has become very frustrating. The US Congress has been debating the next stimulus bill (for a long time). It's insane. We're not just talking politics as normal. We are in an emergency, pandemic situation. People need relief yesterday. It's life and death for a lot of people; it's time for the government to take action and help people.

The politicians need to remember that they are supposed to be serving the people. The government should only exist to further the needs of the people. Instead, we are continuing to see clashes with protesters.

The situations we are facing seem to just worsen, which reminds me of the coutuniunig unknowns about starting the school year.  Some states are starting all classes online. Other have left that decision up to the local districts, like in Texas. In Texas we have some counties where the health commissioner is even stepping in and forcing in-person school to be delayed. But you know what's weird? People either don't seem to understand/know about the fact that teachers are still expected to show up in person - or people just don't care.

Studies have been done. Kids and teens get the virus. They spread the virus. Air conditioning systems spread the virus. Whether students are there or not, the virus will spread. What in the world are we doing? And because the details have been revealed so late, it's too late for teachers to be freely released from our contracts. Now if we decide to not show up for work in protest of the situation, or out of concern for our health, we will lose our certifications and potentially our retirement pensions.

I feel like it's all really obvious and yet we still have about (I'm guessing here) 30-40% of the population in denial of how medical science and virus infections work.

I can only spend so many days escaping into books, The Sims 3, Minecraft, and Lego. My summer vacation days are running out.

Wish me luck.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home).

PLOG 59: 140,000

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

Well, it's after midnight so I turned the news back on and I was saddened to realize that today we will pass the 140,000 total death count for the US. It's a horrible day.

I saw some more bad news for Texas. In addition to what CNN is reporting with the record number of infections, deaths, and hospitalizations (seen below) - schools have been allowed to push back the school start date for students; despite the change from TEA, many school districts are still insisting teachers report to work around August 3 to August 6.

 I'm clinging to hope for some kind of intervention to save the kiddos and the staff; parents have been given the choice to either send their kids in person or have online school. I hope they all pick online school. It's not just unsafe, it's less safe than it was in the past when we shut down. Going back now will certainly mean death for some people. Those will be preventable deaths.

Apparently the Portland officials are allowing law enforcement officers (of some kind) in unmarked vans to take away protesters for questioning and/or arrest. In the US, this is certainly shocking. The speculation online is that these officials who are not identifying their agency are actually private security and not actual police or military forces. But where are the protestors being taken and what is happening to them?

What's that next to the TV? Another box arrived in the mail. I've got some sorting to do.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 53: 1/100

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

This morning I woke up and decided to use the Texas website for Gov. Abbott to send him an email, begging him to not allow the schools to reopen for in-person learning.

I felt better after doing something, even if my voice is only one in a huge storm of voices. Then I watched the news while reading and doing things online. They have been talking about teachers; I mean majorly focusing quality news time on reopening the schools and the variables involved for students and staff. Thank you CNN! Thank you media! 

Unfortunately, I found out that in Arizona there was a situation with 3 teachers teaching summer school in one classroom and all of them getting infected; one of them died from the virus. Sigh. Just like that; I mean, it's that easy for it to happen. It just makes your heart heart.

Meanwhile Trump's people continue to attack Dr. Fauci, who is well-known as the leading expert on our situation. They don't want us to know the truth. They don't want us to know the facts, the medical science. It's horrible, but at this point, not unexpected. 

Did you know that at this point, we are statistically at a rate of 1 out of every 100 US citizens being infected? That's insane. We are at the point where each infected person is basically infecting 2 more people. That means the virus is really out of control. The infection rate needs to get back down to less than 1 person if there is any hope of slowing down this situation again.

Thinking back, it's possible I got coronavirus and didn't even know it. I remember being sick back in the January-February time frame before we Americans realized what was going on with the coronavirus. I doubt it though.

Well, it's time for stress-management. I've got to relax more.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 52: 135,000

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

The US is at over 135,000 dead from the coronavirus. I don't feel like making a PLOG entry today, but I will write at least a little bit.

