It's the End of the World

as we know it, and I feel fine. I think R.E.M said it best.  It really does seem like the world is imploding in upon itself.

Today is the day that the UK leaves the EU.  Preliminary trade discussions with the US have begun.  The US wants to flood their markets with cheap agricultural products.  I'm so sure the Brits will enjoy our giant chlorinated chicken breasts that taste of nothing.  They're also going to enjoy more expensive drugs.  US pharmaceutical companies currently have to lower prices to sell in the EU.  Once the UK is out of that herd, they'll be at the mercy of US corporate greed and avarice.

This image has been around for awhile, it's still relevant.

Last Wednesday Alan Dershowitz said:

If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.

The Senate Republicans fell on this argument like a pack of wild dogs and embraced it.  So now the president has carte blanche to do any damn thing he wants to get reelected.  Today they're having a four hour debate on witnesses, it's a foregone conclusion.  There will be no witnesses and they'll acquit.  Apparently it was just too arduous to give the appearance of impartiality.

Here is Lisa Mukowski's rationale for not voting for witnesses.  The process is flawed so she can't vote to do the right thing. I hope they all are voted out of office.

Yesterday the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus to be a very bad thing.  I can't remember the exact term they used.  They have confirmed person to person transmission.  CDC is still disputing transmission can occur before symptoms appear.  The symptoms would be sore throat, fever, cough; your basic flu and cold signs.  The administration responded by forming a coronavirus task force.  In May 2018 the following occurred.  (This article is behind the WAPO paywall.)

The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton.

The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer’s departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack.

Ziemer’s last day was Tuesday, the same day a new Ebola outbreak was declared in Congo. He is not being replaced.

Collectively, warns Jeremy Konyndyk, who led foreign disaster assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Obama administration, “What this all adds up to is a potentially really concerning rollback of progress on U.S. health security preparedness.”

“It seems to actively unlearn the lessons we learned through very hard experience over the last 15 years,” said Konyndyk, now a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. “These moves make us materially less safe. It’s inexplicable.”

FIFTEEN YEARS of learning how to coordinate across the many agencies that are involved in pandemic response or bioterrorism  has been flushed.  The replacement is a task force - newly formed and probably without any experience of managing a pandemic.

That lack of experience is sort of like Jared Kushner who read 25 books on Israel, which qualified him to develop a one sided peace plan that the Palestinians will never accept.  If I read 25 cardiology books, may I operate on your heart?

So yes, things from my wheel house are looking somewhat grim.  How is your day going?

Update to post 2/11/2020: