This gentleman is nationally connected. I’ve known him for a very long time and he’s not insignificant.

He despises Trump for a variety of reasons, almost all of them sound. He told me a couple interesting things on the fly and I thought I would mention them here for review. I’m just going to tell you what he said, and not whether I think they’re necessarily true or not.

He said the reason McCain chose Palin was they sat down with him and said you have no hope of winning the election at all whatsoever. McCain went for the Hail Mary, and thought he had done the right thing until she opened her mouth. and then he knew he was finished.

This gentleman to whom I spoke and apparently many others think Trump is going to resign and allow Pence to pardon him and his family members and as they say, cut and run. He stated that the state crimes can be handled via attorneys and they are much less concerned with them Thanfederal crimes.

This gentleman feels that Trump has no hope of winning the election and will be down to about 35 to 37% by election day. No I’ve known this guy for years and he is not one for hyperbole or BS.

That descriptor has been used often with regard to his outbursts. It is a special word, reserved for nearly-violent or violent actions taken by severely acutely disturbed individuals. Now I myself am a volatile person at times when under extreme stress. I inherited my mother’s anger Gene, but I can only recall three or four times in my adult lifetime that I had behaved in a fashion which could remotely be described as a tantrum.

More and more his behavior can be described as Hitlerian And his retreat to the bunker, while a wonderful literary metaphor, remarkably parallels the actions and behavior of the Dictator. I believe that he operates on such a primitive level that books about Hitler imprinted in his brain, and directly affect his behavior without his consciousness perceiving it as such. He is dissociated from reality, and is, like the coronavirus, becoming exponentially worse. I have come to the conclusion that he has internalized Hitler and the Third Reich and may see himself as the alter ego, or even The chosen mechanism of the reincarnation of that evil. For some comparison, when I was young I idolized certain movie actors’ film roles such as Paul Newman‘s, because he was insightful, smart, cool, and tongue-in-cheek debonair. This guy idolized the conquerors and the fascists and saw the “advantages” in being a criminal, Associating with the criminal element, and building an empire albeit as false an empire as the movie set of the film Cleopatra.

The level of mental and emotional pathology is extraordinary.

For many years, On Sunday nights The TV series The Sopranos would Premiere it’s weekly episode. So it’s Sunday, which got me to thinking about The Sopranos, and I recalled that I always had a question.

And the question is: why did Tony Soprano wear a T-shirt anytime and every time he had sex? I could always understand why female characters would remain essentially dressed during the scenes but never understood why you never saw him naked from the waist up. I was re-watching the entire series for me maybe the third time and my recollection seems to hold true. Any thoughts?

This American civilization will not learn a single thing from this pandemic. That is most clear and obvious, and there will be much revisionist history and Contravening dialogue and over a reasonably short period of time, the mistakes that were made will never be acknowledged, the dead will be buried, societally we will move on from this, and the next time a virus or a bacterium rears it’s ugly head, there will be no memory of this by the political and the phony righteous people.

Yes of course, there will be those who will carry the flag for sanity, for safety, for judicious application of epidemiological principles, but it will be outweighed and voided by those who deny, deny, deny. And then of course, when all hell breaks loose, people will say who would have been able to predict this? And the society will shake its collective head and say nobody could have. And all of us who sit around and scream of course this was going to happen we knew it, will once again be ignored by those who “know better”.

One of the things that’s so disturbing about these processes, is watching Doctors like Dr. Birx, Who has fundamentally repudiated her academics, plastered a stupid smile on her face like all those White House economists, and stated her reverence for the federal administration, the actions which they have taken, (ha ha) and the results. While she talks about the increase in hospitalizations of 20 to 40-year-olds, she might as well be discussing the new species of daffodil which is growing in her backyard. These people possess hypocritical incompetence, and they have been elevated to a level Far beyond their abilities. The really brilliant people are the people you see interviewed who are sputtering and stuttering because they can’t believe how poorly this is been mismanaged. Even they mitigate their language as to not offend, but you can read between the lines and see that they are horrified and frightened.

We have wasted months when we could’ve been forming a federal response to this outbreak and conquering it. But as we know the Trump administration deliberately and with malice aforethought have set us up for increased death and morbidity. As far as I’m concerned the governors who did not pay attention, the members of the federal government who did not act appropriately, and the health officials who went along with this in order to further their career should be put on trial for manslaughter. It is a disgrace these people hold these positions and the trust and decency has been waived for allegiance to an Utterly depraved and malicious ignoramus who bullied his way to the presidency.

This man has not acted when our soldiers were put in harms way in the manner in which they were is treasonous, and a betrayal of everything American.

All that being said I want to relate an anecdote which occurred yesterday, Saturday. A Gentleman came into see me in my office who is a salesman, with the usual sharp salesman patter and bluster, and The typical self-assured ness of a successful salesman. You all know exactly what I mean by this description. He proceeded to tell me that Trump and his minions have done everything correctly and people were just complaining for no reason. I asked him on what basis did he make the judgment that everything was correctly managed when we were on a literal exponential move towards greater tragedy. He replied they do the best they can that’s all they can do. And I countered him and said that is so far from the truth that it’s embarrassing. And then he sarcastically said I defer to your medical judgment which is superior to mine. And I replied and well that you should and you better because you don’t know anything about virology, microbiology, epidemiology, pulmonary disease, blood vessel disorders, clotting disorders, platelet disorders, stroke as a mechanism, and the notion of morbidity and mortality increasing because of a disease process inflicted upon younger people. And then I said with a smile, but you’re right, what is there to know? Everyone has it all figured out, that’s why things are getting worse and while I agree with you, we are probably not going to have another Shut down in the way we had the first one, we will however see is a lot of dead people including many dead people close to us. I have already lost seven acquaintances and/or patients due to the virus with many more having had a Stormy course following moderate disease processes. That number will rise exponentially as people do not practice the simple task of social distancing and mask wearing. But you know what, you do what you want because it’s a free country and apparently one of the freedoms we now have is freedom to infect, freedom to cause disease, and freedom to kill. And far be it for me to limit people’s’ freedom in this great country of ours.

