Even More Washington Aggravation

Today was much better than yesterday.  The sun was out and the sky was blue and virtually cloudless.

The ocotillos continue to bloom.  There are a lot of them this year.

After hike we went to Walgreens.  They will sell you some items at the drive through window.  We were looking for Flonase, because we are both perishing from the pollen.  My nasal passages feel like they've been sand papered; should have done this a month ago.  Notice how yellow things are looking out there.

Awhile back I mentioned the WAPO master class article on what the president was told and when he knew it.  If you haven't read it you should.  I really thought this would be the definitive piece on the subject, and I was wrong.

Yesterday NYT put up a piece with more data, and more names named.  If you're on twitter, you probably noticed the orange one was very angry all day.  One of the things that was discussed in the article was a group of doctors and epidemiologists who were trying to steer public policy, and their astounding lack of success in convincing the president to lock it down.  They formed an email group called Red Dawn to share information and concerns.

 NYT has a follow on article showcasing pivotal emails among the group.

The “Red Dawn String,” Dr. Caneva said, was intended “to provide thoughts, concerns, raise issues, share information across various colleagues responding to Covid-19,” including medical experts and doctors from the Health and Human Services Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Homeland Security Department, the Veterans Affairs Department, the Pentagon and other federal agencies tracking the historic health emergency.

THIS is what happens when you don't practice pandemic response and keep your stockpiles topped off.

The NYT has collected 80 of these emails and they are available in a pdf format for your perusal.  The link is in the second article I referenced.

Dr. Ester Choo has done a superb tweet thread which sums up the articles.

If he wasn't trying to kill us with a lackluster response to Covid-19, now he wants to do away with the post office - again.  Can you imagine this country without USPS?  I get drugs by mail, so do a lot of people.  People in the rural areas depend on USPS.  This is just shockingly stupid to me, that he again is making a run at this.  Of course, if there is no USPS, there is no vote by mail, and the republicans' voter suppression that is already in place will ensure their continued reign.  WAPO wrote about it here.  USPS could be financially viable if congress would quit making it pre-fund retirement and allow them to set the price of stamps, but noooooo.



For those of you who made it this far, I have humor at the bottom.  The blog is where I put stuff that I don't want to lose track of, so there you go.

Update to post 4/13/2020:  This is an even better timeline.  I'm parking it here so I don't lose track of it.  This pretty much sums up the president's view on science.

December 2017: The Trump administration bans the CDC from using the terms “evidence-based” and “science-based.”

The Trump administration instructs senior officials at the CDC that they should not use the phrases “science-based” or “evidence-based” and instead use the suggested phrase: “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.”