In protest news, Texas teachers are organizing to march on the state capitol in Austin, Texas. That sounds really exciting and I wish I could join them, but I am going to have to stay safe at home. I wish them luck though. 

Why are they protesting? Because Trump and Abbott continues to publicly insist that we open schools on time, despite the fact that it is unsafe. I found some interesting responses online.

The fact is, I am really frustrated and tired of this situation. I am clinging to a little bit of hope that our political leaders get their act together and order us to move to online school again, but with each passing day that they don't do it, my hope is dwindling even more.

How many people have to die for change to happen? Clearly, the answer is more than 135,000 in the US.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 51: Code Blue

My PLOG (Personal Log) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

A little after midnight last night, I found this article about our "Code Blue" situation of hospitals not having enough room for the number of dead patients. They are renting storage units for the dead bodies.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/As-COVID-19-continues-to-slam-Houston-the-death-15400462.php

Notice the article also explained that the number of COVID-19 deaths is under-reported in 24 states, including Texas. That means that if I got sick with the virus, went to the hospital and died, but they hadn't performed a test that showed a positive result yet, I would not be listed as a COVID-19 death in Texas. That's insane. Absolutely insane.

It's getting hard to sleep again; similar to the early days of the pandemic. I have trouble falling asleep. I don't tend to sleep well. I have nightmares half the time. This afternoon I kind of lost it about how crazy this situation is and there's nothing we can do about it while our government leaders seem to just be making it worse. Needless to say, that put me in a "not so good" mood a lot of the time now.

I'm sincerely a naturally happy and optimistic person. I need that kind of energy back.

I read some Facebook discussions about teachers going back, hoping that I would see inspiring words there. I found some good stuff.

There is a little bit of good news today. Trump was openly wearing a mask when he went to visit injured soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Facility. I imagine, in the background prep discussions, they had to explain to Trump that it didn't matter if he was the US President or the Commander-in-Chief, absolutely no one gets to walk around the hospital without a mask on. Of course, Trump made sure he was seen by the media in a hallway where he could look like a dictator walking around with the military-uniform-wearing guys surrounding him.

Baby steps. Unfortunately, it also comes with the highlighted news that Trump's corruption is running even deeper with him, yesterday, commuting the prison sentence of Roger Stone - who was going to prison for lying to the government in order to protect Trump. Sigh. Baby steps.

But baby steps won't be enough to get us out of this situation. As the virus spirals out of control, too many people are dying. Are we supposed to just sit around and wait for Trump to be voted out of office and hope the newly elected officials can better organize and take care of business? That's a long time. The election is in November. The new president wouldn't take office until later in January. Even with fast-acting, sweeping changes, it's July now so that would be at least 6 more months of staring in disbelief as the leaders make everything worse. And if Trump loses in November, I can see him trying to "burn the house down" so to speak.

I don't mind being in lockdown. I don't mind quarantine. I do mind stupid mistakes that, to me, are obvious. Let the doctors and scientists make the decisions, or at least listen to their advice. From day one of this stuff, I looked it up on the internet and understood we were looking at a minimum of 12-18 months, but with that as a best estimate for dealing with this situation. Why is it so hard for people to grasp? Why do they have to stay in denial that it'll end in a few weeks or next month?

In a few weeks I may have to decide between returning to work in the high-risk school environment or forever financially ruining myself and my family in order to try to protect my health. I don't like being forced into a situation like that. My only hope right now is another state-wide shut down in Texas. I guess we will see what happens.

Humanity is forever changed. What we do now matters. How we transform society matters. Every bad decision is leading to people losing their homes, their savings, and sometimes their loved ones. It's big money on the line, but it's also life and death.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home).

PLOG 50: More Lockdown

My PLOG (Personal Log) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

While most states have "paused" their "reopening" of the economy, the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia has issued a statement that they will have to go back into lockdown.

