Rage and Covid and Where We Are

Florida is completely open for business. Bars and restaurants are at 100 percent capacity, some schools are in session, in person, and traffic on the roads, with tourists arriving, equestrians pulling into town. Yet, Florida has 711, 804 cases, more than South Africa, a few less than Mexico. So in the comparison of states to countries, we’re about 10th.

In the last 3 days, our new cases have added up to more than 8,000. Today, Oct. 2, the number of cases in the U.S. was 51,403, according to Worldometer, which I trust. It’s not associated with a government. Their numbers are often higher than John Hopkins, but are compiled differently.

From The Tampa Tribune: Positivity: John Hopkins University reported Florida’s positivity rate at 11.03 percent on Thursday. Before loosening social distancing guidelines, a region should stay at a positivity rate of five percent or less for at least two weeks, according to the World Health Organization.

The Florida Department of Health averaged a weekly positivity rate of about five percent. Its calculations do not include positive retests, emphasizing negative test results.

Most stores still require masks, although Governor DeSantis, a trump lapdog, has deemed there is no mandate. The governor was slow to shut down the state and quick to reopen it. Unfortunately, he’s not on the ballot this year.

This is a strange, surreal time. The debate between Biden and trump on Tuesday night was a fiasco, gag worthy. And just the day before, the NY Times ran their story on trump’s tax returns – $750 to the IRS. These two facts ended support for trump in a pair of diehards – a female friend who apparently couldn’t stomach trump’s behavior in the debate and the husband of a friend who thought trump was a successful businessman.

After that 1st debate, I’m not interested in seeing two more unless they figure out how to muzzle trump’s outbursts and constant interruptions. But I look forward to Kamala Harris ripping Pence apart in the VP debate.

Throughout all of this, I’ve been reading Bob Woodward’s book, Rage. He should win a Pulitzer for this one. His ability to organize and reconstruct events is so perfected that the book reads like a thriller.

In 2000, on election night, Mercury turned direct. Utter chaos followed. The Palm Beach County butterfly ballots were the problem. The election went to the supreme court and Sandra Day O’Connor cast the vote that handed the election to George W. In this election, the same pattern is repeating, with Mercury going direct earlier – 12: 50 ET, 9:50 a.m., Pacific. The day will result in chaos, bedlam, with accusations flying everywhere, with lawsuits and bullshit and attempts to steal the election in the important swing states.

This election will determine whether democracy survives – or whether we go the way of autocracies. Are we, the people, really the ones who choose our leaders? If so, why is trump in office? Why is Mitch McConnell still in the senate as majority leader? Why is Lindsey Graham still a senator? Where is their campaign $ coming from?

If nothing else, trump has revealed where democracy is weak and where our constitution is weak and screams for amendments:

The senate should be obligated to bring every house bill that’s passed to the senate floor for a vote. The majority leader should NOT have the unilateral power to decide what goes to the senate floor.

A sitting president can be indicted and charged. No one is above the law.

There should be term limits on supreme court justices.

No supreme court justice should be confirmed once the election season has begun.

And that’s just for starters.

Woodward’s title doesn’t just fit the mood within politics and the trump admin. It fits people like me and you and you. The middle class, right? We pay  a lot more in annual taxes than $750 and we hunger for competent people to run the gov’t, so that we don’t have to see or hear the prez 24/7, lying through his teeth.

PS Trump has been diagnosed with Covid and is now in Walter Reed Hospital. I wish I could say I’m sorry. But I’m not,  given his flagrant disregard for all norms and for the public health recommendations – specifically about masks- and for his recklessness concerning the pandemic.