Well, he didn’t know what to say so he said just fix my tooth. And I said gladly, because in a few weeks I may not be able to do that because I myself am in four high-risk groups and if I catch this I’m likely going to be very seriously ill. And he gave me that horrified look he said really? And I said yes really. But I’m here at work because I have to work and I have to serve my patients and I have to do the best I can under very trying circumstances and your biggest problem if I get sick and die it’s finding another dentist. And then I winked at him and said of course I won’t have any more problems so I’ll be just fine.

This is a more or less daily occurrence with at least 1 to 2 assholes per day voicing idiotic opinions which vary With both science and common sense. Sick of stupidity and ignorance. As a final word, when people make the statement “well I’m no expert but…” I say then keep it to yourself because I’m not interested in opinions about complex things from people with no expertise. Yes it’s harsh but you know what I’m tired of being nice.

Pat Paulsen, for you younger folk, was a comedian who ran for President several times, most notably in 1968. Note this paragraph from Wiki about him:


The Smothers Brothers approached Paulsen with the idea of running for president in 1968. His campaign in 1968 and succeeding years was grounded in comedy, although not without serious commentary. He ran the supposed campaigns using obvious lies, double talk, and tongue-in-cheek attacks on the major candidates, and he responded to all criticism with his catchphrase "Picky, picky, picky." His campaign slogans included, "Just a common, ordinary, simple savior of America's destiny,” “We’ve upped our standards, now up yours,” and, “United we sit.” He gave essentially the same answer to every question on social issues: "To get to the meat of the matter, I will come right to the point, and take note of the fact that the heart of the issue in the final analysis escapes me."[4] And in announcing his candidacy on the Smothers Brothers show, Paulsen said, “Now I ask you: Will I solve our economic problems? Will I ease the causes of racial tension? Will I bring a peaceful end to Vietnam? Sure, why not?”[5]

$&@&$&@&$&@&$&@&$&@&$

This guy was FDR next to The orange-u-tan in the WH.

Here in Philly, for many years we had a Phillies broadcaster by the name of Richie Ashburn. He was a star of the 1950 Phillies pennant winning team with lost to the Yankees in the World Series. Later after his career, he became a broadcaster here in Philly, and he had tremendous insights into the game, the players, and life with baseball in the civilization. He was a brilliant analyst, I’m not Saying that because I’m at Philadelphia, but objectively he was extraordinary.

At the same time, we had the play-by-play announcer Harry Kalas Who had a signature style which appeal to a great many people. Although I was in I’m a diehard Phillies fan, he was not my favorite announcer over the years, but he was in the pantheon of extraordinary professionals.

Yes I’m getting to my point. When something would occur in the field which was unusual in and of itself, Ashburn would say “Hard to believe, Harry...” and it became a catch-phrase here.

So when the COVID-19 numbers began to increase again, my response to anyone who addressed me was and is: Hard to believe, Harry. Everyone here gets the point.

OoohOooh!!
(You fellow oldsters will get it....)

Please allow me to preface this by saying that sometimes you can look at reading DU as though you’re in school, and then you go out in the real world and take your final exam with real people.

I’m off today, Thursday, because my schedule became very weird due to the pandemic. So I’m doing some shopping here in New Jersey and I attend a liquor store, because I’ve been drinking slightly more than usual but not too excessively of course, and I’m walking back to my car with my mask on and a guy mutters something as I walk past. The only word I could make out Was “fucking” so I stopped in my tracks and said “Excuse me?”. He stopped and said “Just talking about your mask”. Real arrogant motherfucker -gonna stare me down

The path I was going to take at that instant came to me within two seconds. I said to him, “You know, you’re the kind of guy who would leave his lights on during the blackout in World War II because ain’t nobody gonna tell you how to act in your own home, you would forge ration coupons, and of course you would be exempted from military service because you have bone spurs like your buddy in the White House.“

He stood there stunned. I said “Don’t have an answer for me? You should think before you speak to strangers as your mother undoubtedly told you to do. And you know what, We are going to take America back from you and your kind very shortly.”

I got my car and drove away.

————————————-

Someone posted that paragraph a few days ago and it stuck in my brain. I wasn’t afraid of this nincompoop because besides the fact that I can handle myself, I was holding a bottle of Tanqueray Gin in my hand: in NJ they try not to give you plastic bags unless you need them, and I was in no good mood for several reasons. Anyway he ain’t telling that story unless he decides to embellish.

Victory for the oppressed.

“There were fine people on both sides”.

“I’ve heard worse ideas than Secession”

“What do they have to lose?”

“You know what the Beach Boys said about Southern girls. The Beach Boys used to work for me you know. Yeah.“

...and you know what? I realized who he has always reminded me of as an older man:


Stubby Kaye in L’il Abner singing:

All those who proffer that she went to Georgetown, Oxford, and Harvard Law...as if we should be impressed.

What you have here therefore is “a load of books on the back of an ass”.

This was Reagan’s question in 1980. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.