Remember lockdown? That was when everyone was told to do what I've still been doing - staying at home. It's so weird to me that so many people don't understand that this is potentially a life and death situation. I believe in "better safe than sorry" and maintaining "best practices," though I realize that makes me sound like a scared non-risk-taker. So be it. I'm alive and, as far as I know, I haven't gotten the virus yet.

I think we should all be on lockdown and only essential workers should be out there. We should maintain that status until an actual solution to the virus comes up. That means sacrificing our old ways of life.

Meanwhile Trump is continuing to paint the picture that everything is fine. What lies! He won't even meet with Dr. Fauci in person. He doesn't want Dr. Fauci on TV telling people the truth. I don't get it. At this point, is Trump literally wanting US citizens to die? I just don't understand. At least his approval polls are going down. That gives me hope that his followers are starting to wake up.

Some of the experts on TV are now saying that the virus is out of control and that if our national leadership doesn't change something, we won't get it back under control. That means people shouldn't expect the situation to get better. And yet they do. People keep saying that next week or next month we will have sporting events with people in the audience or we will be able to go back to school or something similar. Such strange denial.

Such strange denial. I am willing to admit that I escape into fantasy with literature and video games, but not because I am in denial of the situation. It's because I'm stuck in my home all the time. What else is there to do? LOL.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

UPDATE:

https://www.propublica.org/article/all-the-hospitals-are-full-in-houston-overwhelmed-icus-leave-covid-19-patients-waiting-in-ers#977365

PLOG 49: Not Great

My PLOG (Personal Log) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

Dr. Fauci seems to be on the outs with Trump because he is speaking truth about the virus, rather than help deliver politically divisive messages. Good for him! He's admitting that we aren't doing great.

The truth needs to be spoken. Hopefully Dr. Fauci can help break through some of the political divide and let people see the science and medical info. The sad truth is, the virus situation is completely out of control and we have no national leadership coordinating an effort to get it under control.

The state of Texas is now at over 100 deaths a day, with the amount increasing every day. That's really scary. As a Texan, I am saddened by these numbers. As an American, I am also saddened by the new daily cases across the nation as well - now being over 60,600 a day. Just a few days ago we were at 50,000 new cases a day.

All of those numbers are from today. And yet today, once again, the Trump administration is emphasizing that they want schools to open for in-person learning. How can they look at the numbers and still say they want to sacrifice students and teachers like this? We know how the virus works in nursing homes and prisons because they weren't shut down. Schools will end up the same way, as hot beds of infection. Air conditioning systems play a huge factor in the spread of the coronavirus; having worked in schools for so long, I can tell you the AC systems are just crap. They are not setup to filter out the virus. They will spread it from room to room to room until we are all infected; then we will take the infections home and our family members will get it too.

I feel like Giles during Buffy the Vampire Slayer saying "We're doomed" - except, I don't mean it in a fun, sassy sort of way. We are doomed. For some reason mass members of society, including our leaders, are in denial of this super virus having forever changed our society. They don't seem to want to admit that we must start functioning differently now. We can't just go back to "business as usual" or whatever they thought of as "normal" back before the virus hit.

Why not take advantage of this situation as a chance to admit that we, as humans, need to do better and reorganize our society? Why not setup new systems to help people? Why not make changes for the better, instead of trying to force people back in the "before times" that will get them infected?

My belief is we need to let people work from home. We need to give people economic support, such as stimulus money or a universal basic income. Our economy is collapsing. Our society is collapsing. Assuming that the rest of humanity survives this virus, history will look back on the US as being full of fools. Saying the situation isn't great is an understatement.

Sigh.

Be safe out there; I'll be safe at home!

PLOG 48: CDC & Schools

My PLOG (Personal Log) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

The news today continues to highlight Trump's desire to get the schools open, despite the lack of safety in our pandemic crisis. The infection and death numbers continue to rise.

Why? Why do the conservatives want schools to open? My best guess is because of the economy. They want those kids going to school so the parents can go to work. They are willing to ignore the guidelines put into place by the CDC - oh wait, breaking news - they are forcing the CDC to change the guidelines? Its this legal?

