Political Irony

Yes, Clorox really does taste that bad…

[And yes, this photo is based on one taken at Barbara Bush’s funeral. It is ironic that Donald Trump was added to a photo in which he didn’t originally appear.]

In other news, The Lancet, the highly regarded British medical journal, says that “Americans should oust President Trump from the White House and elect a leader who will support – rather than undermine – public health experts who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic.” They go on to say that the Trump administration’s actions are “dangerous for both the U.S. and the world.”

Americans must put a president in the White House come January, 2021, who will understand that public health should not be guided by partisan politics.

The US is by far the worst-hit country in the world, with more than 1.4 million confirmed cases and 85,000 deaths from COVID-19. The Lancet calls the Trump administration’s response to the crisis “inconsistent and incoherent”.

The Administration is obsessed with magic bullets — vaccines, new medicines, or a hope that the virus will simply disappear. But only a steadfast reliance on basic public health principles, like test, trace, and isolate, will see the emergency brought to an end, and this requires an effective national public health agency.

Under Trump’s leadership, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was once “the gold standard for global disease detection and control” has sunk to being “ineffective”. The administration has repeatedly undermined the leading US authorities on infectious diseases, and The Lancet says “The CDC needs a director who can provide leadership without the threat of being silenced.”

Need a way to kick stay-at-home boredom? Want some fight-club action but require social distancing?

Well, watch this video and try to see how many people in it you can recognize:

Want to know how this happened?

UPDATE: Everyone I’ve talked to LOVES this video, but someone asked me last night what this has to do with politics. This is supposed to be a political blog (even if a somewhat humorous one).

The answer is… everything.

First of all, this is part of my “Things to do at home” during the pandemic series. Making cool videos with your friends is definitely a good thing to do! (As a totally side note, before I became a computer nerd, I got an art degree, including in filmmaking. And just last night I ordered a much more powerful computer with a bunch of software for making videos. So this is a big interest of mine.)

Second, this video is totally empowering for women. Given the political power of the #metoo movement, this is definitely relevant. I’d rather see news that empowers women, than news that treats them as victims that need special handling. I’m reminded of the highly successful efforts that successfully resulted in gays securing the right to marry (and many other rights). Even I was completely amazed that in a relatively short time we went from a country where social conservatives used homosexuality as a potent wedge issue, to one where nobody seems to worry about any silly “gay agenda” anymore. And simultaneously educated the public that gays are normal people who contribute to our nation in myriad important ways. That’s power!

Third, the more I look at the history of our country, I see that times of crisis for the US almost always result in great leaps forward. When we faced the stock market crash, the dust bowl, and WWII (a triple whammy) we ended up with the New Deal. The Civil War ended up with the emancipation of slaves, something that was long overdue. I’m pleased that the current pandemic is already resulting in technology being applied in new and wonderful ways, like this video allowed Zoë Bell to play with her friends.

Likewise, it is helping companies realize that their employees can productively work from home (something I’ve done in many jobs in my life) with a little help from technology. If that message sticks, it will make a huge dent in pollution, save lives lost in traffic accidents, and help fight global warming. How awesome is that?

Likewise, I’ve recently discovered the telephone. Seriously! When I was much younger, I used to call friends or family and talk for hours. With the advent of email and text messages, I stopped doing that. Email and text messages allowed me to avoid interrupting people or playing phone tag, but we also lost some things, like immediacy, and more satisfying connections. But I have now discovered that I can just pick up the phone and call someone, including people I haven’t physically talked to in years. So far, every time I’ve done that, the person has answered and has been overjoyed to hear from me, isn’t busy, and we talk up a storm. I LOVE IT! I feel like I am reconnecting with my world. Now that we have to practice severe social distancing, using the telephone (and video chats) allows us to reclaim some of that person-to-person interaction that we need. Try it!

This is the best episode of SGN yet. After all the bad news this weekend, we could definitely use some good news, and Some Good News is just what the doctor ordered.

A new episode from The Government. Warning, lots of offensive (but hilarious) language:

I’m having trouble disagreeing with anything in this video, even when they talk about “backwards countries and failed states” and use the US as a prime example.

Who could possibly want to go back to “normal”?