What the what? It isn't safe to re-open schools. Science shows this as fact. So they are using their authority to rewrite the facts, to change what our scientific organizations are reporting. And they aren't even trying to hide it. This is such obvious abuse of power, but they will get richer and their 1% buddies who fun their campaigns will get richer.

Meanwhile teachers and students will be sacrificed for the economy. Oh, and the family members of teachers and students. This situation is just absurd at this point. My spouse has assured me that I can quit my job if they try to force us to go back to in-person school, but realistically we don't have the money for that. What would I do? Pull all of my retirement money out to pay bills as long as possible and then be broke and move back in with family? Gross. But it's either that or risk getting seriously ill with health complications, huge medical bills (which would put us in the same situation of being broke), and/or possibly dying.

I don't want to be sacrificed for the economy or so some people can get re-elected. I don't want my life ruined so they can blow a bunch of money on a campaign rally.

At least the Ivy League universities seem to have their act together, with some of them already announcing online learning in the fall and cancellation of sports.

That's where it's at. Let us teachers work from home, where it's safe. Let the students learn online, where it's safe.

At this point, Texas Gov. Abbott is our last hope. He can shut down the schools. But will he? Can anyone talk sense to Trump and get him to realize what his threats are doing to people? The suspense and anxiety are stress-inducing.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

POG 46: 130,000

My PLOG (Personal Log) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

More people are getting infected. More people are dying. And Trump continues to lie about it.

How dare he say "totally harmless" when people are infecting other people, leading to health problems and deaths. I can't believe how long Trump has been in office getting away with this nonsense. Over 130,000 people are dead in the US; it should be criminal for Trump to mislead the public like this; it's just insane. This is the reason some people think it'll be safe to re-open schools for in-person learning.

It's not safe. University summer schools, as well as summer sports teams that are practicing, are all finding infections. And then what are they supposed to do? They end up having to stop again. Was the denial really worth getting more people infected, sick, and dying? Sigh. Again, I feel like a broken record.

Time to escape reality for a bit...

We've made great progress in Minecraft. The town is really starting to look like a city... Oh, I can't do this. 130,000 people are dead. The US President is leading a misinformation campaign that allows people to remain in danger and in denial. It's outrageous!

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 44: Happy 4th!

My Personal Log (PLOG) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

Trump is at it again, not wearing a mask and luring people into activities without social distancing. How does he sleep at night?

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!

That's it for today. I anticipate the US death totals could be up to 130,000 by the end of today or tomorrow so I'm not in the best of moods. So many preventable deaths!

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 42: Masks

My Personal Log (PLOG) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

There I was enjoying playing Minecraft with the news on in the background when the unthinkable happened...

Texas Gov. Abbott finally mandated mask use (with some exceptions - but for the majority of people in the state while out in public)! It's celebration time. I guess enough people died, enough people go sick, enough businesses are going down despite the re-opening of the economy that he couldn't help but take action. It's unfortunate that it takes so much to get Abbott to return to trying to lead the state.

It's also unfortunate that experts who are looking into the numbers, think that Texas is seriously underreporting our deaths.

That means our numbers for deaths should probably be about 4,000 more - and it makes me wonder if this is happening in a lot of other states. Odds are, we really have no idea how huge the numbers of infected and deaths really are - and we won't find out as long as people keep hiding them.

Why would admins hide the death numbers? I suppose, in theory, they want to look good. More infections and more deaths makes the leaders look bad, since they are supposed to be in charge.

History is going to look back at us - assuming that humanity survives all of this - and wonder why we were so weak and unable to find good leaders. They will likely wonder why we kept letting it get out of control when doctors, scientists, and other experts knew exactly what to do to turn the numbers down and gain control of the situation. Look at Japan; they never shut down the economy but everyone has worn masks and they seem to have this under control.

Too many Americans are in denial and acting like idiots. Even some people who are trying to do good though, they are ending up as collateral. Take this hospital testing line from Houston, for example:

Sigh. "If they didn't have #COVID19 before, they probably have it now" sounds about right.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 40: Happy Day!

My Personal Log (PLOG) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

I started this PLOG series on May 22, thinking that I would mostly discuss cooking and video games. Today marks my 40th PLOG entry! WOOT! WOOOOO! What an accomplishment!

I want to thank everyone for your support, especially my family and close friends. Through this dark and difficult time, I have found that I enjoy writing my daily blogs. It's a good psychological release, if nothing else. This place allows me to freely express my thoughts and feelings about the world.

What a crazy 40 days it has been. Yesterday, CNN flashed a comparison map on the screen.

Clearly the world, and especially the US, has a serious issue to get under control. I've been very lucky that the people I care about most in the world have not fallen victim to the deadly and dangerous coronavirus. One of my co-workers did get the coronavirus, but she recovered an seems to be ok now. We just have to hope that we continue to be this fortunate.

Meanwhile, the push to try to get students back into school continues. Dr. Fauci is on TV today with the other governmental heads of the medical field, answering questions for congress; he is saying we need to get students back into schools ASAP. This comes on the heels of an NPR article also insisting we need to get students back to school. I hope people understand that this situation comes with the caveat that we need to do what is best for the health of the children and the teenagers by not rushing into situations that the schools are not prepared for locally.

Did you see the jump in the deaths? By the end of today, it'll probably be at 130,000. That was fast. I hope the hospitals aren't getting overwhelmed. I know the news from Houston and Dallas was that the ICU beds were getting to full capacity at the hospitals. 

It's so bizarre that this is our new normal. Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Dr. Fauci as well and he admitted that if we don't get this under control, he won't be surprised if we end up getting over 100,000 new cases a day. He specifically used the term "very disturbing" referring to the death numbers. Sigh.

Wow. The big 4-0. Here we are. After everything. There's plenty I could complain about, but I think there are also plenty of reasons to be happy. In the larger scale of the world, there's little that I can control. But I can control me. I can control my attitude. I'm going to just sit back and relax today. Probably enjoy my cookie cake, order some pizza, play some Minecraft, talk with friends and family via technology, and hang out with the cats.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 38: Mission Impossible

My Personal Log (PLOG) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

There's a Mission Impossible movie marathon on TV today. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed these movies. It's a great distraction from the chaos of the world, so thank you to the FX channel.

I think "Mission Impossible" may end up being what we call our human struggle against the coronavirus. From the very beginning of this situation, back when I heard that China and Italy were struggling, I looked up the science behind the virus and I realized that if it got out of control we would need - at the minimum - 12 to 18 months to develop some sort of vaccine. But that was a hopeful number, because the fact is we have never developed a vaccine against the common cold. We might not be able defeat this thing. And people are in denial of the seriousness of this situation.

People want to think that we can ignore the virus and it will go away. It's not going away. In fact, as yesterday's CNN reports showed, our lack of testing shows that the numbers of infected people could be anywhere from 6 to 24 times the reported number.

That would make the US number, instead of 2.5 million, potentially 15 million to 60 million infected people. That's a lot. I've been saying, just about every day now, that we need new leadership, but it looks like the only way we will get new leadership is through voting in the elections. That means people need to be able to vote in November and we need to make it through this situation through at least January for the change in leadership. Then we need to survive long enough for changes to be made and have impact.

The good news is, the polls make it look like we will get change. The bad news is that polls were inaccurate in the last US Presidential election - and, even if we get change, the worse news is that the change is Biden.

I think it's disgusting that the options for the next US President are Trump and Biden. You would think people would have learned from the last election when neither Trump nor Hillary were popular, unifying choices. But it seems, as the Spanish Flu of 1918 would attest, we don't learn from history like we should.

During the week Jon Stewart made appearances promoting his new movie. When he was on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, they discussed how horrible it was that 102 years ago, during the Spanish Flu, the recommendations were the same as today - wear a mask and maintain distance from others.

With so many bad options around us and a society in denial, with just bad options ahead of it, we definitely seem to be in a "Mission Impossible" situation.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

UPDATE: Protesters are now out there against wearing face masks.